Tivoo Review: A Cute, Functional Speaker with a Customizable Pixel Display

A big theme at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was "Retro" and yet the cutest item I saw was both retro and futuristic at once. The folks from Divoom gave me a Tivoo ($59.90) to try and I love it. It looks like a small, old-fashioned CRT television set from the 50s or 60s, without the rabbit ears. It's sold in assorted colors for a reasonable price.

But it's not just about looks; the Tivoo is quite well-built with attention to detail. The device has a nice heft, and thanks to the rubber feet, it will stay put on your desk, table, or nightstand. Even the packaging it comes in can be repurposed as an elegant utility box for keys and other necessities. Just be sure to open the top compartment as well, to find some cute stickers, postcards and the instruction manual.

Divoom

You will want the manual because the Tivoo is quite customizable. I keep finding new uses for it every day. You can use the free companion app to customize the pixels on the "TV" display. You can share your designs with the community, and leverage designs from others. But you can also use it to show the time, weather, your schedule, and social media notifications, and even to help you sleep! I love it as-is, but I would also pay more for a larger one if the company made one. In fact, Divoom just alerted me to its Indiegogo campaign featuring a much larger model, the Tivoo-Max!

iPhone Life
Discover your iPhone's hidden features
Get a daily tip (with screenshots and clear instructions) so you can master your iPhone in just one minute a day.
Divoom

Pros

  • Totally adorable
  • Well-built and well-packaged
  • Very customizable, via free app
  • Assorted color choices
  • Reasonably priced
  • Bluetooth speaker plus audio in jack and cable and microSD card slot

Cons

  • Would love a larger one
  • Be sure to open the hidden envelope in the top of the box, for stickers, postcards, and the manual

Final Verdict

The Tivoo from Divoom is a cute and quite functional speaker.

Master your iPhone in one minute a day: Sign up here to get our FREE Tip of the Day delivered right to your inbox.

Topics

Author Details

Todd Bernhard's picture

Author Details

Todd Bernhard

Todd Bernhard is a bestselling (6+ million downloads) award-winning (AARP, About.com, BestAppEver.com, Digital Hollywood, and Verizon) developer and founder of NoTie.NET, an app developer specializing in Talking Ringtone apps including AutoRingtone. And his profile photo is of the last known sighting of Mr. Bernhard wearing a tie, circa 2007!

An iPhone is almost always attached to his hip or in his pocket, but over the years, Mr. Bernhard has owned an Apple Newton, a Motorola Marco, an HP 95LX, a Compaq iPaq, a Palm Treo, and a Nokia e62. In addition to writing for iPhone Life, Mr. Bernhard has written for its sister publications, PocketPC Magazine and The HP Palmtop Paper.