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[Review] Caseco Mountie: World’s smallest vent mount

Andrew Orr
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I’ve spent about a week using the Caseco vent mount for phones, and I have to say it’s very handy. It’s a small, low-profile device and it’s easy to use and set up, and since it clips on you can use it in multiple cars.

The vent mount consists of a neodymium ring magnet that you stick to the back of your phone, or a case. This magnet is the strongest magnet possible you can buy in retail without damaging your phone’s inner electronics. I recommend using it with a case specifically for this scenario.

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The plastic clip snaps onto your car’s vent, with the magnetic end facing outward. You simply line up the magnets and stick your phone on. The clip itself is made from a high-quality anodized aluminum alloy, not a cheap plastic clip that breaks.

There’s a mechanism inside the clip that lets you rotate your smartphone in 360°, which allows for full vertical and horizontal positioning which is great for GPS and recording videos. The clip stays secure no matter how much you rotate it.

Features

  • Compatible: All devices up to 1.3lbs. Flat, hard surface recommended.
  • Dimensions: 2″ x 1″ x .75″
  • Materials: Hard plastic with rubberized coating, neodymium magnet, VHB adhesive by 3M
  • Package Contents: 1 Mountie vent mount, 1 metal disc with adhesive
  • Color: Black
  • Product name: Mountie – Vent Car Mount, Model No. CC-MT-BK

You can check out the Mountie vent mount on Amazon for $25.

Conclusion

In short, I think this vent mount is useful, affordable and easy to use. I was able to set it up and start using it withing five minutes, and it’s great for people that use their phone as a navigation system.

The Frog Who Travels is too difficult for its target audience [Review]

AndroidGuys
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When I first saw The Frog Who Travels I was hopeful that it would be a throwback to Frogger. Not so much. What I did find was a cute little jumping game that is much too difficult for its target audience.

Gameplay

This game is a side-scroller that has you controlling a frog who leaps from column to column trying to avoid falling into the water. Why a frog needs to avoid water is beyond me. We receive no background or storyline to follow and have no real goals to accomplish, although it does have achievements for Google Play Games.

The game mechanics are simple to understand but very difficult to put into practice. To make the frog jump simply press down on the screen and hold, then release when you have charged the jump to your liking. I know what you guys are thinking, “Seriously? How is this hard?” but I’m telling you, this mechanic does not make it easy at all to tell if you have charged the jump enough to make it anywhere near the next pillar.

There are three different game types to choose from: easy, which is portrayed by a baby bottle; normal- the large “play” button at the center of the home screen; and timed- portrayed by the clock icon to the right of normal.

Easy mode gives you a charging icon above the frog so you know just how much jump he has, but in my experience, this is not as useful as it might sound because the height and distance of every single pillar are different. Normal mode just allows you to play the game as intended, an endless sea of pillars to jump to, and you can obtain points and coins along the way. Timed mode is just what it sounds like, play the game with a timer and see how far you can get.

Graphics

The graphics of this game are my favorite part by far. The fabulous 2D backdrops of cityscapes and grassy hills are great. The developers used bold color choices in the foreground and some more muted colors to display backdrops. The animations are great here as well, from the subtle movement of the water to the jumping action of the frog.

Conclusion

To be clear, I do enjoy the theme and gameplay that the author is reaching for, I simply feel that the learning curve is a little steep to capture the attention of what I feel to be its target audience, pre-teen children. If you have a child that enjoys a challenge in the games you let them play by all means give The Frog Who Travels a download.

Download The Frog Who Travels

Fill the Pot misses the mark (review)

AndroidGuys
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PScreenshot_2016-04-26-11-41-51eeing in a bucket. That is the basis of this Android game. I’m not kidding. Fill the Pot by developer South Pacific Apps is a physics game where everything rides on your…um…aim. (I’m requesting official kudos from the AndroidGuys editorial team for my restraint from multiple bathroom metaphors in this review. It was not easy.)
You play the role of a homeowner in his backyard (apparently) who REALLY has to relieve himself. Yes, you play only males in this game, if you were really thinking about asking that question.

