[General Accessories] mtmerrick:
(All images are linked to their full size. Just click on em. Yes, I know a few of the pics are terrible.)

So I received this little guy as a Christmas gift. Gotta say, while he has a couple things about him that annoy me, he's really pretty awesome. Lets review him, shall we?

Cool. So the box says he's a USB powered speaker that'll work with anything. Kinda vague tho, and because of that security sticker you can't see much. Either find a review or you won't really know what you're buying. And since this was given to me as a gift, neither did I until I unpacked him. So let's see what's inside.

Little android guy. Cute. iHome branding printed on his belly. At least I hope that's his belly and not his crotch. Let's go with belly....

And it is printed, not a sticker. Shame, that.

And look, his arms move! Nothing else does tho, that's it, his arms. Honestly more than I expected out of a speaker tho =P

His back is pretty bare, only having an on/off switch and a single port - MicroUSB, that's labeled audio/charge. I'll explain that down the line. No, he's not a wireless speaker, sadly. No Bluetooth or anything, you have to use a cord.

Here he is with my Galaxy Note II, for size comparison.

Let's check out the rest of the contents of the box.

So we got the android himself, his cable, an instruction paper that actually has some good info about the product on it, and a cool little drawstring bag with the android logo on it. I will say i find it funny that this is the "robo speaker" because they can't use the android name, but they can use the mascot without so much as an (R). Guess Google doesn't' care. More reason to love em, eh?

My Note II sitting on top of the bag. Little big for the speaker and cord, but w/e. Its a cool, android branded bag. Will definitely use this for something - not holding the speaker tho.

So this is the cable. You'll probably want to click on this picture, even if you don't click on any others.

It starts in a MicroUSB and ends with two plugs - a male USB 2.0 and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The big white thing on it is a clip to hold the cords (surprisingly sturdy construction) and includes a little slider to keep the split cord in check.

Better view of the clip.

So this is how you're supposed to use it - plug the 3.5mm headphone jack into your device and the MicroUSB into his butt, and let the USB dangle.

This is how I personally find it best to use - wrap the cord around his legs and use the clip to hold it in place.

Works like a charm.

Now, I want to say, since this is not an easily replaceable cord (that i can tell), you probably want to only use it to play music. Something like this MIGHT work, but I really have no idea.

Luckily, he charges just fine over a standard MicroUSB.

Now, a note on using this guy - when you have him turned on, his eyes light up blue

I don't know if you can really tell here, but in the dark you can see a line of slight glowing on the bottom of his head, actually where his mouth would be. However....

Don't charge this guy when you're trying to sleep. because his eyes turn red when he charges. That in itself isn't so bad, but that slight blue line I mentioned turns into a demented looking Joker smile. Not conductive to sleeping soundly.=P Which, to me, makes it even cooler - I knew android had some deep, dark, evil secrets in there =P

By the way, yes, you can play music through him while you charge. His eyes will be red if you do this.

Now, I have yet to field run this guy, so I can't tell you anything about battery life yet, but he did come to me with a nearly full charge.

Sound quality is frankly much better (and louder) than I expected. I'm no audiophile but i can pick out the sound of a decent speaker and this little guy impressed.

As far as build quality goes, he's very sturdily built. Strong, heavy plastic, which while is highly reflective does not pick up any fingerprints at all. I don't feel any risk of breaking the antenna, surprisingly. The weak point (because there always is one) would be the arms. For some reason they're made of a slightly different, softer plastic, and there's a little bit of bend to em if you pull them out or squeeze them in - if something breaks on this guy it'll be those, but honestly, I don't really see that happening.

Since this guy was a gift, I have no idea on pricing. I know I could look it up but frankly I feel too lazy at the moment. I do know, However, that they come in multiple colors.

Overall, I really like this little guy. The fact that he lacks a 3.5mm audio-in port confounds me, and the demented smile while charging will frighten small children (though that may be a plus to you). But overall I think the iHome Robo Ri-26 Rechargeable MiniSpeaker is great, and I plan to use it a lot.

Are you my father?

(To the right: The Official Google Cookie Jar)