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Auris turns any 30-pin music dock into a Bluetooth speaker | iPhone Atlas – CNET Reviews
From the horse’s mouth
Auris
Where to buy
My Comments
There are situations where you want to play music from your smartphone or tablet to someone but they have a radio or speaker dock that has the orthodox 30-pin “iPhone” connector and no auxiliary-input jack. This makes the device very useless in that context and is more so as the Apple devices move away from the orthodox connector and more of us move away from the Apple portable-device platforms. Similarly those of us who use the “feature phones” that have mobile-phone functionality, music playback and, in some cases, navigation may want to use the speaker dock to share their music.
Now Auris have premiered a device that answers this problem. It is in the form of a battery-operated Bluetooth module that plugs in to the iPod / iPhone connector on these speaker docks or radios. This device also has a line-out connection for those speaker docks that don’t accept the audio through the 30-pin connection from anything other than an Apple device; as well as being a Bluetooth adaptor for powered speakers or equipment that has an auxiliary input of some sort. When used along with a cassette adaptor, this device can enable any old car cassette player or 80s-era “ghetto blaster” for Bluetooth audio.
As well the Auris is equipped with a microphone and functionality to turn the speaker dock or similar device in to a hands-free speakerphone for your smartphone or Skype-enabled laptop. Think of those situations where you need to have multiple people listen in to a call or you want to make or take a call in a hands-free manner.
It is one of those few Kickstarter ideas that have manifested in a real device that answers most questions and situations compared to the the situation where most such ideas end up as quick money-making ideas with useless products. Personally, I would also like to see a wholesale purchase opportunity through the Auris site so that “brick and mortar” and online retailers cam purchase quantities of this device to sell on to others. This would certainly appeal to the likes of the catalogue retailers like Sharper Image and Hammacher Schlemmer; or the mobile phone dealers and mobile networks who want to add this to their accessories line.
