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Divoom's new Bluetooth speaker also serves as a selfie remote
Today's youth likes nothing more than listening to that hip-hop music, being turnt and taking pictures of themselves. That's why the folks at Divoom have generously built a gadget that will let kids do all three at the same time. The second-generation Bluetune Bean is a portable Bluetooth speaker that comes with a remote shutter button that'll make selfie-taking easier. Although, now that I think about it, since you have to be holding the phone for it to count as a selfie, and the volume rocker button is right there, isn't this device entirely redundant?
On the road with the Divoom Voombox Travel Bluetooth speaker
Looking for an inexpensive, but sturdy Bluetooth speaker for outside use? The DIvoom Voombox Travel (US$49.95) is going to fit the bill, being both built like a tank and available for less than fifty bucks. Read on for the review, and then enter for your chance to win one of these little speakers. Specifications Dimensions: 90 mm in diameter, 45 mm thick (3.54 inches in diameter, 1.77 inches thick) Speaker drivers: Two 2" drivers, 4W output each Battery capacity: 500 mAh, 2 hour charge time Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0, A2DP Stereo profile support Talk time when used as a speakerphone: up to 6 hours Music playback time: up to 6 hours Design HIghlights Well, I'd be a bit worried taking the dark green version of the Voombox Travel through security at an airport, because it looks remarkably like some sort of little grenade. It's a circular puck with a thick rubber ring around the middle and black polycarbonate surrounding the speaker grills. One LED port provides an outlet for both a blue LED used for pairing and a red LED that denotes that you're charging the device. Atop the Voombox Travel is a little ring that looks a lot like one that used to be found on the winding stem of pocket watches in past centuries; in this case, it's actually a carabiner connection for attaching the speaker to a belt loop or a backpack. While the speaker is splash resistant, it won't take a full dunking. The bottom of the speaker has a port covered with a solid rubber door -- that's where you'll plug in the included USB to micro-USB cable to charge the unit up. That same port and cable works if you wish to connect the speaker to a device through a standard headphone port rather than Bluetooth. Functionality Highlights While the two 2-inch speakers don't exactly provide high-fidelity sound reproduction, they're not bad. I was surprised with the volume this little speaker puts out. It's solid, with no loose parts to cause buzzing like we've found on some other inexpensive speakers. The music reproduction is somewhat muffled, which shouldn't make too much of a difference outside where this speaker is meant to be used. The speakerphone function worked flawlessly. There's a toggle switch on one side that is used to power the speaker on and off, and the other side of the switch is used to answer or hang up during speakerphone operation. It's workable as a speakerphone, but be prepared to have folks on the other end of the call complaining about your voice quality -- that comes with the territory with Bluetooth speakers. Pairing was extremely fast and easy. I did notice that the Voombox Travel didn't have as much as range as some other speakers that we've tested; not sure what that was all about, but as long as you're within about 20 feet you should be just fine. Conclusion Divoom seems to be getting better at making inexpensive accessories. Some earlier speakers we tested were of very poor quality, while the Voombox Travel is solidly built. That being said, if you're an audiophile and want an outdoor speaker with better sound reproduction, you'd be better served spending the extra quid for something like the Braven BRV-X or BRV-1. For the money, you're getting a serviceable outdoor speaker that should hold up to a lot of abuse. Rating: 3 stars out of 4 stars possible Giveaway Summer's coming up and you're going to want a speaker for those long days and nights spent outdoors. We're giving away our review Voombox Travel -- Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before April 19, 2014 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected in a random drawing and will receive a Divoom Voombox Travel valued at $49.95. Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Divoom Bluetune-Bean is a handy portable speaker
