Logitech Tablet Speaker review: Logitech Tablet Speaker

Logitech's Tablet Speaker is one of those products that might not blow you away in any department, but its simple, versatile design and inexpensive price makes it an easy impulse buy, especially for those looking to augment the sound of their iPad for movie viewing.

7.0

Logitech Tablet Speaker

$50 at Amazon

The Good

The affordable <b>Logitech Tablet Speaker</b> clips on to any tablet, plugs into the device's headphone jack, and offers significantly better sound than your tablet's speakers. It also has a built-in rechargeable battery, includes a protective cover, and works with any device that has a 3.5mm headphone jack, including laptops.

The Bad

The cord is a little short, and the battery is nonreplaceable. The clip isn't the most elegant or sturdy attachment, either.

The Bottom Line

If you don't mind the clip-on design, the superaffordable Logitech Tablet Speaker actually sounds decent enough and offers compatibility with multiple devices thanks to its simple and flexible design.

The speaker--which is fairly lightweight at 6.5 ounces--is 8.5 inches long and clips onto the top of the iPad and larger Android tablets. You then plug the cord into the 3.5mm headphone jack on your device, hit the power button, and you're good to go.

It's worth noting that the clip opens pretty wide so there's some leeway in terms of what you can clip it onto. For example, I clipped it onto an iPad that had a case on without any problem.

The side-mounted speakers are very directional, and the cord is only 13 inches long.

However, the one limiting factor to what you clip onto is the length of the cord--it's 13 inches long (it does fold into the speaker and hide away for transport, which is nice). That means you can only clip the speaker onto the top of a small laptop like the 11-inch MacBook Air in order to have the cord reach the headphone jack.

For those looking for more of a laptop speaker, Logitech also makes the Z305 speaker, which is bigger than this model and is designed for laptop use. However, it connects and is powered via USB, so it's not as versatile as this speaker in terms of the types of products it can be used with.

One last design note: Alternatively, instead of clipping the speaker onto a tablet, you can simply leave the speaker sitting on a table--the clip folds back into the speaker--and plug into any device, including a smartphone, iPod, or laptop.

There's only a power button on the speaker (no volume controls) and the speaker uses a nonreplaceable rechargeable battery that you juice up via USB. Battery life is rated at up to 8 hours, which is good. Logitech also throws in a protective cover for the speaker, a nice bonus.

As far as sound quality goes, it's not great but it did exceed my expectations and is a significant step up from the internal speakers of the iPad. No, it's not going to fill a room with sound, but for the purpose it was intended for (louder listening), it works quite well and plays sufficiently loud.

Because the speaker fires out the sides, the sound is very directional and will shift as you move the speaker around. It sounds best when your head is centered in the middle of it (looking directly at it). Also, if you put the speaker on a table (it will support your tablet at a typing angle) you can get some reflection from the table and improve the sound slightly. Putting the speaker near a wall will also help the augment the limited bass a bit.

That's really all there is to it. After using the speaker for a couple of days, I really didn't come away with any complaints. In short, Logitech's Tablet Speaker is a versatile accessory and a relative bargain at this price.