Let there be light (and sound) -- Inateck Tomons DL1101 [Review]
Is it a lamp? Is it a speaker? Is it a media player? Is it a radio? Actually the DL1101 is all of these things rolled into one. It can connect to a sound source via Bluetooth or play music from a Micro SD card, there's a built-in FM receiver and it lights up, all of this for around $20.
The on-board battery needs to be charged through its USB connection. It can deliver up to eight hours of life on a full charge but this obviously depends on volume levels and how bright you have the light.
Power and playback controls are on the front, there are also three buttons on the bottom for selecting the playback mode and setting a sleep timer. You can change the brightness and color of the lighting by touching the top of the unit. There are four levels of white light, plus red and a color change mode that cycles through different shades.
Bluetooth pairing has voice prompts so it's easy to connect to your phone or other device. FM tuning is a bit tricky as there's no visual indication of the station you're listening to. The unit auto tunes the strongest stations and you then simply use the plus and minus buttons to switch between them.
Sound quality is quite impressive for such a compact unit, with a rich tone and enough volume to fill a decent sized room and there's minimal distortion at higher volumes.
Given the number of functions the DL1101 packs in it would be easy to dismiss it as a gimmick. In fact it all works well, is easy to use and offers decent sound quality. Add in the light and the sleep timer, it makes a good unit to keep on a bedside cabinet.
The speaker costs $19.99 on Amazon (£29.99 in the UK) which also makes it a bit of a bargain. You can find more details on the Inateck website.