[General Accessories] ro_explorer:
I have to admit that over time I've used several mid/low end bluetooth speakers and I ended up giving all of them away as presents to my friends. They were all fantastic accessories for my mobile phone but they were lacking ... something.

We all know there is no such thing as a perfect gadget or device and, if you add the human subjectivity, you end up with an endless quest for a "great device".

All in all, now I'm settled (at least for a while) :) ...

Basically this is a JAMBOX replica which really delivers, at a fraction of the price of the original.

Here are some photos with the package and its content:

After opening the box I found the actual device and the cables supplied with it.

The speaker itself is plain black and feels soft when touched. The coating, even if it's very nice, it's making the surfaces prone to fingerprints so you may feel "forced" to clean it often :).

The controls are somewhat classic ... volume up/down, answer/hang up, prev/next and play/pause functions, all on 3 buttons. The functions are available by short or long pressing the respective market button.

The main power switch as well as the power supply/charge and audio in/out connectors are located on the back of the device, clearly marked and easily accessible.

Now, after all the photos let's talk a little bit about the functionality of the device:

Pairing:

If you have a regular phone (not NFC enabled) then, after switching on the speaker, you can easily find it when searching for bluetooth devices and you can add it. That's all.

If you phone.tablet is NFC enables though, the pairing is as easy as touching it on the NFC sensitive area of the speaker and you're good to go.

Even if the NFC area is not marked on the speaker, it is there, as marked in the picture below:

The blue LED visible in the above picture will flask quickly while the device is in "pairing" state and slowly when in normal functioning mode.

I have to say here (for the picky ones) that the LED is bright so it may be somehow annoying if you look at it in low light (or at night).

After the pairing you can start using it as an external speaker and also as a speakerphone, because it has a microphone and an answer/hang up button.

Voice call quality:

When used for voice calls the voice of your call partner will sound very clear and nice (and I mean VERY CLEAR AND NICE :)) but, at least in my case, the other party was hearing me a little too over-processed (probably because of the noise canceling DSP inside) but there were no complaints about not understanding me (the voice was a little metallic/robotic when I was not speaking loud enough to make a good difference from the ambient noise).

Music quality:

This is something highly subjective :)

If I'm comparing the speaker to my home sound system then ... there is no comparison that can be made. As an old commercial for muscle cars was stating: "there is no replacement for displacement" ... the speakers are small so you can not expect that bass fulfilling sound. Nevertheless, the audio quality is GREAT. If you have the intention to use this little BT speaker when you;re in vacation or when camping then you will have nothing to complain about. The bass is not strong but is there, definitely. The median frequencies are extremely clear, w/o being too saturated, while the highs are just in the right quantity.

I personally listen to Leonard Cohen type of music (involving a lot of vocal play) and the voices are nice, warm and natural, w/o popping out from the speaker.

If you look at a spectral analysis of the output (using any audio analyzer out there, like this one for example), you can see the spectrum being nicely populated (with the obvious lack of bass).

All in all, the music is great and the max volume is still usable w/o too many distortions.

Connectivity:

This a big plus for this little buddy :) ...

As you can see from the picture with the connectors, you have access to line-in as well as to line-out connectors.

What does this mean?

Line-in - you can use the speaker as a conventional speaker, with the included cable, and you can play music from any player, even if it's not bluetooth capable. Just plug it in and go .... Of course, you will not be able to use any of the call capabilities while in line-in mode.

Line-out - you can use the speaker as a bluetooth interface between your phone/tablet and some high-quality speakers. I plugged it to my home stereo system and the result was extremely nice, with great sound (the EDR enabled Bluetooth standard did its job)

The USB connector is being used for charging the unit using any USB port. I personally use one of the many usb adapters I have lying around the house.

Battery life:

This is subject that I can not clearly review simply because I did not managed to drain the battery yet :).

After receiving the unit (2 weeks ago) I plugged it into a power adapter and I left it there until the charging status LED (a tiny RED LED located below the BLUE one) turned off. After that I've used the unit about 1-2 hours every other day and it's not dead yet. I still have to use it in order to see the battery life. Until now though I only can say it has a great autonomy on battery :).

Final words:

This is not the first speaker with this form factor and size I've come across but surely is one great gadget for the price.

If you look at the audio quality for this price range then it's a safe buy - one of the safest I come across.

I can only recommend it to anyone who wants a great bluetooth speaker for only ~35 USD.

Here is the link I used (from amazon): http://www.amazon.com/HAVIT®-HV-SK4...=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1401162562&sr=1-4

I hope you find this review useful. I don't do reviews usually but this was special :) and I thought it deserved one.