You start by downloading the game from Google Play, of course. The game does link you to your Google Play Games account, if you so choose. If you don’t link to your account, you won’t be able to access leaderboards or log your achievements. If that’s your thing.
After startup, you start with only a single avatar to use (more avatars are available as you Screenshot_2016-04-27-17-45-04collect bonus coins in the game). This initial avatar can fill each pot in 3 seconds (more on that in a moment). The higher-level avatars can fill pots in shorter times, through both accuracy and flow.

Gameplay and Controls

When each pot appears, a countdown timer begins on-screen. Each timer is of varying time. You have to:

  1. Place your ‘stream’ into the pot with accuracy.
  2. Hold your ‘stream’ at the pot’s opening long enough to fill said pot, before the countdown timer reaches zero.

Controls work in two different ways. The first is moving your ‘stream’ left and right; this is done by simply tilting your device either way. The second is the strength/reach of your ‘stream’; this is done by an up-arrow on the left of the screen and down-arrow on the right. You combine these controls to place your effluent in a pot placed randomly on the screen.

The controls are the weakest point of the game, in that they are just not discrete enough. The gyro (or tilting action) worked fine for me, but the up/down controls were simply too crude. I continually under – and over – shot my target; this is frustrating when you know you’re more accurate than that….male pride steps in here.

Screenshot_2016-04-26-11-44-57If you successfully fill the pot in time, that pot disappears and another magically appears in a different location, dictating you adjust your placement to start filling again. You continue this endlessly, until you can’t fill a pot in the allotted time. To quote the developer, “Don’t worry you never run out of pee.”

During this urinary steeplechase, random bags of coins (of varying value) appear. They are clearly a temptation: veer to the money and collect it for upgrading your avatar, but to do so you risk losing valuable filling time. Such choices in life. Count me in as a dedicated urinator (is that a word?). During my time with this game, I never could grab enough coin to upgrade my avatar, as I was solely focused on pot-filling.

Sound and Graphics

The game actually hits high marks here. The graphics are simple but with bold primary colors that don’t grow tiresome. The sound effects are very realistic, from the standard ‘flow’, to bounding off the side of the targeted pot, to the oh-so-satisfying sound of proper fillage (you know what I mean, fellas). All the while the never-ending bing of the countdown timer reminds you that your life in this game is tenuous.

Conclusion

Honestly, the game is fun to play, and could be much more so if the controls were fine-tuned some more. Unfortunately, the game’s premise is bound to deter some folks from having this on their device, let along playing it in public. A similar setup with a more publicly-acceptable premise would certainly make it more public-friendly.

Download Fill the Pot here.

The hottest Android apps and games around (May 28)

AndroidGuys
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Looking for something new to install on your Android phone or tablet over the long weekend? With millions of options to choose from, it’s not always easy to determine the best of the best. Because of that, we sometimes have to turn to our friends or family for recommendations. Beyond that, it doesn’t hurt to look at what the entire space is up to in order to figure out the trending apps and games.

We’ve pulled the top 10 apps and games from across a number of charts on the Google Play and the Amazon Appstore. These might not necessarily be brand new, but they’re certainly among the hottest titles around.

Top Free Apps and Games (Amazon Appstore)

  1. slither.io
  2. Color Switch
  3. ES File Explorer
  4. Angry Birds Rio
  5. YouTube
  6. Netflix
  7. Amazon Video
  8. Facebook Messenger
  9. Facebook
  10. Wreck-It Ralph

Top Free Apps (Google Play)

  1. Facebook Messenger
  2. Snapchat
  3. slither.io
  4. Facebook
  5. GO Speed (Clean & Applock)
  6. Instagram
  7. Pandora Radio
  8. Color Switch
  9. Spotify Music
  10. iFunny:)

Top Free Games (Google Play)

  1. slither.io
  2. Color Switch
  3. Vector 2
  4. Mobile Strike
  5. Subway Surfers
  6. Wizard of Oz Magic Match
  7. Hungry Shark Wizard
  8. Clash Royal
  9. 8 Ball Pool 
  10. Stack 

Top Paid Apps and Games (Amazon Appstore)

