Altec Lansing inMotion Classic iPod speaker
Altec Lansing have a wealth of experience making portable iPod speakers in the under £200 range.
So it’s no surprise that this is the territory the Altec Lansing inMotion Classic is competing.
This Home/Portable speaker dock category is hard fought though and Altec Lansing have made some bold claims about the inMotion Classis saying: “Outdoors, indoors, with friends, alone; with the inMotion Classic the world sounds better”.
Forgetting the sound for a second, the inMotion Classic looks good with its compact and angular design and does edge its way ahead of rivals like the Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere.
An interesting feature is the kickstand that’s a key part of the inMotion Classic’s design.
It locks in to 3 positions. The first is ‘down’ position, which basically tucks the stand in so that the speaker dock is easy to transport. The second position props the speaker up, which is its standard position. The third position is a ‘carry’ position, which Altec Lansing say is so that you can ‘effortlessly take your sound wherever the party goes’.
If you wanted to be a true 1980’s throwback, I think you’d be better off with the full Boombox experience of the Altec Lansing IMT800 though, truth be told.
The Altec Lansing inMotion Classic comes with a built-in FM radio, a handy remote control and a few other handy features that some of its similarly priced rivals are missing.
The most significant of these is that it’s designed to be used with an iPhone as well as iPods, something which other iPod speakers aren’t always set up for.
The speaker dock has GSM shielding, so iPhone users won’t have to put their phone in to Aeroplane Mode when using the inMotion Classic and the Altec Lansing speaker dock also automatically pauses the music and plays your ringtone through the speakers whenever you receive a call – although it can’t be used as a hands free device for talking on your phone.
The sound on the inMotion Classic is pretty good, especially considering its modest dimensions. The sound is crisp and has a surprising amount of bass in the sound profile and the volume levels aren’t bad either, although there is a little bit of distortion right at the top end of the inMotion Classic’s volume range.
Verdict – A good looking iPod speaker which has some nice features that are missing on some of its rivals. Sound is respectable for a device of this size, but if you’re buying just on sound you may prefer the Klipsch iGroove SXT.
Price: £129.95 at John Lewis
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