I have tried a variety of iPhone docs to play my music out to speakers. While non have been ‘great’, a dock is a quick way to go from iPhone in the pocket to playing my music list. Until I added an Elago case… a very brightly colored thin case that adds the right amount of protection I need. Even as thin as it is, I can’t just drop the iPhone into the dock cradle. So, I moved to using a audio out cable to regular speakers. Not a bad solution until you are in a hurry and unplug the cable without turning the speakers off… pop pop hiss hiss.

A coworker invited me to her office last week to see her great new iPhone accessory. As we were walking down the hall, about two doors away, she took her iPhone out of her pocket to hit play. Then returned the iPhone to her pocket. Seconds later, before we got to the office, the music started to play. I was overjoyed to find she was showing off a Bluetooth speaker, that worked very well.
It was a Altec Lansing inMotion SoundBlade Bluetooth A2DP.

Being a very thin Bluetooth speaker, though the box says ‘SRS’, the audio does lack some of the deep full sound you would get from ‘full’ size speakers. But, after the first pairing of the iPhone to the SoundBlade, music starts quickly… wirelessly streaming from your iPhone. Needless to say, every other office down the hall was ordering their own.

The speaker comes with a power cord (with 5 different international adapters) and a carry bag. The controls are across the top: On/Off, Pairing, Previous, Pause/Play, Next and volume. On the back is two doors covering three AA batteries each (good for 24 hours or playing or hundreds of hours of standby), and a flip down stand/door which covers the power plug and aux audio in. Altec Lansing has included a microphone inside which allows the SoundBlade to be used as a speaker phone.

While some folks may be concerned about the audio output being through two 2.5″ speakers, we see a speaker that works on the desktop. Where the real power in Business is the ability to slip this speaker into any computer bag to take to meetings you need audio at (via your iPhone or notebook). Lastly, while it was done in as a bit of humor… a true fact is that with your iPhone in your pocket streaming to the speaker, you can carry the speaker with you while it broadcasts it’s audio – which has proven very handy as we buzz about the house doing chores when your not able to cancel the world noises out by wearing headphones.