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Belkin debuts the Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater, an iPad case with integrated front-facing speakers

We just looked at the latest range of audio accessories from Griffin, and now well-known accessory maker Belkin is showing off a new audio product for CES 2013: The Belkin Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater. Available starting this month on the Apple Store, the otherwise traditional-looking iPad case packs in front-facing ported speakers, thanks to a little help from Audifi, and doubles as a stand with various angles.

The case works as a dock, meaning Belkin will release two models to accommodate for both 30-pin and Lightning connectors. Belkin is also making a free companion app available that will allow users to customize sound profiles for different types of media. The Thunderstorm app isn’t available yet in the App Store, but it should début alongside the 30-pin version of the Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater case sometime this month. A lightning-compatible version of the dock will become available in the spring. Both models will sell for $199.99 from Amazon, the Apple Store, and additional retailers.

We’ll bring you full hands-on from the CES show floor shortly.

Update: We had a chance to listen to the product on a loud crowd floor. While the sound was definitely a significant improvement over the built-in iPad capability, it was a little tinny/thin and didn’t add as much base as we would have liked.  We’ll have more when we get some hands-on time later.

Updated Gallery below:

Belkin Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater – (G3A1000 for 30-Pin, G3A2000 for Lightning) – $199.99

  • Integrated, front-facing, landscape-oriented, stereo speakers
  • Ported speakers for rich bass and depth
  • Low-distortion, high-efficiency amplifier
  • Magnetically attached folding soft cover with multiple stand configurations
  • MFi Certified
  • G3A1000 with 30-pin docking interface is compatible with iPad 2 and iPad 3rd generation
  • G3A2000 with Lightning connector is compatible with iPad 4th generation
  • Pass-through access for iPad rear camera, headset jack, microphone, speaker, charging, lock switch, volume control, and mute/rotation lock toggle

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Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.