Functionality
In terms of straight-up sound, I was initially unimpressed. It took a couple of comparisons with my BlackBerry Bold’s speakerphone to tell that the T3 had fuller body, although the Bold easily matches it for bass and treble balance, and comes close in volume and 3D effect. A big part of that is sound ports. The Bold has four (two side, one top, one front), and all of them crank out a lot of volume, while the T3 is more selective and funneled with its two side ports. It makes for better effect when you’re in the sweet spot, but I find the Bold tends to sound good regardless of where you’re sitting in relation to it.
On the lanyard is the best way to set up the T3, but you can also listen when it’s just placed on a table. It really can’t handle top volume without distorting and having the bass vibrate enough to make it crawl across your desk. You can still get the airSOUND effect if you stay in one spot, but it’s quickly ruined if you move. This becomes an even bigger issue when it’s dangling around your neck, since it can quickly bounce and go face-down when you’re on the move.
In terms of functions, it’s baffling that there’s no volume control on here. You’ve got power and 3 airSOUND settings, that’s it. That might save the manufacturers a buck or two, but it’s certainly inconvenient to have to navigate your device’s UI as opposed to hit a physical button to change volume. I found connectivity to be a bit of a pain, even though my Bold has a 3.5 mm standard headphone jack; simply plugging it in wouldn’t work, so there was a lot of squeezing and jiggering to get my music app to recognize the speaker, nevermind having to deal with adapters for handsets with proprietary audio out.
The final word on the Orbitsound T3 is behind the jump…