Kensington Introduces Acoustic Amplified GPS Mount For iPhones

kensington-windshield kensington-vent

Turn at the right corner. Look behind you. Is that TomTom in the rear-view mirror?

Those probably aren’t instructions most of us will hear from our GPS units, but they might have been in the minds of Kensington when it released a “cost-effective” alternative to competing systems. The windshield or vent car mount also “acoustically increases speaker volume without additional battery drain on the iPhone,” the company claimed Wednesday.

The mount is placed either on an auto’s windshield or in a vent. How can volume increase without using any power? The keyword in the last paragraph may be “acoustically.” We’ve all experienced the great acoustics in a tiled bathroom or the cathedral ceilings of a church. Maybe Kensington’s discovered an electronic voice bounce better when backed by a windshield or a hollow vent? Who know, no details were provided.

But what is evident is that Kensington is taking a slap at TomTom. In August, the FCC released photos of TomTom’s Car Kit, including a GPS mount that can reportedly be positioned either vertically or horizontally . The kit also includes a SIRFstar GPS chipset and Bluetooth.

Kensington’s acoustically updated GPS mount goes on sale in November, including at all Apple stores.

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TomTom iPhone GPS System + Car Kit Will Cost $220

[Via iClarified and Kensington]

7 comments »

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Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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Jeremy
Looks like they are merely redirecting the two speaker’s output from the bottom of the iPhone using those black extensions – basically, it just directs the sounds forward instead of going downward, creating the sense of increased volume.
Jont-fu
Just a simple directivity waveguide or a horn extension is needed to improve the air coupling of iPhone builtin speaker. A speaker driver in a cabinet sounds much louder than the same driver with the cabinet removed. There are other acoustic amplifier docks available, like the Griffin Aircurve (http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/aircurve) or Gryphon Ampli-Phone (http://www.ampli-phone.com/Welcome.html), which provides also bass extension by an octave.
nick
@ jeremy:
there is only one speaker. and this is not the first acoustic amplifier for the iPhone. if sound is focused through a channel, it gives off the feeling of being louder…its not exactly louder, but focused. so rather than the sound going in every direction, you hear more since it is now going in only one direction…try playing your iPhone’s iPod over the internal speaker with it just siting on the table. then make a fist, open it slightly, and put the iPhone in the opening on top…this mount will do essentially what this is doing.
with that all being said, i cant wait to pick one of these up
YodaMac
I see lots of those windshield mounts advertised… how often do you have to re-lick and stick them? Don’t they fall off regularly? What about in cold and hot weather?
I just can’t imagine having to get in the car and stick that thing up every time.
Jeremy
@ nick
Not a big deal, but if you look at the bottom of your iPhone there are 2 little speakers. The reason the iPhone is louder in your palm is that the sound is being reflected, which is exactly what I was saying this is doing.
Anyway, its all speculation at this point.
accolon
@Jeremy:
There’s only one speaker. The other “speaker” is the iPhone’s microphone.
Jeremy
I didn’t know that – good catch… still think it is merely reflecting the audio, though. :)