Gadgetory

I'm David Connolly executive editor for cnet.com and I'm here with the JBL on beat micro this is a lightning equipped speaker duct it retails for around a hundred dollars and it's actually pretty good what I liked about it is that it's compact it also sounds pretty good it's designed to sit on a nightstand it also has an audio input so you can sit it on your desk and use it as a speaker for your laptop or desktop PC JBL also makes speakers that work with lightning equip iPads however this one is only designed to work with the lightning acquit iPhone or iPod Touch another small extra worth mentioning is that there's a USB port on the back that allows you to charge other mobile devices including other smartphones or even other tablets including other iPads I did connect an iPhone 4s and an iPad Mini and you can stream audio through that USB connection the only problem is that once you connect anything to that USB port you can't play audio through your dock device though it will still charge finally this is a portable speaker there is a hidden compartment on the bottom of the unit it allows you to add four triple-a batteries that gives you about five hours of battery life on the go obviously it would been better if this was a rechargeable speaker but that probably would have added another $25 or more to the cost of the unit in terms of buttons on the unit it's really very simple there's a power button and a volume up and down button and that is it one design element worth highlighting is that the connector itself the Lightning connector the post if you will does have a little bit of play to it so it tilts back and forth that allows you connect your iPhone a little more easily but it does have some play in it so if you do pick up the speaker dock it may tilt forward and that can be a little bit disconcerting it's also worth mentioning that you'll probably have to remove any cases from your iPhone unless they are ultra slim aside from those small drawbacks I really did like the unit it does play a lot louder than you think it doesn't deliver a great sound but it's decent sound and it can't fill a small room with audio I'm David karna and that's the JBL on beat crow lightning equipped speaker doc thanks for watching