The Divoom Bluetune-Bean is small, rechargeable Bluetooth speaker and speakerphone that is easy to hand-carry or pop into a purse. It's a bit too bulky for most pockets though, unless you wear cargo pants with pockets on the legs. The device is a little bigger than a jumbo egg and includes a metal ring grip. There are only two buttons: the on and off switch and one to switch to a phone call. You must firmly press and hold the buttons to engage them, which tripped me up initially. An absolutely tiny little hole lets the light through to show you that it's on. The light blinks when it's ready to pair. If the rubber cover moves at all, you can no longer see the light through the hole. I lifted the rubber to look at the mechanism and cannot orient it to show the light anymore; the hole is that small. The Bluetune-Bean charges through your USB port on your computer or plugged into a wall outlet. The Bean has an attached tab that protects its own mini-USB port. Divoom claims the charge lasts at least six hours and it never stopped working for me while using it. There is no way to tell how much charge is left in the device, so I recommend a daily charge, along with your iOS device. You control the sound through your volume control on your Mac or iOS device. I tested a wide range of music, including classical, rock, hop-hop, jazz and audiobooks. To the Bean's credit it reproduces high frequencies acceptably. At my Mac's highest volume, I got little distorted sound from the Bean. Full orchestral sound came through a bit muddy with the treble registers muted a bit. I use "Wandering Star" by Portishead to test the bass sound and the Bean pushed that out, again with a small, but insignificant amount of distortion. It plays any of your chart-topping favorites just fine -- as long as you don't care about a stereo experience. I think for most kids, this device is fine for sharing music or movie sound with friends. I just missed the channel switching in stereo sound. As a speakerphone, it reproduces voice clearly, so it's a good choice as an iPhone speaker. Audiobooks also have good clarity. The operating range seems to be a little over 20 feet before the sound degrades. A 20-something friend wandered in the other day and asked me if something was wrong with my Mac because the music he heard sounded "twangy and hollow." I showed him that I was using the Bluetune-Bean and not the internal speakers. He said, "Wow, I could use that!" Even though he thought the sound was unimpressive, the portability and small size of the speaker was immediately attractive to him. The rubber covering comes in a variety of colors, including blue, yellow, red, pink, black and white. It is neither water- nor drop-proof, although it took a couple of nosedives off my desk without any noticeable effect. It comes packaged with a metal carabiner, but I don't want to walk around with it bouncing off my hip, if attached to a belt loop. The Bluetune-Bean is 3 x 2 x 2 inches and weighs 12 oz. The speaker specs include 3 w output, 80Hz to 20,000kHz frequency range and 4 Ohm impedance. If you hold your hand over the speaker, you can get a minor hand massage, especially if the music has a solid bass line. Please be careful with this speaker if you have pets; it does look like a chew toy or ball, and that could be disastrous for you and a dog. The US$29.90 price makes the Bluetune-Bean an attractive companion to your iOS or any Bluetooth-compatible device. In my opinion, it's just not a "high-quality audio experience," as advertised. While I am not a fan of the quality of this device, there are 11 reviews from owners on Amazon who love it. Positive Notes Small and easily portable. Rechargeable battery. Comes with charging cable. Good colors with complimentary colored metal loop. Clear voice and acceptable music quality. Negative Notes Bulky design. Teeny indicator light. No indicator when device needs recharging. Not drop-proof. Metal loop adds unnecessary weight. No stereo experience Giveaway We have one bright pink Divoom Bluetune-Bean speaker to give away. Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before January 7, 214 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a Divoom Bluetune-Bean speaker valued at $29.90 Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Divoom Onbeat-200 Bluetooth Speaker Review
Divoom, based out of Hong Kong, sells a variety of portable audio devices. Their devices differ in product shape, color, and price, but offer portability, Bluetooth compatibility and rechargeable batteries, which means they're good companions for your iOS devices. I tested the Onbeat-200, one of Divoom's more expensive products, with a US$79.90 list price. First, let's talk about packaging. The Onbeat-200 comes securely packed in a two part plastic box with a handle. The clear top box houses the speaker. A second black box into which the upper box fits includes a small instruction book in seven languages, a Micro to USB charging cable, an auxiliary audio cable, and wrist strap in a resealable zip-lock bag. While all this plastic may not be environmentally sound, I do appreciate that all the pieces fit together in such a way that I can store my OnBeat-200 safely on a shelf with all its pieces. Second, let's look at the form factor. The Onbeat-200 won't win any design awards. It is just a rectangle, covered in some plastic material with a wave design on the sides. While the press release claims it is only 