  1. Minecraft – Pocket Edition
  2. Plants vs. Zombies
  3. Geometry Dash
  4. Minecraft: Story Mode
  5. Five Nights at Freddy’s
  6. Terraria
  7. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
  8. PAW Patrol Pups Take Flight
  9. Five Nights at Freddy’s 4
  10. Angry Birds HD (Fire Edition)

Top Paid Apps (Google Play)

  1. MineCraft
  2. RETRORIKA ICON PACK
  3. Bloons TD 5
  4. Geometry Dash
  5. HotSchedules
  6. Ultimate Guitar Tabs & Chords
  7. Card Wars – Adventure Time
  8. Assasins Creed Identity
  9. Skater
  10. Five Nights at Freddy’s

Top Paid Games (Google Play)

  1. MineCraft
  2. Bloons TD 5
  3. Geometry Dash
  4. Card Wars – Adventure Time
  5. Assasins Creed Identity
  6. Skater
  7. Five Nights at Freddy’s
  8. Exploding Kittens® – Official
  9. Terraria.
  10. True Skate

App and game news you may have missed (May 28)

Josiah Ward
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Millions of apps and games get added to/updated on the Google Play Store every day and it is easy to miss these updates. It’s hard to stay on top of everything that happens in the mobile space. Aside from the big name players and their popular titles, indie devs and other game makers are pushing out stuff that’s worth covering.

For those, and other reasons, we here at AndroidGuys have collected some news for you guys:

ReRunners, a multiplayer racing gam by Khang Games and Tilting Point, has been opened for Early access. You can sign up by clicking here. Official release will be in the upcoming months.

Deep Silver FISHLABS released their first 360° Video of their upcoming game Galaxy On Fire 3-Manticore. The game will be released in summer 2016, but you can sign up for Early Access here.

GAMEVIL has updated their mobile RPG Dragon Blaze with two new Dragon Busters: Ouranos and Omega. Omega blesses his allies and makes them invincible. Ouranos, AKA Storm of the Sky, switches into Revenge Mode when an ally dies and unleashes his Rage.

WRIO keyboard was released, sporting hexagonal keys and gestures. It is available for $3 during the introduction phase, but will eventually be $5. You can pick it up here.

Shutterstock Mobile has been updated to support Reverse Image Search, which uses Machine Learning to compare the photos you upload to similar ones in Shutterstock’s database. Right now this feature is only on iOS, but they promise it will come to Android. You can get the app here.

Shutterstock: Reverse Image Search for the iOS App from Shutterstock on Vimeo.

Hothead Games’ Kill Shot Bravo has been updated to Version 1.7. This update brings a multiplayer feature called Alliance Mode, including a chat feature to work with your Alliance. You can download it here.

Family Tracking app Life360 is introducing a feature called Driver Protect, which includes features such as Roadside Assistance and Driver Support, which connects you to a Life360 advisor that can help you with all of your emergency driving needs. It can also alert family members when a driver is in a crash. This will cost $7.99/month or $69.99/year. Click here to check out Life360.

Slacker Radio is updating its Android App with a new UI and a focus on original programming. This includes artist curated shows and themed with commentary to complement the listening experience. You can download Slacker for Android here.

LogMeOnce: Safe, fast, and secure password management (Review)

Josiah Ward
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Overview

For some, password managers are an essential part of life. For others, they’re quite unnecessary. Personally, prior to doing this post, I was in the second camp. Why would I want to give my passwords to some company I had never heard of and then shell out money for a glorified password journal? That is, I felt this way until LogMeOnce made me reconsider.

Impressions

User Interface

Screenshot_2016-04-24-07-37-52LogMeOnce is a great app, but its UI leaves a lot to be desired. The app feels like little more than a bookmark shortcut. After this initial turn-off, however, I noticed a few things.The app is very fast and responsive, with no need to double and triple-tap just to get something to work. Logging into the app takes only 4 seconds, though logging in every time gets a little tedious. I guess there’s just some sacrifices you have to make for the sake of security.

Setup

Initial sign up for LogMeOnce was a breeze. After typing my basic info, I got an email to confirm my account and bam, I was ready to add passwords. Adding my first password (and only one for the sake of this review) took maybe 30 seconds. All I had to do was go into the secure browser, navigate to the page, login, and LogMeOnce did the rest.

