One of the things I love about my iPhone is that, as well as doing the obvious telephone stuff, it allows me to play games and listen to a good chunk of my music collection. There are plenty of accessories to make music listening more enjoyable, such as sound docks and the like, but Mobile Fun, those purveyors of mobile phone accessories, recently sent me an Android Bluetooth Sound Box to play with. Now, novelty technology doesn’t usually get me excited, but how did the Android Sound Box fare?

Firstly, while it looks very much like the Google Android logo, I don’t think it is affiliated with Google in any way. It’s just a green android, which happens to look like the Android. That aside, the looks are fun and it’s something of a conversation piece. Great, but it should actually serve a purpose too, so how does it do as a sound system?

The short answer is “alright”. It’s not going to bring the roof down or anything, but it does a better job of projecting your music than, say, the iPhone’s built-in speaker. The nice thing is that, since the Android broadcasts itself as a set of bluetooth headphones, it will connect to any mobile that offers that capability. The sound clarity is pretty good, although the small speaker does mean there’s not much bass response. It also limits the volume (which is controlled by twisting the Android’s head) but it’s still good enough to listen to while doing the housework, hanging out in a school break room, or any other situation where playing music out loud isn’t going to get on someone’s nerves.

There’s another element to this little guy, though. Not only is he a Bluetooth sound system, he’s a hands-free kit. By pressing his head down you send the signal that you would like to use voice dialling. I found this to be a bit flaky, with incorrectly recognised names much of the time but, to be fair, I have always found that with the iPhone and suspect the problem lies there rather than with the Android. When I did get it to dial the right person they told me the sound was fine, and I could hear them perfectly well. It’s a bit funny, too, having a conversation with this little green robot :)

All in all, the Android Bluetooth Speaker and Handsfree is a fun little gadget that moves away from the standard, functional mobile phone accessory. It does its job pretty well, and in situations where you know you will want to listen to music but don’t want to lug a sound dock around with you, it will come in handy. It’s a novelty, but it’s a fun novelty and with Christmas just around the corner it might make a good stocking filler for the smartphone-toting geek in your life.

This little green guy is available from Mobile Fun, priced £19.95.