JBL OnBeat Venue LT: First Lightning Speaker Dock Delivers Huge Sound

There have been three iOS devices released with the new Lightning connector, but until now, there were no speaker docks with which to charge them. Enter the first Lightning-equipped speaker dock, the JBL OnBeat Venue LT. It charges your iPad 4, iPhone 5 and iPad Mini, and plays audio either directly through the Lightning port, over an auxiliary port or via Bluetooth.

The OnBeat Venue Lightning is similar to its non-Lightning predecessor, with smooth, rounded styling and a slide-out drawer where you dock your device. It was easy to pair up my iPhone 5 with the OnBeat's Bluetooth. There's no remote control included with this unit, but you can control the unit with your iOS device. However, controlling the volume while using a device plugged into the auxiliary input is not possible without walking across the room. Read more…