3-inches, the dimensions are actually 6.5" long, 2" wide and 1.5" deep. Available in red, blue, black, or silver (gray), it comes with a user-installable handstrap that seems barely up to the task to carry this one-lb system. The speaker feels heavier though, and I doubt anyone would find the strap comfortable to use. It is too bulky to fit in a pocket, but fine for a purse, backpack, or shoulder bag. Now, let's look at how the speaker functions. The controls for charging and pairing are recessed on one end. A tiny flashing red light next to the mini-USB port indicates when the Onbeat-200 is charging. The light disappears when it is fully charged. It comes back on again as a blue light to signal that the Onbeat-200 is paired to your device of choice. You must use the power switch to turn it off after turning off your iOS device, it does not power off automatically. The volume controls (+ or -) and square stop button sit on the top of the device, as you can see in the product photograph below. The 1200mAh rechargeable battery took surprising little time to charge initially. A full charge should last between six and eight hours. I could not determine how many years the batter might last, nor if it is replaceable. Upon pairing it with my iPhone and engaging a playlist, the speaker came on at full blast. I keep my iPhone volume turned up, because I always use the speaker phone. The volume that exploded out of the Onbeat was ear splitting, not to mention it probably woke everyone in my apartment building. I had to use the iPhone to reduce the volume, because the volume controls did not react fast enough. The minus (-) button did lower the volume once I figured out how hard to press it. When I pressed the plus (+) button to turn up the speaker, it replied with an electronic beep and did absolutely nothing, which I realized meant that the Onbeat was at maximum volume. When I pressed and held the button it skipped to the next song, which it did a few times when I wanted to increase the volume. Thank you very much. I did not have much luck controlling the volume with the button on the top of the speaker, so controlled it with the volume via my iPhone more often than not. Even a small movement of the iPhone's volume yielded a significant difference in volume in the Onbeat-200. The Onbeat-200 showed up twice when I paired it with my iMac. It showed up as Onbeat-20 and Onbeat-20 Stereo. Only the first entry worked correctly. The sound was distinctively more muted and contained more bass tones than my iMac's built-in speakers. I did not find the sound clarity, nor the whole listening experience as good as when it was paired with the iPad or iPhone. I tested my iOS devices outside and that might have made the difference in sound quality. I have a playlist I use just for testing sound products and the Onbeat-200 performed admirably. It sounds best in the mid-range. The bass is full, but songs with deep bass tones rattled a tiny bit. In some tunes it sounded a bit tinny in the higher ranges, especially with heavy harmonica riffs. I was impressed with the range of music it played well. Unfortunately, due to the design, any song which moves from speaker to speaker is lost in the translation. The Onbeat-200 sounds different depending on which side you place in front of you also. One side yields more bass tones than the other. The Onbeat-200 includes a built-in microphone, so it also acts as a speaker phone. This feature worked well, although voices tended to sound deeper than in real life. When the iPhone answers a call, the music automatically pauses, and you switch to the speaker. When the call ends and the iPhone switches back to the music, the device happily complies. You can also end the call with the stop button on the Onbeat-200. The 33-foot listed operating range is a bit generous. I found I started losing my signal at about 23 feet. As mentioned above, it puts out quite a punch at top volume without any distortion. Dvoom recommends that you set your device on any of their stereo speakers to 80% volume. This is probably so that you don't blow the speaker, although they don't mention that tidbit. While I'm not sure it is worth $80, it is does provide good performance and volume while on the go. Do not be mislead by its housing though. Even though it looks rugged and sealed, it is not sand or water-proof. After using it outside, I found bits of grass had weaved themselves into the small holes, so it can easily pick up dirt and sand. If you want volume with little distortion, the Onbeat-200 may fill your needs, but if you want a quality stereo listening experience, I don't think the Onbeat-200 delivers. Specs Weight 540 g (1.19 lbs) (I had it weighed and it was only .99lbs) Output Power: 4 Watts x 2 Total Peak Power: 6 Watts x 2 Driver Size : 2" x 2 Operating Range: Up to 10 meters/33 feet Bluetooth Compliant V2.1 +EDR Bluetooth profile support A2DP Stereo Signal-to-noise: 75dB Charging Voltage: USB or AC/DC wall adaptor 5V
