Parrot Party
It is 23cm long 8cm tall and a maximum of 8cm deep. Each of the speakers are 5cm round and give a reasonable sound level although the description on the box of 'Portable Wireless Stereo Soundbox' gives the impression that the volume might be louder than it is. Fine when you are within a couple of metres in a quite room but the name of 'Parrot Party' gives the impression of more muscle.
Perhaps a better description is 'For Bluetooth enabled mobile phones, smart phones, PDA, Computers or MP3 players and all analogue sources' according to the box. The power output is stated at 6watts (2x3watt speakers). Pages 11 to 19 of the User Guide give you any information you might require.
On opening the box you need to insert the battery into the back of the unit clipping it's lead into the connector. Next you need to connect the AC adapter and charge it I found the first full charge took 10 hours, after that they were 4 hours. You know when it's fully charged as the purple light that glows on the top of the unit once power is connected turns blue.
There are two inputs on the rear one for the 3.5 input the other for the AC adapter between these is the on/off slider. The only other controls are on the top a - and a + button for the limited volume adjustment. The centre button with blue LED round it is the Bluetooth finder, press it and the blue light initially flashes. To the right of these are two buttons to enhance the sound. The first is the now almost essential bass boost and the second is stereo widening. With the unit only a couple of metres away the effect is surprising and the sound does indeed seem to be coming from a wider field.
The specifications state the frequency range at 150Hz to 20kHz. It has a Parrot P5 ARM9 core CPU with 4MB flash memory and 8MB RAM. Various Bluetooth info is given but the Friendly Name Parrot Party is normally all you need to lock your Bluetooth unit onto the unit.
A mini CD is provided enabling you to configure the unit from a PC running Windows XP or Vista. However it is perfectly possible to use the unit either wired or wireless without any recourse to a PC.
The unit comes with a wrist strap and a fabric bag.
The main use of the Bluetooth is simply because few phones give you a 3.5mm output if yours does not have one then try this link to the Parrot site in the USA to see if it is compatible to the A2DP audio streaming supported by Parrot http://www.parrot.com/usa/support/onlinehelpfiles/parrotparty/compatibility
Using a phone and a PDA both with Bluetooth enabled me to test the distance and even to another nearby room things were fine, after about 3.5metres things broke up a little and certainly by 5metres things were unlistenable.
I had been assured by the agency handling Parrot in the UK that I had been sent the new model with the extended ten hour life that I had been told about at an event in September. My memory is somewhat impaired but I seem to remember that the new unit would be black, the one I was sent was the same colouring (white with blue rubber trim on the front edge) as the four hour model and the manual clearly says four hours. My tests done several times give the battery time between charges at 6.5hours.
Doing my Internet searches found the Parrot Party at a best price of £74.99 from the first link below.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parrot-PF520010AA-Party-UK/dp/B000S0QJ1G
http://www.parrot.com/uk/products/parrotparty this link shows the product in details and even allows you to view the product from any angle.
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