Gadgetory

it's a variety of rugged Bluetooth speakers on the market today and I've had the pleasure of reviewing a few of them one of my favorites was the Yui roll a compact and uniquely designed disc shaped Bluetooth speaker that was completely waterproof and offer great sound for its small size today I have on hand its bigger brother the UE boom - it's very unique and frankly awesome packaging as the name suggests the boon 2 is the follow-up from you is very successful original boom at first impression the design looks very very similar keeping the same cylindrical shape and wrapped in a similar but tighter fabric weave with rubber features it measures in a 180 millimetres tall with a diameter of 6 to 7 millimeters so it's small enough to sleep in the most active wear pockets at one rubber end you'll find the dimple power button along with a little mosquito bite Bluetooth button this rubber continues down the length of the speaker covering one side and this is where you'll find the large of volume up and down buttons next to the ue logo and what i'll call the bottom of the speaker you'll find the waterproof ports one micro USB port for charging the device and one three-and-a-half millimeter input jack for wired connectivity these ports are both concealed behind a waterproof rubber flap that can be completely removed for cleaning by removing a little UE brand of black screw the battery is a real strengths of the boom - despite its relatively small size and weight it boasts 15 hours of playback at moderate volumes which is great for those that want to use this rugged little speaker on the go the device charges up in two and a half hours and you can request a battery check from the lady inside the room - by pressing and holding both volume buttons at once 50 percent charge now let's mention the boom - is this time around waterproof with an ipx7 rating this means it can be dunked in water up to a meter deep for up to thirty minutes without any concerns whatsoever this is great to have on a supposedly rugged speaker as often times it's going to be used out and about outside near water and possibly children and it means there's no need to worry if little Johnny boots it into the pool now like the UE roll an original boom before it there are no media buttons on the device but the boom - has something even more clever up its sleeve to pause and play a track you can simply tap the top of the device once and you can give it to Creek tabs to ski to the next song I really like this is it's much quicker and easier to do than picking up your phone unlocking it and then performing either of the two aforementioned functions it's really handy when your hands are wet too the Bluetooth performance is great again just like the other Yui models and I found I was able to walk at least 10 meters away with uninterrupted streaming with Yui claiming reception over 30 meters as well of course depend on your streaming device too but as far as the bloom tours concerns the performance is great the broom toe is also able to act as a speakerphone and does include an integrated microphone that works about as well as you'd expect on the inside there's two one and three-quarter inch drivers and two three-inch passive radiators responsible for the sound of the boom tube produces you reclaim that 25% louder than the original boom and while I don't have one here for comparison I can say the broom 2 is quite loud especially for its size the sound is about as good as you could expect from such a small package performing best at moderate allowed volumes where I think most people will be using it you a also provide a UE boom smartphone app within which you're able to update the firmware remotely set alarms using your music library play with the EQ check the battery level and connect to UE speakers to play audio from the same source there's a few extra options in the settings menu - where you can change the name of the device change the alert language turn off the alert sounds and a few other things the interface of the app is really nice and it's a great feature that really expands the functionality of the speaker overall the UE boom 2 is a really great portable rugged Bluetooth speaker it's made real improvements from the original boom and I've seen it on Amazon for 150 USD at this price it's a fantastic buys the original boom is still sitting around 100 to 120 dollars in Australia you can pick up the boom - for 160 dollars this represents even better value considering the current exchange rate so if you're looking for a great all-round rug your Bluetooth speaker I can almost guarantee you won't be disappointed with the UE boom - I'm your host Matt as always and I'll see you guys next time