THERE are times when it’s simpler to call a spade, a spade… especially when it comes to naming products. Some manufacturers prefer to assign inscrutable letters and numbers to their products, but Bose calls its first and only portable smart speaker… the Portable Home Speaker. As simple as it gets.
The American company has other smart speakers in its stables, and other portable ones as well… but this is the only one that combines wire-free savviness with the ability to operate off its on-board rechargeable battery (good for 12 hours of playback in loud mode).
Touted as the company’s most versatile smart speaker, the Portable Home Speaker sports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities, and can be voice-controlled.
Recycling a legendary tagline, Bose boasts: “It’s the home speaker you won’t want to leave home without. Around the house, you can move it from room to room – and when you leave home, you can take it with you.
“With Wi-Fi, you can control it with your voice and stream music directly from the cloud. Outside Wi-Fi range, you can control it like any other portable speaker with your mobile phone or tablet via Bluetooth and listen to anything you can play on your device. And no matter what you listen to or where you listen to it, you’ll hear it all in 360 degrees of astonishing Bose sound.”
The Portable Home Speaker is “designed to radiate clear sound in all directions” and “engineered to pack a bigger punch, with deeper bass and more power.” All this, from a tumbler-like enclosure that weighs a shade over 1kg un-boxed.
Clearly, good for gatherings in or outside the house… yes, it is water resistant, so bring on the poolside parties!
Google Assistant and Alexa are built in, so “just say the word to stream all your favourite music (Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, etc), Internet radio stations, podcasts, and audiobooks – plus get weather updates, send messages, set timers, add to your to-do lists, and control smart home accessories, too.”
“Apple users can also use AirPlay 2 to play audio from their devices, too.”
For control, just download the Google or Apple app and get going.
The optional charging cradle accessory keeps the battery full when the speaker is not in use; playback is enabled even while charging it. As standard, the speaker comes with a USB-C power cord and wall charger.
You can order the Bose Portable Home Speaker now for a mere US$349.95… check the website for regional availability.
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