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That said, the Ninety7 Loft doesn't have a lot of flashy extras, but it serves its one purpose well. Sign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we've tested sent to your inbox daily. Like the Dox, the Loft makes the Google Home appreciably bigger. I don’t have exact specs on it, but the photos show a device that looks much larger. I suspect some of that is because Google carefully hid the Home’s size with a taper, whereas the Loft continues to flare outward.
Then there’s the Loft, which will sell for $49.95 (but is also on sale for $10 off) and adds a battery pack to the Google Home so that it doesn’t need to be plugged into a wall outlet. That said, the Jot is a reasonably priced accessory that does its one task well. It claims to provide 8 hours of battery life, but it lasted a full 12 hours in our tests while playing music. If you already own a Google Home Mini and want to take it with you from room to room, the Jot's worth $35 and it's easy to attach to your Mini. It doesn’t come with its own power cable, by the way, so you’ll have to use the one from the original base to charge the batteries whenever it’s needed. If you’re familiar with Google Home’s design, it uses swappable base units to alter the speaker’s appearance, making it easy to coordinate with your home’s interiors.
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Interest will be charged to your account from the purchase date if the balance is not paid in full within 6 months. Select PayPal Credit at checkout to have the option to pay over time. I'd specifically recommend the $50 Ninety7 Loft if you already have a Google Home, and want to use it frequently in multiple rooms of your house. For most other circumstances, you probably have a better option.
The Ninety7 Loft, which is one of those swappable base units, takes advantage of that. Instead of being an ordinary base like the ones from Google, this one has an integrated battery that lets you use it without plugging in to a power outlet. The device adds an inch or so of height to the speaker, by the way, so it won’t make the speaker all that much bigger. Ninety7 claims the Jot battery lasts for 8 hours of use, and it looks like the company was conservative in its estimates. It lasted for roughly 12 hours in our anecdotal test with music playing constantly at 50 percent volume. A series of four lights on the front indicate how much charge you have remaining and blink to show it's regaining charge when you plug it back in.
Ninety7 Jot Portable Battery Base for Google Home Mini
Hidden sensors allow you to tap to raise and lower the volume. You can also hold one of these side controls down to pause or play music. The Jot also has a hole in its rim so you can access the mute button on the Mini. Most of the Google Home Mini still sits above the rim of the Jot, but the black plastic still detracts somewhat from the simple, fabric aesthetic of the Google Home Mini. If you're a big fan of that aesthetic, you'll need to weigh that look versus your desire to have a more mobile Google Home Mini.
The Ninety7 Jot doesn't do anything spectacular, but it doesn't claim to. It's a battery powered base for the Google Home Mini smart speaker. If you already have a Google Home Mini, you can spend an extra $35 on the Jot to rid your Mini of its tether. Keep in mind, if you actually want to take your smart speaker to the park, the Jot doesn't provide any kind of mobile signal -- just battery life. The accessory company Ninety7 is continuing its quest to untether smart speakers from wall outlets with the introduction of new battery packs designed for the Echo Dot and Google Home.
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Provide a clear and comprehensive description of the problem and your question. The better your problem and question is described, the easier it is for other Ninety7 owners to provide you with a good answer. Align LOFT’s power plug barrel with the plug on Google Home. Neither LOFT nor DOX will have the same audio boosting capabilities, but for many the freedom of roaming away from an outlet without losing your connection will be enough to endear them. The LOFT is up for preorder now, priced at $39.95; its regular RRP is $49.95. As for the DOX, it's also up for preorder, at $29.95, with a regular RRP of $39.95.
If you want something with better sound quality and you're OK with just a Bluetooth speaker, then you have plenty of cheaper alternatives. Still, eight-to-10 hours of charge should be enough to use your Google Home in the garage or on the patio for a day's worth of work. The Ninety7 Loft easily snaps onto the Google Home and gave it a solid 10 hours of battery life in our tests -- a number that even exceeds the company's claims. Again, keep in mind that your Google Home Mini needs to connect to Wi-Fi to answer your voice commands. You could only bring it out to your pool if your router reaches that far or if you use a hotspot.
Ninety7 LOFT - Battery - copper - for Google Home
If you have a Google Home Mini and you want it to be portable, the Jot is a great, reasonably priced accessory. Align the Loft's plug barrel with the bottom of the Google Home. It stays out of the way, but still detracts somewhat from the style of the Mini. The Jot's rim sits low enough that it doesn't block the touch controls on the side of the Mini.
My only nitpick with the performance of the Loft stems from these LEDs. The battery lasted 10 hours, but they still showed full health after five hours and 75 percent after eight. The LEDs don't precisely track how much charge you actually have left, as they tick down quickly in the last couple of hours of life. The two new devices are Ninety7’s follow up to the Vaux, a battery pack for the Echo Dot that also included a built-in speaker. The Vaux only sells for $49, so potential Dox buyers may want to consider that instead if music if their primary interest. Do you have a question about the Ninety7 and the answer is not in the manual?
Fitted with magnets at strategic parts, the base snaps directly onto the speaker hardware and stays in place to ensure proper operation. In case the speaker won’t work, simply readjust the base to make sure the power connectors are properly aligned. If you don't already have a Google Home Mini and are simply looking for a portable smart speaker, the Mini-plus-Jot combo makes for one of the most affordable options. The TicHome Mini is a waterproof option with Google Assistant, but it's $100 and the battery doesn't last as long.
You'll need to twist off the Home's magnetic, decorative base. You then push the Loft in place, aligning the plug barrel inside of the Loft with the plug on the Google Home. The Loft weighs just under a pound, so it'll make your Google Home heavier. It'll also make your Google Home taller, so bear that in mind if you have your smart speaker set up in a tight spot. LOFT attaches to the bottom of the Google Home, clinging there via magnets in a similar way to how Google's own interchangeable speaker covers fit.
If you're primarily looking for a portable Bluetooth speaker, you can readily find one with more battery life and better sound quality than the combined $180 cost of the Home plus the Loft. If you just want to use a Google Home in a couple of rooms of your house, it makes more sense to buy a couple of $50 Google Home Minis, which offer the same smarts as the original. A battery module that integrates seamlessly with Google Home, the device turns the erstwhile outlet-powered contraption into a portable speaker. That way, you can talk to Google Assistant in the kitchen when you’re cooking, the basement when you’re doing laundry, and the bedroom when it’s time to hit the bunk. The Ninety7 Loft lets you take it on the go with plenty of battery life for a day of use.
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