Gadgetory

most people could use a set of speakers a little beefier than what your smartphone's packin out of the box but wired speakers can be a dorky mess and big sound often requires big power with the portable self powered wireless charging speaker accessory maker Zen's looks to change the game at least for those with Qi compatible smartphones but is the Zen's wireless charging speaker compelling enough to capture your capital at the cash wrap i'm michael fisher with pocket down let's find out the most surprising thing about this product is probably its size compared with something like the JBL charging dock that launched alongside the Lumia 920 in 2012 the Zen's charger is quite portable that's not to say it's lightweight you definitely wouldn't want to cart it around in a pocket and it likely qualifies as a weapon in some jurisdictions but it wouldn't feel too burdensome in a backpack or a beach bag the unit's design is simple the speaker grille is a wraparound affair with the controls situated at the end caps volume and track controls microphone and Status LED on one side power switch micro USB and aux-in on the other the upper surface serves as the landing pad for the single induction charging coil and the NFC tap point is on the bottom nestled beneath that unobtrusive design sits a very powerful set of speakers and seriously they're loud setup is as simple as tapping an nfc-enabled phone to the tap point on the bottom to initiate the bluetooth pairing process or you can do it manually if you prefer the LED flashes while it's seeking a connection and it holds solid when the link is established Windows Phone 8 can be a little finicky in this department our Lumia 1020 was hesitant to reconnect if it lost the link but we had no such trouble with the Moto X then speaking of nokia the placement of the coil in the 1020 s wireless charging shell means it requires special positioning atop the dock in order to charge is something not required of devices like the Nexus 5 so the ease or difficulty of finding that sweet spot will depend on what device you carry with the 40 500 milliamp hour battery powering everything we expected fair endurance but nothing like what the doc delivered we were able to get eight solid hours out of the unit streaming music via bluetooth at medium volume while also actively topping up the Lumia 1020 S battery via Qi so the doc only died after an entire workday of listening to Pandora and Spotify and even then it left the Lumia fully charged that's outstanding performance and it makes us wish the chief standard was supported by more devices that's one of the downsides of this accessory you need to be in the Qi Club to use the charging capability there are no other wireless charging options and the USB port is a one-way street the shared volume and track control keys aren't the most intuitive around the dock is pretty slow to recharge 6 hours from dry to full using USB and probably the biggest downside is the speaker's tendency to rattle at certain frequencies in bass ear songs just like on the JBL powerup dock it's loud enough here to be annoying especially since the rest of the sound is so rich and amazing finally it all eventually comes down to money doesn't it and to be honest 100 bucks is a tough pill to swallow but when you consider that the larger less mobile JBL product cost $300 at launch it makes a bit more sense especially when you also factor in the unplugged charge ability and the out standing battery-life so if you've got a smartphone with Chi capability or one that can accommodate a chi compatible case and you want to be the king or queen of the beach parties this summer the Zen's wireless portable dock has a great combination of wow factor and practicality at a fair price if you want to see more from Zen's folks we have two more Zen's products on the review docket one is a wireless charger for home the other wireless charger for the car so check those out those reviews will be landing soon at pocketnow.com and here on youtube follow us on social media so you can see what we're talking about both on duty and off and please if you enjoyed this video toss us a like and subscribe to our channel if you haven't already until next time this has been michael fisher with PocketNow thank you for watching we'll talk again real soon