Six of the best gadgets and gizmos on a theme. This week: Six of the best bluetooth speakers
By Peter Jenkinson, Press Association
Sound sphere
Bang & Olufsen A9 - £1699, from johnlewis.com
Easily mistaken for a satellite dish, the A9 stands an imposing four feet tall. Adjusting the volume is no small matter either: just run your hand over the row of nubs, and, almost like magic, your bidding will be done. It doesn't stop there either, pat the unit and the music will pause - so satisfying you'll be doing it much more often than you should. Oh, and the A9 does rather well on sound delivery too.
Room for more
Sonos Play system - from £169, from amazon.co.uk
There is an entire family of speakers in the Sonos range, each one delivering a decent sound on its own over Bluetooth. But it's when you link them all together over your home's WiFi network that, well, things will never be the same again... Set your music to start playing as you approach the front door, have different tunes playing in the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom simultaneously - all quite brilliant.
Confined spaces
JBL Micro Wireless Bluetooth Portable Speaker - £49.99, from uk.jbl.com
It's a neat piece of kit, an ultra-portable unit with built-in bass port, highly pocketable for you to pump out tunes as you walk (if so required). There is also up to five hours of use from the rechargeable battery, perfect for those (admittedly far-off) sunny afternoons in the park.
Sitting pretty
Creative Airwave HD speakers - £89.99, from uk.creative.com
The unconventional shape of these speakers is their main attraction. Inside their pyramid-like form is a super high specification bundle of technology, delivering a crystal clear and bass filled sound. Send tunes to this speaker using conventional Bluetooth or with NFC (near field communication), if your handset has it.
Boom box
UE Mini Boom - £79, from ultimateears.com
This latest-to-market bit of kit, quite literally, blows away the competition in the sub £100 space. Beam your tunes over the airwaves into its small frame and enjoy the massive sound delivered from up to 50 feet away from your device. Available in five different hues, so there's one for every room, mood and taste.
Design for life
Nude Audio Studio 5 - £149.99 from johnlewis.com
These achingly cool speakers are clearly from a design focused outfit, and look superb even without any music being set free from inside. Housing an iPhone adaptor on the top, it is undeniably designed with owners of Apple products in mind, but the Bluetooth capabilities mean it opens up to the rest of us too.
App of the week
Pingtune - free on iTunes coming soon on Google Play
Now you can personalise your messages by pinging entire songs, fun clips or meaningful lyrics to your friends alongside your text. Ping anyone over SMS or through Facebook and Twitter, and your mates can reply with personalised messages of their own, equally packed with words, emoticons or even more music!
Top 10 paid for apps for Android phones
1. The Chase
2. Minecraft - Pocket Edition
3. Garfield Kart
4. Cryptic Kingdoms
5. Cut the Rope
6. Plants vs Zombies
7. Candy Quest
8. Birds of Britain
9. Mahjong
10. Choco Smash Full
Top 10 free apps for Android phones
1. Color Oil (Pro)
2. Run
3. Candy Crush Saga
4. Cookie Clickers
5. BBC iPlayer
6. BBC Media Player
7. Netflix
8. Despicable Me: Minion Rush
9. Facebook
10. Lidl
(Both charts courtesy of Appstore on amazon.co.uk)
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