Home Gaming Digital Lifestyle Cheats Downloads Upcoming Product Finder
88%
PROS
Cosmetically attractive, good quality sound up to a suitable loud volume, incredibly portable.
LOWS
Auxiliary cable too small for practical use, metal sides fall off, can get painfully distorted.
OVERALL
The sound that comes from these speakers makes them a smart purchase, but the issue of falling sides makes any buyer take a second look before they purchase.
 |
|---|
A surge of new products have been created to fit the need of iPod sound output. iPod's are great; we know that. But, being good people, we often like to share with others that which we have been blessed with. The iPod as a standalone unit is a rather solitary activity. However, equipped with a set of mobile speakers, the music on your iPod can be played and shared with others around you. Altec Lansing has made one of the first products like this: the “inMotion” speakers.
Following iPod tradition, these speaks are robed in white. Visually, they are quite pleasing, with simple white button and four small speaker outs. The sides of the unit are decked out with a silver metal covering on both sides. So, from a glance, we have a cool looking unit. But what happens when we start to use it…? Well physically, it starts to fall apart. The nice metal covering becomes unglued and is then useless. Now you are left with an ugly side of yellow glue and audio wires. AWESOME!
However, the unit itself functions as expected. The front of the speakers features a docking station setup, and believe it or not, you “dock” the iPod in here to connect it to the speakers. Once you slip the iPod into place on the dock, you are officially ready to go. Considering the size of these speakers, quality is quite amazing. The little speaker buds really give you the bang for your buck, and at volumes even up to fairly high, I was surprised at the quality of my sound. The volume controls on your actual iPod become ineffective; you adjust volume of the speakers with the “-” and “+” buttons on the front of the speakers.
 |
|---|
These work nicely, just hold them down to get your desired effect. An important thing to note is that the inMotion speakers do get rather loud. You can make them loud to a certain point where the audio quality is still good, but past this point, the audio is unbearably distorted. I don't even see the point of allowing the volume to get this loud; it is really past the comfort level of human ears.
As for portability, the speakers hold true to the definition. They fold down into a flat rectangle and then fold back up to their speaker form. The speakers even come with a nice black bag that allows protection from scratches. Basically, if you want to take these things with you, you sure as hell will be able to.
As for downsides, we have already mentioned the distorted audio at high volumes and the falling apart metal sides. To add onto this list, we must speak about the included cable for auxiliary output. If you want to utilize this cable, it is assumed you are attaching it to a laptop or some other non-iPod device. Altec Lansing, however, does not realize this. The cable is so pointlessly tiny that I have no idea as to why they even included it. The only way this cable is effective is if you have your iPod in a case which you don't want to remove, and so you connect it with the cable as opposed to the docking station. However, if you want to play your laptop through the speaks, you really are going to need a new cable.
The inMotion speakers have a headphone jack, and I can't understand why. Why not just use headphones direclty though the iPod?? Also, in case your batteries run out (the speakers take four AA) you can plug in the DV 9 volt adapter and keep the music going. When you are running the speaker off of adapter power, it will charge your docked iPod.
For the most part, the Altec Lansing inMotion speakers really rock. Out loud. HA. The falling apart issue really does get on your nerves, but the sound itself is good enough to give you reason to buy the speakers.