Features

Screenshot_2016-04-29-19-36-58Just a few of LogMeOnce’s features are password randomization, single sign-on, X.509 certificate authentication, backup and restore, and much more. However, there’s one feature that makes it stand out: Mugshot. This feature makes it so that when someone attempts to log into your LogMeOnce and fails, it takes a photo of them and collects their IP. If the login attempt wasn’t you, there’s an easy option to report it. As you can see in my screenshot to the right of this, my failed attempt was captured with a front and back facing photo, device info, my IP at the moment, and the exact date and time it happened. I should’ve reported myself but I got the login right on the second try, so all was good with the world.

Pricing

IMG_20160424_073722LogMeOnce has three levels: Free (Premium), $1/month (Professional), and $3.25/month (Ultimate). Just as a little comparison, Dashlane premium costs $39.99 a year, which is the same price as LogMeOnce Ultimate. Lastpass is $12 a year, which is the same as LogMeOnce Professional. So LogMeOnce is in the same range as others and is definitely a good option for enterprises.

Conclusion

LogMeOnce is a great app that definitely has the right idea when it comes to security. Users can add their logins easily and even produce a random password for it. It’s always accessible and, if anyone tries to log in wrongfully, Mugshot will capture them and their IP. As soon as the UI is made to look a little easier on the eyes, it will easily be able to rise to popularity.

Download and install LogMeOnce from the Google Play Store.

NYNE Edge review: Portable, bike-ready, and more than enough sound

Scott Webster
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As the weather continues to get nicer by the week, many of us find ourselves outside for various reasons. Be it for some basic yard work, poolside chilling, family time at the park, or something else, there’s plenty of reason to get out and in the world.

I love nothing more than to spend a few hours riding a bicycle and unplugging from everything. Typically, that means plugging in some headphones or pairing earbuds. Lately, however, I’ve been using the NYNE Edge Bluetooth speaker. And, while it’s certainly not a private listening experience, it’s one I’ve enjoyed.

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Designed exactly like a shrunken, miniature version of the NYNE Rock, the NYNE Edge fits easily into your hand. The contoured shape lends itself nicely to portability and the soft materials feel great. It’s very convenient to pick up and take it to the deck to listen to a ball game.

If there were one word to describe to size of the speaker, it would have to be deceiving. The sounds that comes of this guy is downright incredible. To be sure, it’s louder than anything I need considering its primary function. More than capable of filling a room, it’s plenty of sound to liven up a patio party. You can really crank the speaker up before you start to hear sort of distortion. In my testing, I’ve never had a reason to turn the NYNE Edge up over halfway.

The NYNE Edge, while nice to have in the traditional speaker sense, really shines when you use it on a bike. Indeed, the speaker comes with a universal handlebar bicycle clamp accessory that lets one take the speaker on the road. And when I say “shines” I mean that literally, too. The rear of the unit houses an LED flashlight with four light effects: low, high, flashing, and SOS.

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I’ve found that regardless of what I am listening to, I simply don’t need to harness the full power of the NYNE Edge while biking. Sure, it faces me for the most part, but it’s still rich enough sound that pedestrians and other riders are hearing things. This is fantastic, however, if you like to ride in groups and share similar listening habits. Maybe it’s my own insecurities, but I feel like the people around me are judging me for my podcast or music selection. Personally, I’ve come to love the sound and quality of the speaker for all-purposes reasons.

Like its much bigger sibling, the NYNE Edge is waterproof and offers up a couple of convenient features. You’ll find NFC for quick pairing, a built-in battery and USB port for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Moreover, there’s a five-light indicator that lets you know how much juice is left in the speaker.

Battery life is listed at up to 15 hours on the NYNE website. I found this to be accurate for the most part. Understanding the size and capabilities, I might have liked a couple more hours but that’s really just me being picky. Note that charging your phone through the speaker and using the light will naturally affect how long the battery lasts.

In terms of buttons, the NYNE Edge comes with the usual fare. You’ll find power, volume up and down and buttons to skip or go back on tracks. The play and pause button also lets users take phone calls, too. Yep, you can chat up the wife while riding around town… if that’s your thing. Rounding things out is the flashlight button which cycles through the four aforementioned modes.

