Convert Your iPad To A HandHeld Home Theater, Courtesy Belkin

The iPad is one of the most popular tablets around and third-party companies take full advantage of its commercial success to bring useful accessories for the device. Now, with the new Belkin Thuderstorm Handheld Home Theater, users can experience high quality entertainment from their iPad.

"The iPad is known for its brilliant, high-definition display that enhances the video quality of your favorite movies, shows and video games, but the audio quality sometimes doesn't match the visual experience. With the Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater we are looking to provide the immersive, powerful audio experience missing in the iPad, so you can listen to your content the way it was meant to be heard," said Nate Kraft, director of product management at Belkin.

The Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater features high-efficiency, front-facing speakers that provides cinematic sound-quality to users. Thunderstorm has ported speakers and integrated air channels to allow optimal airflow for enhanced bass frequencies. The free downloadable Thunderstorm app, which will be available from Apple App Store soon, will provide extended control with customize soundscapes for music, movies and games.

"Belkin tapped us to engineer the sound performance of the Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater from the inside out and we're happy to see end results that deliver an immersive mobile audio experience. Through the design of core circuits, sound processing, custom speakers and a surprisingly thin acoustic enclosure, Audifi engineered a level of sonic depth and precision that was, until now, impossible to achieve in mobile devices," said Bruce Lancaster, general manager and VP at Audifi.

The Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater connects directly through the iPad dock connector and eliminates the possibility of dropping the connection to the speaker. It also features a multi-fold cover so that users can view the iPad display at different angles with ease.

With the Thunderstorm attached to your iPad you can still access the rear camera, headset jack, microphone, speaker, charging, lock switch, volume control, and mute/rotation lock toggle.

The Belkin Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater will be available for iPads with 30-pin connectors as well as for iPads with Lightning connector. The 30-pin connector version will be available at Belkin.com, Amazon.com, and the Apple Store in January in the U.S.. However, the Lightning Connector version of the Thunderstorm will be available in the spring. Both the versions will be priced at $199.99. The exact date of release is currently unknown.