They guys at Parrot, God bless ’em, are still tossing unusual Bluetooth products into the market in the hopes that something will stick. Their latest shot is the Parrot Party, a small portable Bluetooth speaker that can receive audio streams from your music-playing phone, PC or MP3 player. It’s 9 inches long and weighs 21 ounces, so it’s easy enough to stuff in your backpack. A couple of 6-watt speakers and some fancy bass-enhancing processing should fill modestly sized rooms with your tunes. Non-Bluetooth gadgets can even get in on the action via a line-input minijack. Wires, ugh!
Nothing to complain about here really — even the 4-hour rated battery life is decent — although the cost is a tad on the pricey side at $170. That said, since most folks would probably want to Party with their iPods, you’d need a Bluetooth transmitter like something from Belkin or Griffin Technology to use it with this speaker. Should be a good companion to your iPhone, though. Coming in August.