Core77

Sony's nonsensical portable speaker design

By Rain Noe - August 31, 2010

in Object Culture

Here's a rather strange, ill-conceived product design from Sony: Their SRS-V500IP is an iPod dock holding a cylindrical speaker equipped with a "diffuser panel" that spreads the sound in 360 degrees. So far so good. Here's the weird part: The detachable speaker is touted as being able to fit in your car's cup holder, so you can use it while driving.

Um...don't most cars these days already have stereos, often with iPod hookups? A detachable speaker would make sense if it had its own rechargeable power source, yet this one apparently needs to be plugged into either its home dock or a car's cigarette lighter to get juice. Doesn't make much sense to me, but perhaps the Japanese-market-only product loses something in translation.

via cult of mac

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socrateos

14 years ago

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I spent in a hotel during the last few days where I reallly wished I had a speaker for my iPhone. Also I had to use CDs! to listen to my music in my can in the long travel since my car is not equiped with AUX port. So this sony's portable speaker could have killed two birds at once. I am definitely looking forward to see it.
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Wesley

14 years ago

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I definitely agree, there is just not enough space!
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Jacob Fine

14 years ago

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Also it is a little too tall if you ask me.
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tpk

14 years ago

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If you have a really basic commuter car w/o an AUX port on the radio, this is a good way to get iPod sound w/o doing wiring work or replacing the radio. Since I have one of those cars, this is perfect.
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Adam

14 years ago

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Actually, I get this one. I have two cars, each without an aux input. In the case of the van I drive most frequently, it would cost me almost $1000 to put one in because of the odd stereo that Nissan built into the console of the van. And I'm a podcast addict. I hate driving with an earbud in, but the speaker on my iPhone isn't loud enough to cut through the ambiant sounds of highway driving. A portable speaker like this would work well for me.

Of course, having self-contained power would be an improvement...
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Tuvie

14 years ago

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I don't care if it's weird, I still want one!
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