Are you looking for a cool cube of a speaker to connect to your smartphone, tablet or MP3 player? You might want to look at the GOgroove SonaWAVE 3, which is currently on sale for almost half off. This is a portable speaker system that’s shaped like a little black cube with blue accents, including a backlit LED glow on the front panel.

Connectivity options are fairly universal, as you can play audio from tablets, smartphones, MP3 players, laptops, portable gaming consoles or pretty well any device that uses the standard 3.5mm audio jack connection. There is also an SD card slot and a USB port for direct MP3 playback capabilities too. The two side-firing drivers combine for 6W RMS and 12W peak.

As this is a portable stereo, it’s good to see that the 600mAh battery can last around 3-5 hours of continuous playback, recharging via USB or AC outlet. The GOgroove SonaWAVE 3 is on sale for $29.99 on Amazon, which is $25 off the regular price of $54.99. That includes the free Super Saving Shipping too.

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You’ve got your iPod for your own personal music enjoyment, but what about when you want to share those tunes? You could pack a set of portable speakers, but those can take up too much room and not offer enough power. The Tembo Trunks, though, might be an interesting alternative.

They’re not really speakers. Instead, they take on your iPod earbuds and amplify the sound coming out of them to about 80dB. You know how you can take a traffic cone and use it as a megaphone for your voice? Kinda the same deal, except these are silicone, they’re collapsible, and they’re for your iBuds.

The developers have met their required startup capital on Kickstarter to get the tooling done. Pledge at least $39 and they promise to send you a pair of Tembo Trunks when they hit production in 50 or so days.

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WOWee One portable bass speaker/subwoofer stuck to an iPad

What is the WOWee One? I’m trying very hard to avoid cheesy punchlines, the WOWee is in fact a lot more serious than it’s name exudes. It’s a block of pure bass small enough to fit in your pocket and take with you anywhere. Just slap it on to a hard flat surface and you’ve created a dynamic subwoofer ready to pound out loud.

Some comments you could expect from innocent basstanders would go something like this; “Is THAT what’s making that noise?” or “Wow, is it just that thing?” or even better “Wowee! that thing pounds.” Sorry, I had to do it eventually. Wowee One is a brick of bass; it’s 7 ounces of pounding really makes the table shake. I would rather have this hooked up and stuck to my window than a traditional pair of “computer speakers.” The sound resonates throughout the room as though it was meant to be heard, not played.

Features and Design
The Wowee One is a small portable bass speaker (subwoofer) measuring 4.7 x 2.4 x 1-inches. It’s capable of sending out 90db of sound between the 40Hz – 20KHz range, and creating a dynamic subwoofer out of nearly any flat surface imaginable. It has an internal battery with an estimated 20 hours of playtime per charge. A mini USB port for charging off any computer 5V USB port. A 3.5mm stereo headphone audio input jack. A couple of LED lights have also been added for charging and connection status.
Its internal rechargeable battery is a hefty 3.7 volt lithium-ion pack. It’s a little bit thick, but that’s good in the case of a brick of bass. Wowee One weighs in at 7 ounces. First impressions lead you to think it’s a bit heavy and couldn’t stick to a window, but when both surfaces are clean and free of dust, let me tell you it can stick.

I had it stuck to the window shown in the video below throughout the night with no lack of grip. It only becomes hard to stick when the surface isn’t clean of debris. The gel is really sticky, so it can pick up lots of dirt easily. Just give it a wipe with a damp cloth and you’re ready to stick it again. It can fall off pretty easily if both surfaces are not clean, but it’s so durable that it just takes a bounce as if it new what was coming.

Wowee one with old school iPod

Sound quality is surprisingly clear and crisp. You will get some distortion and bad sounding highs with slapping lows, but that’s if you’re playing highly compressed audio files. If you have CD quality or better, it sounds just right.
This thing projects sound off anything. The bigger and flatter the surface, the better. But as you can see in the second video below, even sticking on the face of something as small as an iPad will create a good bass pounding sound.
Some “friendly objects” to stick it to include; Desks, chairs, tables, hard boxes, inner tubes, floors, windows, coolers, car hood or trunk lid, waste baskets, and iPads. Not so friendly surfaces are stone, grass, pieces of real wood, and very soft or uneven surfaces like a fabric sofa.

All you would need is a 3.5mm audio jack splitter and this could be a supplemental “subwoofer” to your current computer setup. And it’s still easy enough to unplug and take with you.

Bottom Line
The Wowee has been out in the UK for some time now, it just saw its North American debut last month, and I must say we have truly been missing out. The Wowee One not only performs, it outperforms. You will not expect sound like this to come from such a small brick-like device. It’s got good weight to it, which could be the reason it’s able to move sound so well across surfaces. There’s definitely an engineering mastermind behind this one. Priced just right at $70 from online retailers. I thought it was a bit high at first, but after I heard its sound it made me think twice. Check out the videos for a general idea of what it sounds like, just imagine it 10x clearer and louder since the file has been YouTubed.

Wowee One Portable Bass Speaker – $70 from Amazon

Contest Update
We’re giving away a brand spanking new WOWee One. All you have to do is tell us where you would stick it! The contest is open to the USA and Canada only, a winner will be announced Friday, August 13 so you have until then to enter. Just submit your entry below, goodluck!

Contest Winner
Jerry Brown was randomly selected as the winner. Thanks to everyone who participated!

It wasn’t a clean gel pad, but when it is clean, the Wowee can stick to the window all night.

Nothing worth watching, just skip through it and you can see the iPad moving across the table from its bass.

Videos made with the Flip Ultra HD.

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S&J Co. Ltd is going to be showcasing two new products at CeBIT 2010 which is to be held in March.  Yes, that’s right, CEBIT. We’re just wrapping up Mobile World Congress and manufacturers are readying themselves for the next event.

The super compact portable speakers, ‘Eggy’ and ‘Bike Speaker’ are for mobile users, whether on a bicycle or traveling with a laptop you can have sound with you on the go.  The Eggy has a simple and compact design that fits in you hand.  It looks like an egg and uses micro-mini 20 mm drivers with a 2W output and digital amplifier that provides “quality? sound.  Eggy uses the USB interface as its power source requiring no extra wires.

The Bike Speaker is a safe and convenient way to listen to your tunes while riding the trails, or maneuvering cramped busy city streets.  It’s detachable of course, so it can come with you when you get to your destination.  Basically the same guts as Eggy, but with volume controls, a stopwatch and FM radio.

Dong-jun Seo, the  CEO of S&J released this about the company’s ambitious plan. “We expect very high demand for Bike Speaker in the advanced European countries where the rate of bike use is higher than in any other parts of the world. With our new products, S&J will expand our global distribution network to all corners of the world including Europe.”

As Original Development Manufacturing specialists of Samsung Electronics, S&J currently supplies them with USB memory, keyboards, mice, web-cams, headsets and speakers.

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