Belkin Thunderstorm iPad Speaker Case Unboxing & Overview
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2014-05-07
·
1,115 words · ~5 min read
0:05
The Arc midi R2 by fractal design features massive air flow and highly
0:09
flexible liquid cooling support click now to learn more this my friends is the
0:13
belon thunderstorm which they're branding as a handheld home theater and
0:18
if you check out their website they claim this is the
0:22
loudest iPad case now not the loudest
0:25
iPad Dock because obviously you can put an iPad or iPod into like any number of
0:31
massive things these days which for some reason people buy but it's inexplicable
0:35
to me but anyway docs are apparently a thing but no this is an actual iPad case
0:40
so Belin partnered up with aify to make
0:43
this particular product possible and while from what I've seen the audio
0:48
quality might not be the best thing you ever heard which makes sense because it
0:52
is extremely low profile for speakers
0:55
which have just sort of physical restraints on them in terms of you know
1:00
how much sound they can produce and how great it can be in terms of their actual
1:04
size it's uh apparently not bad either
1:08
so here is the iPad case itself this
1:11
particular one is designed for iPads gen 1 and Gen 2 and they do have a separate
1:17
option for other more different iPads so the way your iPad fits in I actually
1:21
happen to have this has been missing for a while I
1:25
just found my iPad so I'm like super stoked on that so I'm going to go ahead
1:29
and take it out of its existing case which is just a Slimline case that does
1:33
not have speakers so it is definitely quieter
1:36
than this one so all you do is throw the iPad in there don't throw gently place
1:43
then lock it in place with the dock connector down there so now it's oh you
1:47
know what I don't think I got it quite in hold on just okay well let's find out
1:51
how to pull it out then there you go so you just pull in it and then you try
1:55
again ah now it's in there so you just got to get it under the lip here so the
1:59
iPad should be reasonably well protected so there's kind of a smart covery
2:03
looking cover on it they've got apparently some information for the user
2:07
something about an FCC statement in IND industry Canada and whatnot and whatever
2:11
oh look at that they have instructions for this so there's instructions on the back that tell you everything that I
2:16
just told you you can download an app the Thunder app lets you select the
2:20
optimum audio setting maybe we should do that we'll be back in a moment all right
2:23
so we installed the app which promptly prompted us to update the firmware
2:28
actually of the device itself so the app does not too much basically
2:33
what it allows you to do is change the stereo separation so they have suggested
2:36
settings for Games music movies and voice chat and then it also allows you
2:42
to preview your settings with a built-in audio clip so they actually use sort of
2:47
airports throughout the device I shouldn't say airports like like ports
2:51
for air not like you know like planes and stuff like
2:55
that not airports but uh that's basically what allows it to achieve it
3:00
Basin and it's not bad audio quality let
3:04
me put it this way is as good or better
3:08
than those little like you know Bluetooth speakers you can get like the
3:11
jam box it destroys the jam box I can say that much I'm not a big fan of the
3:14
jam box by Jawbone uh but something like an antech sp1 I'd say it's probably
3:19
similar maybe even a touch louder than the sp1 and something I didn't cover yet
3:23
before is that the way that this folds gives you the option to have a couple of
3:27
different angles for it so you can fold it like that or you can fold it like
3:32
that and it can sort of sit in various different ways depending on what you
3:36
prefer so let's go ahead and play
3:41
it so that's maximum volume and I'm talking what I'd consider to be sort of
3:46
a louder than normal speaking voice which should give you some idea how loud
3:50
this thing is and uh yeah like I said okay audio quality not perfect but is it
3:56
more practical if you use your iPad for watching movies and listening to music
4:00
at the beach or whatever else very very frequently than something like a
4:03
Bluetooth speaker Perhaps it is bulky so
4:07
you're taking something that is Sleek and slim like the iPad and you're
4:11
turning it into a bit of a brick you do have to remember to charge it however
4:16
should be noted that you don't have to keep it open all the time so this is something I didn't notice before but the
4:20
speaker kind of pokes through the front cover here and it will at as well it
4:25
will if nothing else also keep your iPad from getting damaged so it's quite thick
4:30
on the back so that's sort of the flip side of that accessing the headphone
4:34
Port looks like it's going to be a bit of a challenge if your headphones use a
4:37
right angle connector however if they use a straight connector you should be fine you charge it here the lock button
4:42
is here your other more different rotation lock buttons here volume up and
4:46
down is there and then you can looks like you're actually going to have to
4:49
pop it out in order to access the dot connector so this is more like the kind
4:52
of thing that you'd keep in your beach bag and throw your iPad in when it's the
4:56
appropriate time this also disconnects magnetically as you would expect if
5:00
you're a smart cover user which I am not so I was not expecting that if you liked
5:05
the video click like the video If you dislike the video click dislike the
5:08
video if you were totally impartial to the video then I guess uh go join the
5:13
Linus Tech tips.com Forum because it's awesome and you can discuss your
5:18
impartiality with the other people there who will definitely want to talk to you
5:22
don't forget to subscribe PL this Tech tips for more unboxings reviews and other computer videos