By We told you guys about Philips’ new line of Fidelio speakers when they debuted back at IFA in September and we finally got some hands-on time with them during Pepcom at CTIA. Where most companies are quick to add an “iPod/iPhone” dock to their speaker offerings, Philips has tailored made their speakers specifically for our beloved Android smartphones. The speakers come in a variety of sizes ranging from the compact bedside clock/dock AS111, the medium sized AS351 (10W RMS) and for those of you who like your beats fast and your bass down low — the AS851, featuring 30W RMS of total output power.
All the speakers come equipped with micro USB docks that slide to a variety of positions and connect to your device via Bluetooth. Philips even offers a free Fidelio app found in the Android Market that gives users access to a variety of alarm clock waking options like waking up to music and/or weather information. We’ll be featuring these items in a Phandroid giveaway very soon so keep your eyes locked to the site and we’ll keep you updated.
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Nice. I’m buying one once i get my hands on the Nexus Prime.
Yeah, about time for us.
So, do you HAVE to have the Fidelio app to play music through these or do they just pair up like any other bluetooth speaker?
App isn’t necessary, just provides more functionality with the speakers =p
I prefere having my ordinary dock (or none at all) and attaching an a2dp-reciever to an input of my av-reciever, thus playing equally well audio over my phone, using the same high-quality audio-hardware i allready own and only having to buy a sub 20€-reciever. (in my case Belkin N90)
even better: even the old windows mobile phone of my girlfriend is able to use this.
thats a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE bitch.
Android has really, really poor Bluetooth Audio due to a limited bitpool. It’s one of my pet hates.
Basically, hi-hats, and anything else with high frequencies will have loads of distortion on them. Fantastic idea, but this will sound awful. Hopefully it will push Google to sort their stuff out and implement proper A2DP
Cyanogen improved it a little, but it still sounds like someone rustling a plastic carrier bag through the music. Once you hear it, you can’t un-hear it.
EDIT: Notice how they’re using bass-heavy music without cymbals to demo it. That will have been chosen deliberately.
This would work fantastically with WP7 or Symbian though.
I’ll listen again when I get in my car, but I’ve never noticed the phenomenon you mention*, and I consider myself to be fairly picky about sound quality. Only recently did the convenience of MP3 finally win me over from using FLAC…
* – I’ve owned a nexus one running CM7, and a Thunderbolt running both AOSP-derived Liquid and stock ROMS.
Don’t do it! For the love of god, you’ll never unhear it.
Here it is logged with Google: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=9888
I play in a pop-punk band, so hi-hats and cymbals play a prominant role, making this extremely frustrating for me. Listen for the crackle on open hi-hats or anything high frequency. I could listen to hip-hop or dubstep all day and not notice it mind. It’s only really band recordings where it is appallingly obvious. Once you’ve noticed it, it sounds like someone rustling a Tesco bag through the whole song.
EDIT: Basically, makes everything sound like a low-quality MP3 because it is essentially doing the same thing – compressing the top end of the audio to save bandwidth.
It’s ridiculous that the issue is still present in a modern mobile OS. Particularly given that Androids are now being sold as premium audio devices with ‘Beats Audio’ etc. I’m hoping to god it’s fixed in ICS
Awsome!
Can’t wait to pick one of these up. I guess it isn’t really that much different than a regular bluetooth speaker but it’s nice that it has a slot for the phone right on it… wait, then I’d have to go up to the phone each time I want to change the song instead of having it in my hand as a “remote.”…
Maybe I’ll just stick with the regular ones.
So even though it’s plugged into the speaker it has to use bluetooth audio?
i’m getting one of these along with the nexus prime next month :D
I saw some Phillips speakers at Target the other day and would swear that they were these but maybe a previous model.
That price is unreal though $200?
WOW