Sony made an $800 camping lantern that plays music for some reason

Sony is making a lantern for camping, but it’s also a speaker — and costs $800.

The ‘Glass Sound Speaker’ (what a terribly boring name) is a lantern up top, but basically speaker everywhere else. Just under the lighting module is a two-inch woofer for midrange sound, while the top of the glass cylinder has a “translucent passive radiator” for deeper tones.

There are also three pillars that vibrate the glass to produce “realistic” sound. Speakers can also be connected, like Sonos, and work in tandem. Sony also has a proprietary app for iOS and Android called SongPal that can control brightness and music streaming.

Glass Sound Speaker also supports LDAC Bluetooth wireless transmission, which can transfer more data that standard Bluetooth. It also has a four hour battery life (don’t worry, you can plug it in, too).

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Sony is clearly positioning this as a lifestyle device (look at how much fun you’ll have drinking wine and listening to music, everyone!), and we doubt it will sell well. It’s one of the nicest looking speakers we’ve ever seen, but I’m not taking a glass cylinder camping (because I don’t believe in ‘glamping’) — and I can get bigger sound from other speakers.

But if you have $800 to spend in frivolous tech, click the link below.