If you’re looking for a very portable speaker that delivers tremendous sound and plays nicely with bikes, you’re gonna spend roughly a hundred bucks or so. That’s exactly the price point you’ll find with the NYNE Edge. Considering it comes with the bike clamp I would have pegged the price to be $120 or so. At $99.99 it’s a terrific value. Pick one up from NYNE’s website, Amazon, or eBay today.

10 of the best unlocked Android smartphone and Android Wear deals from Amazon (May 27th)

Josh Noriega
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The days where we walk into a carrier store to purchase a subsidized smartphone are fading. This trend, bundled with the aggressive prices that we’re beginning to see in unlocked phones, makes purchasing a phone full price a more viable option. Carriers will tell you that you are getting a discount when you sign up for a phone plan, but you can save a lot more with an unlocked device.

Amazon is where a majority of us go to find the best prices of merchandise, therefore, we’ve complied a list of great unlocked smartphone deals you can find there today. Let’s check out what you can save on! And if you have a Prime account, you can even get same day shipping depending on where you live.

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Android_Wear

Here is a mini roundup of Android smartwatches that may be of interest as well:

Bear in mind that these particular prices are at the time of writing. Amazon changes its prices frequently. Also, different colors often have different prices, and there may be limited quantities. Happy Android shopping!

Restokitch Recipes & Cookbook is an ambitious cooking app and foodie social network

AndroidGuys
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Overview:

Restokitch is a recipe sharing app and foodie social network that offers a primarily Indian menu and some ambitious features.

Developer: Restokitch

Cost: Free

Impressions:

Restokitch is a recipe app that does a bit more than just offer some interesting and simple dishes. It also markets itself as a sort of social network for aspiring foodies and professional chefs, sort of like an Instagram or Twitter for cooks only. Features like followers and a hotline for answering user questions make this app stand out from other such recipe apps on Google Play.
Restokitch 2Restokitch primarily focuses on Indian cuisine, but there are some Western dishes mixed in as well.

Most of the recipes are fairly simple to prepare and feature readily available ingredients that you can find at your local supermarket. However, some recipes can stretch a bit long for a smartphone screen, so you may have to scroll down to read more, not ideal when cooking and your hands are full of food, I would have liked to see a better format for small screen reading to avoid this issue.

The social features of Restokitch are what make it stand out but
unfortunately, they aren’t very robust yet. The Hotline feature, a forum for asking questions or seeking tips about cooking, doesn’t have a ton of activity as of now- a lot of recent questions have gone unanswered after more than a week. The app also boasts cooking contests that are live and global, but there has only been one and it was in March 2016.

Restokitch 1For professional chefs and food bloggers, Restokitch offers a
channel where you can post your own recipes, and gather followers and Trust, a sort of reputation system. This is by far the most fleshed out feature of the app, with a good number of frequent posters and all of them with a few hundred followers each. I would have liked to see even more social features incorporated with this, but for what it is, it works more or less fine.
One complaint I do have is the requirement to log in with Facebook. I would have preferred an anonymous option or at least some varied log in choices so I’m not forced to attach my Facebook account to the app just to read some recipes.

Conclusion:

I would recommend Restokitch to someone who was very interested in learning to cook Indian cuisine, or who just loves to eat it. The amount of diverse and quality recipes alone justifies the download for those interested, but the lackluster social aspect makes this app just another face in the crowd.

Download Restokitch from the Google Play Store

The Turcom HR-903 Acoustoshock Bluetooth speaker is built like a tank and has sound quality to match (review)

Derrick Miyao
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Wireless speakers are a dime a dozen these days. They’re so commonplace that you can buy speaker at every major retailer, and you can even find them at places like the airport. In general most speakers are pretty much the same, but occasionally we come across different types of speakers that cross into other categories outside of technology.

If you love the outdoors, the water, and music, we have just the speaker for you. The Turcom HR-903 Acoustoshock Bluetooth rugged wireless speaker is built like a tank and has powerful sound to back it up. It’s built to withstand the elements yet provide loud and clear sound while you’re in an open environment.

