Product: Griffin AirCurve
Supplier: Griffin
MSRP: $19.99     Find Lowest Price @ PriceGrabber
Author: Bill
Date: February 10, 2010

As an iPhone owner, I’m familiar with the Griffin line of iPod/iPhone/Apple accessories. I’m also familiar with the shortcomings of the iPhone’s speaker, and that holding or cupping your hand around the speaker port will enhance (or at least change) the sounds coming from it. A friend of mine even suggested building a wave-guide to enhance the sound from the iPhone speaker. Griffin has done just that with its passive amplifier dock, the AirCurve. The iPhone sits in this plastic dock that has an acoustic wave-guide positioned directly under the speaker port. Modeled after the human ear canal, the waveguide amplifies and equalizes the sounds before ejecting them out the front of the device. It is completely passive and requires no batteries.

Packaging

The device came in a cardboard box clearly intended for a hanging store display. Inside is a small packet explaining how to use the device, and the dock itself.

Use

I have an iPhone 3G, so I used the appropriate rubber gasket (included) to fit the shape of my device. The phone then perches in the dock above the waveguide. The dock is made from two formed pieces of clear acrylic held together by screws at the corners. A hole through the center of the dock allows for a docking cable to be threaded.

Because the docking cable needs to be threaded through the device, your phone will not sit nicely inside. Furthermore, only Apple cables can actually fit through the hole in the bottom. Despite using Apple products, I find their pricing for replacement cables asinine, so I own generic cables from an overseas manufacturer through eBay. These did not fit, so I took it upon myself to use a scroll-saw and Dremel to make it happen. I opened up the hole so it was the same size as the dock connector the whole way through. Why Griffin did not sculpt the device in this way from the beginning is beyond me.

Along that line of thought, it would have been easier (although more expensive) if the dock had a 30-pin male connector inside it, and a female port on the back for a docking cable to connect to. This would have been easier for everyone, and would hold the phone in place much better.

Performance

Your iPhone, like mine, has a small speaker with very limited performance. Despite putting it in this glorified horn, it did not rival any loudspeaker I own. That said, it was much louder and clearer than if it was used without the dock. If the dock had a better connection scheme, I would consider using this as my night-time dock and alarm clock replacement.

Conclusions

$20 is pretty steep for a hunk of plastic, but would be the going rate. If it included an honest pass-through connector it would be a very useful product, but as-is it’s rather gimmicky. It really does make the iPhone sound better and (much) louder, but those looking for a cheap alternative to a speaker dock are out of luck. I’d use it as a booster for my iPhone as an alarm clock, but not for listening to music.

Pros

+ Cheap, sturdy, attractive construction

+ Amplifies and cleans up the iPhone sound within the limitation of the speaker itself

Cons

- Docking connector is a fiasco

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Tags: AirCurve, Griffin, iPhone, iPod, speaker