Bose unveiled a brand new Portable Home Speaker, a versatile smart audio device that’s packed with numerous features and boasts a lovely compact design. It’s basically a home speaker, a portable speaker and a voice controlled speaker, all in one stunning package.
The new Bose Portable Home Speaker offers improved 360-degree sound, a deeper bass than any other portable smart speaker of its size and it packs a serious punch as well. This compact speaker weights in at just 2.3 pounds, being 7.5″ high and just a little bit over 4″ across. Bose will release this new smart home speaker in two versions: Triple Black and Luxe Silver, both of them priced at $349.
The new portable speaker offers up to 12 hours of playtime, while Bluetooth allows users to stream their favorite tracks straight from their phone or tablets on this device. The speaker also comes with Bose’s proprietary voice pick up system that works very well with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa (both of them built-in), to help you access your favorite music, playlists or podcasts, news, weather and even other smart home devices.
If you have Apple devices don’t worry, this portable speaker also comes with AirPlay 2 so you could play music from your Apple device as well. The Bose Music app will prove to be very helpful too, allowing you to browse content, switch music services or create a multi-room sound system together with other Bose smart speakers or soundbars.
Bose allows users this year to pair this new Portable Home Speaker with a SoundLink speaker for a synchronized audio experience and next year they’ll upgrade the software to help you pair two Portables for a unique 360-degree stereo performance.
Design-wise, the new Portable Home Speaker is cylindrical and comes wrapped in a seamless, anodized aluminum cover. The speaker is made of three passive radiators, a high-excursion driver and a special deflector that helps distribute a crystal clear sound evenly in every direction.
The top of the speaker comes with several buttons for basic functionality, including power on/off, volume up/down, play/pause, the signature Bose mic-off feature, and more buttons to skip tracks, wake or dismiss virtual assistants, plus the Bluetooth source.
Bose also claims their new portable home speaker is rugged enough to withstand drops, knocks and hits, but let’s hope you don’t drop it too often. And if you forget it in the rain, the Portable is water resistant with an IPX4 rating, so it should easily survive spills, splashes and even a good rain.
The new Bose Portable Speaker also features a small handle allowing users to carry it around easily, and it can be charged through the standard USB-C port or a charging cradle that could be bought separately for just $29.
