If you have a Lumia 920 or a Verizon branded HTC 8X, you’ll want to check out the MobiRock speaker just announced this week at CES 2013. Since it comes equipped with Qi wireless charging, NFC, Bluetooth and more it should appeal to music lovers and anyone who suffers from wirephobia.
You’ve seen our impressions of the JBL PowerUp speaker a few weeks back, a solic offering that I myself use, but it does have a few quibbles that seem to be addressed by the MobiRock. The biggest complaint we’ve seen around the web for the JBL PowerUp (besides the price) is the position of the phone when charging. Putting the phone on top of the speaker makes it hard to switch music or interact with the phone while it’s charging.
The MobiRock addresses that complaint since the phone goes onto a stand in an upright portrait position. Compared to the JBL speaker, the MobiRock is a lot bigger and has a premium feel. From what we could gather in the noisy halls of CES the MobiRock did have better sound. Here are some highlights of the MobiRock and a video of it.
- Play and charge wirelessly
- Wireless streaming via Bluetooth
- Easy pairing via NFC
- Wireless charging pad for Qi-enabled devices
- 1A USB-A charging port for non-Qi devices
- Power/Play/Pause/Track/Volume controls
- Aux-in for other devices
- Premium and unique design treatments
Now, the biggest question you’re asking at this point is price and availability. Unfortunately we were only able to get half an answer from their PR folks. The price is yet to be determined and available in Quarter 2 of 2013. So if you were hoping to get a speaker that packs Qi, NFC, and Bluetooth fairly soon – you might be better off with the JBL speaker.
(I’m just going to apologize in advance for Dan’s music being so loud in the video. Dan talks loud, so it is a testament to these speakers what they can do if they over power his voice)
