Hidden Radio begins shipping

Ten months after its Kickstarter campaign ended, Hidden Radio, a Bluetooth wireless speaker and FM radio geared toward the iPhone and iPad, is being shipped to its backers. The first couple of reviews hit the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Writer Shawn Blanc found the device to be "a trophy of design and a failure of engineering." The speaker, he said, requires a good bit of pressure to adjust the volume, exhibited a random issue a few days ago where the speaker was disconnecting from its Bluetooth connection every 15 minutes, frequently powered off and had sound quality that he describes as "a muffled, cheap boombox."

On the other hand, International Business Times' Dave Smith raves about the speaker, even though he found the audio distorted at maximum levels and the bass needed improvement. The speaker syncs effortlessly and the speaker holds out for awhile with each battery charge. Smith doesn't go into a detailed day-to-day usage like Blanc does.

If you missed the Kickstarter, you can pre-order a Hidden Radio starting at US$149.95 through Nov. 15, when the price will go up. It'll be interesting as more of these Kickstarter accessories reach the light of day to see how well the concepts hold up. I'm looking forward to testing the Nifty MiniDrive I contributed toward when it's released.