Tour blimey.
As summer fast approaches, finally banishing the icy tendrils of Jack Frost and all his annoying, lingering, snowy mates, your thoughts may turn toward the outdoors. For us, the epitome of the British summer has always been lounging around in a park with friends, Marks & Spencer sandwiches on hand and brolly close-by just in case. And music. Ah, summer music; that which defines the season and makes you utter, months later, “Oh, this reminds me of last summer…” But how to listen to those memorable, scene setting songs?
As summer fast approaches, finally banishing the icy tendrils of Jack Frost and all his annoying, lingering, snowy mates, your thoughts may turn toward the outdoors. For us, the epitome of the British summer has always been lounging around in a park with friends, Marks & Spencer sandwiches on hand and brolly close-by just in case. And music. Ah, summer music; that which defines the season and makes you utter, months later, “Oh, this reminds me of last summer…” But how to listen to those memorable, scene setting songs?
Easy, get the iLuv MobiTour Bluetooth Speaker.
A compact little sound set, the MobiTour is just that;
speakers for your mobile while touring. Nice and tidy, this handy gadget will
become your new best friend this summer, easily replacing those actual human
friends who can’t connect to your phone wirelessly. Losers.
Contained in the neat packaging is the speaker itself (we
opted for manly purple, although the MobiTour is available in black and pink as well)
and a simple USB to micro USB cable. The wire is for charging the built-it,
non-removable battery, and after plugging it in you’ll find you get a four hour
battery life after just an hour or so of charging. Once primed and ready, it
was time to connect.
Pairing to your Bluetooth capable device was easy peasy,
with one of the four buttons on the speaker conveniently being marked with ‘Pair’.
And what a lovely pair it was. Tee hee. Our phones and laptops found the MobiTour
easily and pairing took only a few seconds. So then we got with the playing.
Here out excitement was slightly deflated. Although the speaker boasts a 30-metre
connection range (which we did indeed test and found to be true) we weren’t
that enthused with the quality of sound. What struck us first was just how
quiet the music sounded – even after upping the volume on both our phones and
the device itself. We had ours sitting atop the espresso maker in the kitchen
to provide musical entertainment while we did the dishes (we’re pretty rock and
roll). However, we had difficulty hearing the lyrics over the sound of the
running tap and squelching sponge, despite the fact that the speaker was placed
right next to the sink! So ‘room-filling’ the MobiTour is not.
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| The size of the MobiTour is aptly demonstrated in comparison to a human's hand |
But it got us thinking; do you really want it to be? As we
said, summer cometh quick, so how would the speaker do while out in nature? On
one of the rare sunny days that spring has so far offered, we ventured out into
our local park, clad in coats and scarves, and sat about with the MobiTour as
company. And….? Actually, not too bad. Outside the speaker provided a pretty
good background music level – nothing spectacular, but okay for giving you want
you’d want while lazily enjoying the sun. Plus, the size and weight of the speaker
meant that we hardly noticed it in our gadget bags as we strolled about the
town. Having not to connect using wires was a big advantage, as was the
MobiTour’s sturdy build and solid base – perfect for sitting in grass that may
be slightly damp.
One thing that caught our eye was the moulded message on the
front of the speaker: “Designed by iLuv in New York”. Are they trying to be
funny, mocking Apple’s claims of being designed in California that feature on all
of their products? If so, far play to them. If not… oh dear.
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£29.99