Enjoy together. Listen together. Always. Everywhere. Bose uses these nice words to introduce the Soundlink wireless mobile. A portable Bluetooth speaker with built-in battery, about the size of a lunch box.
Bose
The American company Bose Corporation was founded in 1964 by Dr. Amar Gopal Bose. Mr. Bose, as a student of the MIT, bought himself a high-end stereo system in 1956. However, he was not content. He started researching psychoacoustics to learn how people observe sound. Eight years later he created his company with the mission “Better Sound Through Research”, currently the company’s slogan.
Compact
Bose introduced their first SoundDock in 2004, which enabled listening to your music from your iPod. Four years later, an improved version was released under the name Series II, adapted for the iPhone. Same with the SoundDock Portable, a portable system with built-in battery, launched in 2007. In 2009, Bose expanded its catalogue with the SoundDock 10, a dock that overshadows its brothers both in size and price. Recently came the expansion downwards by means of the new Bose SoundLink wireless mobile speaker. It’s a portable speaker, compatible with every Bluetooth-device, and it plays your favourite music for up to eight hours.
Specs
The SoundLink is available in two versions, each with a different finish. By default you have a matte chromium finish with a dark grey nylon cover, but for an extra €50 you can opt for a finish in reflective chromium with a dark brown leather cover. Optionally you can pay a bit extra for leather covers in bordeauxred and light brown, or nylon covers in red or purple.
The apparatus comes in a box with a simple manual, a power cable and a 3.5mm stereo cable to attach devices using the AUX-input. The speaker with measurements of 5.1″ x 9.6″ x 2″ and weight of 3.3lbs is very compact, and easily carried manually or in a backpack. The portability of the SoundLink is the first thing you notice compared to the SoundDock Portable. On top, the apparatus had six buttons, amongst which a power button, two buttons to select the audio source, two to change the volume and a mute button. On the front end, there’s a shiny bar all the way across the device with indications concerning the AUX-input, Bluetooth functionality, battery state and the mute button. In front of the speaker grill there’s a lid with a piece of canvas that can be pulled down and used as a foot. The lid can be finished either in nylon or leather, and is kept in place by means of a magnet. Very useful: the SoundLink powers on and off automatically when you close or open it.
On the rear end, there’s another speaker grill, surrounded by the same finish as the lid, with on the bottom connections for the power cable, the 3.5mm stereo cable and a micro-USB for future firmware updates.
