Bluetooth Portable Speaker Review

This week in my one-app-a-week iPhone/iPad class I do locally at the Los Alamitos Recreation Center I brought in my new Logitech UE Bluetooth Speaker. Originally I just planned to show the students how to connect their iPhones to Bluetooth, but it was such a popular item I thought I'd mention it here. 

While headphones are nice, I like having sound come through a speaker in a room where I'm working. I move around the house, and while I could wear headphones, I have to use over-the-ear ones since I wear hearing aids. I knew there were speakers which connected to my iPhone or iPad wirelessly using Bluetooth and thought I'd try them out. I looked up reviews and saw some popular models, and came across this Logitech model which received very high reviews and was less than $100 (under $89 on Amazon right now). I went to my local Best Buy to listen to them since sound is somewhat personal. Best Buy had them on sale for $89 so I picked one up. By the way, Best Buy will price match online pricing so don't leave if their price is higher, they'll match it.  The speaker is a little under 8 inches wide, 3 inches high, 3 1/2 inches deep and weighs in at 1.3 pounds. It comes with a built-in rechargeable battery and charger and a charge lasts about 8 hours. The sound quality for a $100 portable speaker is outstanding. Playing Pandora and iTunes music was so impressive that several of hte students planned to go to buy one after the class meeting.

The speaker also comes with a microphone so if you receive a phone call, your music stops and you can answer the phone to talk, using the speaker as a better speakerphone than the one that's built-in. The speaker is standard Bluetooth so it will work with any Bluetooth device, including Android phones and tablets.

The speaker is charged when you unpack it, so you can use it right away. After removing it from the box, just turn on the power switch on the back of the speaker. Then go to your Settings and select Bluetooth and make sure it's on. The speaker has a Bluetooth button on the top that you hold down until it beeps. Then your phone or tablet will discover it and connect. Once connected, you can play music or any audio, even sound from a movie or TV show, or an audio book. 

The nice thing about Bluetooth is that it will remember any device that you've connected to so you don't have to go through this pairing process again, just turn on the speaker and your phone or tablet will connect to it.

The speaker comes in several color choices with a black or white case and different color speaker grills so you've got some variety. For under $100, the reviewers were right. Keep in mind that for the highest quality and stereo sound from your iPhone or iPad, you should connect to a speaker with your dock or using Apple's AirPlay on an Apple TV or a receiver with AirPlay built-in. 

But for better and louder sound than the built-in speakers and avoiding a headset or earbuds, this one did the trick.