Griffin is now shipping their AirCurve! A ‘Acoustic Amplifier’ that makes the sound out of the iPhone speakers 10 dB louder… with no power needed.
The devices is a stylistic clear plastic cube that has specifically designed chambers and sound paths. Four flush corner bolts hold the pre-assembled device together. Included also is two white plastic adapters to fit the original and version 2 iPhones.
Since the sound coming out of the AirCurve isn’t being electronically amplified, there is no cleanup happening. Thus, the output does not sound ‘full’ and ‘rich’. If you have limited room, no access to external power, this 20 dollar device will allow you to listen to your music much better than just the iPhone sitting on your table.
One feature Griffin doesn’t mention is that this simple bit of hardware makes the iPhone very usable as a Speaker Phone. The second version of the iPhone (3G) has been improved over the first version for Speaker Phone use via better/louder speakers. It’s still limited. Drop it in the AirCurve cradle and you have a real solution.