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TMCNet: The Hartford Courant, Conn., Kevin Hunt column: Tunebug Vibe speaker is fun but not for serious listeners

[June 14, 2010]

The Hartford Courant, Conn., Kevin Hunt column: Tunebug Vibe speaker is fun but not for serious listeners

Jun 14, 2010 (The Hartford Courant - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Tunebug Vibe is every seventh-grade science fair team's dream.

Let's build a round-edged, triangular metal disc, only an inch thick, that turns every surface it's place on into a speaker. Dude! Silicon Valley Global's Tunebug Vibe, not so dreamily, is grounded in the adult science of NXT flat-speaker SurfaceSound technology that produces sound with an ultra-thin exciter element lodged in the most unlikely places. NXT speakers have turned up in automobile dashboards, knapsacks, gallery art, laptops, digital photo frames, animal-shaped novelties and, memorably, faux Budweiser cans. (Dude!) Despite their obvious ingenuity, the NXT flat panels invariably sound like a seventh-grade science fair project because a speaker, with few exceptions, only sounds like real music when it's built into a spacious, hard-edged cabinet.

Silicon Valley Global's clever application of NXT's technology tries to duplicate the boxed-speaker technique by using a hollow surface, like a box or flat surface, with the Vibe. (The company also makes the Tunebug Shake, which attaches to a bicycle or motorcycle helmet.) The Vibe, a 2.3-inch isosceles triangle that runs on a rechargeable lithium polymer battery, has an on-off button and a minijack connector for an iPod, iPhone or other MP3 player. The Vibe's exciter element, the mini-speaker, resides in the disc's underside. Volume is controlled only by the sound source, in my case an iPod Touch.

Silicon Valley Global supplies a "Sound Base," a little cardboard jewelry box, as the Tunebug's resting position. There, the Vibe sounds remarkably like the guy sitting next to you on the train with earbuds blaring. You can hear the music, muffled, but it's like nothing from a speaker or your own earbuds.

On a table, the Vibe sounds OK, though lacking what little body the Sound Base generates. On my head, not so good.

In the science-fair spirit, I placed the Tunebug on top of a 17-inch-square cardboard box, a foot deep, then inserted my head inside the box.

As Art Pepper's "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" gently swirled around my head, my wife walked into the room.

"What's with the box on your head?" she said.

Just a little scientific experiment. ...

khunt@tribune.com What: Tunebug Vibe Portable Surface Surround Speaker, tunebug.com Price: $69.95 Manufacturer: Silicon Valley Global Hot: A speaker on the go.

Not: Poor sound quality, low volume.

Alternative: More traditional portables, starting with SoundMatters' FoxLv2 ($169, http://www.soundmatters.com) Killing the latest iPhone The new HTC Evo 4G is the latest phone from Sprint and their first smart phone to pose a legitimate threat to the iPhone. Tapping into the blazing speed of the 4G network currently in 28 cities and growing. It sports a better-than-Apple 4.3 inch touch display. I spent two days prior to its recent launch seeing if a new love affair could break me away from my iPhone.

The product: The HTC Evo 4G from Sprint The trial: Can this new superfast smart phone running on the Android platform rip my heart away from my latest iPhone? The verdict: There is some love going on here that I didnE 1/4t feel for the iPhone. For starters, the speed of the 4G connection blows away the iPhoneE 1/4s 3G performance. The screen is bright, beautiful and incredibly easy to navigate. The little extendable kick stand that keeps the phone propped up for movie watching makes me feel like the cool kid with the nicer bike on the block. The built-in hotspot feature letE 1/4s you share the 4G network with up to 8 other devices and really makes sense for wireless gaming junkies who like to play on the go. It also adds $29.99 to your monthly Sprint bill which some say is a price worth paying in avoiding a cheap date with slow speeds. What you need to know is that you cannot find these superfast speeds everywhere on the Evo yet until Sprint rolls out itE 1/4s 4G network in every city nationwide. Once they do, itE 1/4ll have your heart pounding like mine despite the extra $10 premium data charge to hit Mach-5 speed. ItE 1/4s got an impressive 8 megapixel camera on the back, and a front facing camera allowing video chats on the phoneE 1/4s Android platform. I might be developing a crush, but itE 1/4s not enough to end my romance with the iPhone. Just donE 1/4t tell either phone yet, cause I might have to be a two phone guy for now.

The rating: Biz News On Your Phone: Biz News In Your E-mail Box: To see more of The Hartford Courant, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.courant.com/. Copyright (c) 2010, The Hartford Courant, Conn.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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