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The Best Bluetooth Speaker for $100 or Less
These days, finding the perfect Bluetooth speaker can feel a bit like looking for a needle in a very large haystack—particularly in the budget category. Any big box store will have dozens of options to choose from, and attempting to find one in a sea of products on Amazon is nothing short of daunting. Plus, … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsJBL’s New Speaker Lineup Is Frankly Just Here to Party
JBL’s new speaker line wants to make you feel like the DJ of your own living room—or the great outdoors. There’s something for everyone here. JBL announced today several new speakers to its portables category, including the Xtreme 3 ($350), Go 3 ($40), and Clip 4 ($70). And the company has also announced two new … Continued
By Catie Keck -
ReviewsThis Is the Best Portable Speaker for $150 or Less
I’ve used many Bluetooth speakers over the years. Some have been good, and others have been, well, not good. Choosing a portable Bluetooth speaker that’s a good fit for you requires considerations like whether you care more about a bargain price or, say, a thumping bass. But before you shell out a couple of hundred … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Marshall’s New Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker Sounds as Good as It Looks
If there’s one thing Marshall does exceptionally well, it’s making beautiful devices. Speaking exclusively to aesthetics, a lot of speakers—and more specifically, Bluetooth speakers—are decidedly clunky and weird-looking. Sure, the most important thing about the function of a speaker is obviously to make your music sound great, but Marshall manages to make devices you actually … Continued
By Catie Keck -
ReviewsThat Is One Big Portable Bluetooth Speaker
I am not a loud party person. At bars or social gatherings, I’m more apt to leave early if the host or venue has music on so high that I have to constantly yell “WHAT?” at my friends. But if that’s your thing, then Ultimate Ears’ latest speaker, the Hyperboom, is the company’s loudest portable … Continued
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Tech NewsBluetooth Is Good Now
It was nearly a decade ago, when a pretty blue gadget arrived in my mailbox and fundamentally changed my understanding of wireless technology. The gadget was a Jawbone Jambox—arguably the first popular Bluetooth speaker—that let me play music from my phone from across my backyard. Like most Bluetooth contraptions at the time, the Jambox was … Continued
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The New Bluetooth Sonos Feels Like a Time Warp
You don’t need the new Sonos Move. It’s a $400 Sonos speakerthat sounds an awful lot like a $180 Sonos speaker but with the added benefit of being portable. You can pick it up and carry it around. If you wander away from your wifi, no problem! The Move is the first Sonos that can … Continued
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ReviewsThe Expensive New Sonos Bluetooth Speaker Baffles Me in Many Ways
Sonos is expanding its horizons with a rugged new portable outdoor speaker. It’s called the Sonos Move, and it costs $400. Also, as its portability might suggest, the new device will be the first Sonos speaker that can stream music over a Bluetooth connection. As I held the thing from its gracefully designed handle at … Continued
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Wonderboom 2 Is the Perfect Portable Bluetooth Speaker for Your Summer
The Wonderboom isone of my favorite gadgets. It’s a round little Bluetooth speaker that’s easy to use and sounds terrific. The Wonderboom is even durable enough that you can bounce it on the ground or throw it in the toilet, which I do not recommend. Ultimate Ears, the creators of this affordable gadget, just made … Continued
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The UE Boom 3 Is Good Redesign at Its Best
One of my first Gizmodo stories was about Logitech getting serious about design. It was published a few weeks after the company released the first UE Boom, which we would eventually decide was the best Bluetooth speaker you could buy. At the time, I wondered how that little beast would evolve in the years to … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsThe Very Best Bluetooth Speaker Gets a Slick Redesign with the UE Boom 3
It’s incredibly hard to take a great design and make it meaningfully better. But it looks like Ultimate Ears has done just that with the new UE Boom 3 and the UE Megaboom 3. Gone is the rough fabric exterior and clunky rubber band. Here is a super sleek waterproof, drop-proof, sand-proof, and blogger-proof Bluetooth … Continued
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Sony’s Glowing Bluetooth Speaker Didn’t Take Me to the Club, Just Back to 1992
It’s unclear when the Sony Sports boombox became my must-have gadget, but I think it was around 1992. With its bright yellow case, the portable music machine could be spotted from across the pool like a big bright sign that screamed, “I am rugged and cool!” I wanted one for all the wrong reasons, and … Continued
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The Best Bluetooth Speaker Now Works With Alexa and It’s Amazing
When you’re a gadget blogger, your friends typically have a classic, back-pocket question around the holiday season: What should I get So-and-So as a gift? My most-used answer used to be the Boom, a Bluetooth speaker made by Ultimate Ears. This year is different. This year it’s the Blast, an Alexa-powered speaker made by angels … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsThe UE Blast Might Be the First Portable Speaker With Alexa Worth Caring About
Tons of speakers already work with Alexa, and even more mobile devices feature Amazon’s digital assistant so you can talk to her on-the-go. But when it comes to solid portable speakers with Alexa built in, the pickings are actually kind of slim. Even Amazon’s own portable Echo Tap has a pretty big flaw: You need … Continued
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Tech News
Oh Great, Now Bluetooth Speakers Are Exploding
This week’s edition of Batteries Are Dangerous brings us to the great state of New Jersey, where a Bluetooth speaker recently started burning on a girl’s bed and then exploded. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, and the house didn’t burn down. The incident still serves as a cautionary tale for us all. By now, this sort … Continued
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ReviewsThe Wonderboom Is a Great Little $100 Bluetooth Speaker With a Familiar Face
It’s hard to have long-lasting fun for $100 these days. A fancy dinner is over in a couple of hours. A ticket to Disney World expires not long after sunset. But the Wonderboom, a new waterproof speaker from Ultimate Ears, feels like it could last forever. The Wonderboom is the latest in a celebrated line … Continued
