14 DAY TRIAL // Vexo Essentials is not a company we've ever heard of before, and that probably goes for lots of other people, but after today, it might be on the lips of many, especially people who spotted its Magic Contact device at CES 2014. Vexo Essentials is the company name scribed on the surface of the device, in these photos provided by the folks at SlashGear. We'll let you know if the first letter is actually a U or something else when we find out, but we're pretty sure it's a V.
Either way, it's not that important. What's important is that the Magic Contact can wirelessly play music without actually using a wireless transmission technology.
That's right, it doesn't have Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth, or even NFC (near-field communication).
Instead, it “listens” to what your phone is playing and amplifies the sound, essentially acting like a speaker.
It actually has more than one integrated speaker, all placed on the top side of the device, since the bottom side is where the four audio sensors are located.
To use the Magic Contact, you need to rest your phones on the base and voila! Clear audio. You can even mute or turn down volume by sliding the device along the base.
Speaking of which, smartphones are not the only supported devices. Any device with audio capabilities works with the Magic Contact.
Sometimes there will be issues with the sound quality though, so you might want to switch between portrait and landscape positioning to find out which works best for you.
All things considered, we have to wonder why no one ever thought about doing something like this before. It's basically combining a microphone with a speaker. Quick, easy, power-efficient (Wi-Fi / Bluetooth aren't exactly easy on the battery) and cheap.
Speaking of cheap, the Magic Contact has a price of $35 / €35, or will have once sales start at some point in the future.