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The Turcom HR-903 even has treads like a tank.

Specs

  • Dual driver set-up with 30 watts of power
  • Bluetooth 4.0, 33 feet connection range
  • IPX5 water-resistance rating, dust-proof, shock-proof
  • Eight hours of playtime
  • Dimensions: 10″ x 3.8″ x 4.7″
  • Weight: 58.5 oz.

Build

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In the image above, you can see the rubber treads that protect the outside of the speaker. Instead of moving the speaker like the tracks on a tank do, the rubber exterior of the speaker serves as protection against drops. That protection puts the Turcom HR-903 in the “tough” class of portable speakers, where there are few options available from the likes of Fugoo and Braven. Having another portable speaker in this category is fantastic especially as many people upgrade their home wireless speakers to the kind that streams music over WiFi.

The Turcom HR-903 speaker is pretty big at 10″ long, but it’s large so you can hear it in wide-open spaces like the outdoors. It has two large 2.75″ diameter drivers, matched with an even larger subwoofer rated to handle 30 watts of power. To run the drivers is a massive 8000mAh battery that can also serve as an energy source for your other USB powered devices like an Android smartphone. Most Android smartphones have a battery capacity around 3,000mAh and that means you can easily get two full recharges from the Turcom HR-903 when you’re out on the trails.

DSC02809

On top of the Turcom HR-903 is where you will find the controls and NFC chip for easy pairing. Bluetooth, fast forward/rewind, play/pause, answer call/hang up and volume controls are all touch enabled meaning you will not get physical feedback from the buttons. This is a great way to keep the electronics inside sealed to protect the speaker from dust and water which is why the Turcom HR-903 comes with an IPX5 rating.

The Turcom HR-903 is a very well built machine. With a very rugged exterior, touch controls, and a cover over the charging port, the HR-903 is designed to take on the toughest lifestyles.

Usage

The Turcom Hr-903 holds up very well to the elements. I took it to the beach, rolled it around in the sand and washed it all off when I got home. Some sand got stuck behind the grill, but it didn’t affect the performance of the speaker.

The speaker is what really shines. For $129.99, I wasn’t expecting much in terms of sound quality but the HR-903 is very crisp and detailed. Even at low volumes, where you can lose a lot of detail, the speaker played music very clearly. Only when I had the speaker at 100% volume is when I discovered a “concert hall” type effect where it sounded a little echoey. The Turcom HR-903 is great for outdoor use – the 30 watts really drive the speaker to volumes most other Bluetooth speakers cannot attain. This is essential for wide open spaces since there are no walls to keep the sound contained. Loudness was never an issue on hikes, at the beach, and hanging out at the park.

DSC02830

It was also nice to have the speaker double up as a portable battery too. When I was at the beach all Sunday, I needed to recharge my S7 edge due to the weak signal that drained my battery. I simply lifted the cover that protects the USB port and charged my phone in about 1.5 hours.

The advertised playback time is seven hours, but I frequently saw eight hours of use in-between charges. I also didn’t play my music much louder than 50% because it is a loud speaker and didn’t need to push it that hard.

Overall, the only issue I had with the speaker was its large size. It isn’t as portable as others, but it needs the size to pump out loud volumes for wide open spaces. So if you plan on hanging out at the beach, camping, or a bonfire, this speaker is perfect for your needs. However if you plan on taking it hiking, be prepared to carry a bit of extra weight.

Integrated carry handle.
Integrated carry handle.

Summary

With a retail price of $129.99, the Turcom HR-903 is a great option if you want a speaker you can use outdoors and indoors. The build quality is top notch, and it is designed to withstand the elements. The speaker is also refined to handle the quiet controlled environment of your home, and can pump out clear and crisp sound at almost any volume level.

I highly recommend the Turcom HR-903 Acoustoshock to anyone who doesn’t need to worry about carrying a portable speaker in your pocket. It’s a great value for all of the features it delivers.

Learn more and order the Turcom HR-903 Acoustoshock direct from the manufacturer here.

Or order the Turcom HR-903 Acoustoshock from Amazon.

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