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Since it came out I have used the AirPort Express attached to a Bose Wave to allow me to stream music from my computer to another room. In my previous living arrangements the Wave was always centrally located so I could listen to it from almost any room.
When I moved in November all that changed. My house is a single floor and quite long so there is no good central location that allows me to listen to music from several rooms.
I have been looking for a bluetooth device that provided me good sound and was portable. There are several out there that I came across during my research. The first was the Jambox by Jawbone. I have read some great reviews on the product but I was not enamored by the Lego like design and overall I thought it was too small a device. Kickstarter also had a very successful campaign for product called the Hidden Radio & BlueTooth Speaker raising 7x the goal. I almost funded this product. I liked the design but I was not sure of the quality and wanted to wait for the production reviews.
In the mean time I came across a new product from Bose that seemed to fit the bill called the SoundLink© Wireless Mobile Speaker. Right away I liked the looks so I went into my local audio-video store and used my phone to demo it and it was impressive. The unit is not inexpensive. It retails for $299 which is $100 more than the Jambox. After weighing the options I ended up purchasing the unit. 1
Getting the unit home I immediately plugged it in to charge the unit up. The specifications called for up to eight hours of battery life on a full charge. There is not much in the box other than the charger and an additioanl 3.5mm cable.
The unit comes with an integrated cover. Additional covers are available as well for $29 but I went with the stock black nylon cover. Opening the cover provides a kickstand for the decive and tips it back ever so slightly. Closing the cover turns the unit off to save battery.
Operating the unit is extremely easy. The control panel has only 6 buttons:
Pairing the unit was incredibly easy. Just activate the pairing option on the Soundlink and then activate Bluetooth on the phone in this case. A few seconds later you heard a little beep confirming the paring was successful. I tried the device with iTunes Music, Pandora and Instacast all without issue. I immediately then tried to pair it with my MacBook Air and no issue. The manual say it has the ability to pair and remember up to 6 devices which is great as well.
With the cover open the unit is very solid. When the close is closed it is a little less stable since the bottom of the device has an angled foot.
I am very happy with the sound of the SoundLink and allows me the portability to listen to music anywhere in the house I need to.
Pros: Great battery life. Very portable. Excellent for music or podcasts. Cons: A little more expensive than other options on the market. In closed mode due to the angle of the device it is a little unstable and can easly knocked over.