Ultimate Ears Boom Wireless Bluetooth Speaker - Blue

I will throw out my disclaimer and just say that I do not consider myself an "audiophile" or tech junkie. I'm just your average music lover. I was looking for a wireless speaker for toting around the house in the rooms that don't have surround sound, as well as to take when traveling and/or camping. Wow! When I first turned it on, it was at full volume and it made me jump. This baby is LOUD! I tried a few different genres of music, from bluegrass to hip hop to hard rock, and they all sound great. Better than my car stereo, in fact. :) I love the construction; it seems really durable. The design is nice and sleek. It's a tad heavier than expected, but that just means (to me) that it's really sturdy. I plan to take this camping with me, and the water resistant feature was what made me choose this over the Bose Soundlink Mini. I love the fact it has a hook to hang from a tent or canopy, and while I doubt I'd attach it to a tripod, it's a nice little feature. I've only had it one day but it's evident that this is a high quality speaker with really well balanced sound. I'm pretty happy with my choice, and feel like it's probably worth what I paid for it, though time of course will tell. **EDIT: 09/30 - So I have used it a lot these last few days. I have about a solid 8-9 hours of use at the upper mid level volume, and it says I still have a 60% charge on it. Not bad! **EDIT: 10/07/13 - I took this camping with me last week and everyone was asking where I got it, and three people went out and bought one the next day. Battery life is pretty amazing - not really sure why there are some reviews toward the opposite because my experience has been really great. I am incredibly happy with this purchase, and feel like it is well worth the money. **EDIT: 12/31/13 - After having this for a few months, I am still really impressed with this speaker. Side by side with the Bose Sound Link Mini, in my opinion this has the better overall sound (though yes, they are quite comparable). The quality of the sound on this speaker means that anywhere I take it, someone will ask me where I got it. I took it on a backpacking trip and, while it performed great (batter life doesn't seem to be affected by the cold at all and was able to use it three consecutive days on the trail), it is a tad heavy for that application. Enter the UE MINI BOOM. Yes, I love this original Boom so much that I bought the smaller version. (see separate review) I was pleasantly surprised to find that with the UE Boom app, I was able to double up both the large and small version. I knew you could pair each one with its same version, but when we tried (just for kicks) to put both the Boom and Mini Boom together it was super easy. Very cool! To sum up, if you are the sort that would be likely to travel with a speaker and want to be able to toss it around a bit, this won't let you down. Very sturdy, great sound, love the battery indicator too. ***UPDATE 08/11/17 - So I have had this for four years now and it's still going strong. It sounds as good as ever, holds a charge as well as it ever did, and has taken some hard knocks over the years. I've taken it rafting with me a few times - this thing has gotten drenched in the boat, plus I left it out one night in the rain... still going. It seems virtually indestructible. Still pairs well with the mini-boom as well. I know that since I bought this speaker, others have come out that are waterproof, (insert element)-proof, etc. but I have no desire to buy a new speaker as long as this one keeps performing as it has. No regrets whatsoever and it has more than paid for itself over the years. HIGHLY recommend!! ***UPDATE 04/10/18 - I keep adding updates because this thing continues to amaze me. It has been nibbled on by a dog, left out in a two day torrential thunderstorm (battery port side up and open), soaked in a raft, dropped from 20', run over by a golf cart.... It has a lot of character by now, being a little battered and bruised. And still it's going. I feel like eventually it is going to stop working but so far nothing seems to affect it. Still sounds great, too. I'd like to see Bose perform so well for so long.

Pros: decent sound quality, pairs & connects easily, pleasant drumming audio feedback, good wireless range, good battery life, out power down, auto-reconnect to last device on power up Cons: volume down minus button can be hard to find, micro USB charging on bottom of speaker I got this on clearance since version 2 is out. And version 2 adds water resistance and longer range, but doesn’t improve audio quality so this is a steal. After reading a ton of review and returning JBL’s flip, I was skeptical it would sound as good as reviewers said. I was happy that it does sound very good for its size. It uses bluetooth’s sub-band coding, which is a lossy codec. However the UE Boom is too small to take advantage of higher quality anyway. The overall balance and tonality of this is excellent for a speaker this size. Sure the audio is not audiophile grade—the fidelity is good, but lacking in fullness & nuances only present in larger home speaker systems—but such is physics of sound. But for portable applications, it is great. In fact it is the best portable speaker I’ve used to date. I can find room for it in my go bag (where my computer, tablet & electronics live while I’m on the road), and have a way to play small room filling audio for friends without having to apologize for “crappy” phone or tablet speakers. The bluetooth range is good too. I can leave this in my room & have walked into the kitchen (~35') and only when 4 walls AND a metal water heater or the fridge are in the way does it drop out. So, the stated range of 50' is probably accurate. The speaker’s audio feedback is pleasant: when you power it on a hand drum pattern greets you instead of beeping that’s common in most bluetooth audio devices. Then is connects, enters pairing mode and powers down other hand drum patterns play to give you distinctive feedback so you don’t need to guess what state the speaker is in. The battery seems to last the advertised time. I used it heavily for 2 days before running out of power. When the battery is low a quick female voice annnounces “the battery is low…please charge…” (paraphrased) and then within a minute it powers down. But you can avoid running out of power if you pay attention to the battery indicator that shows up on tablets and phones that are connected via bluetooth. There are only 2 minor things that bug me about this: First, the + and minus symbol for volume up and down, are elegant. The volume up button is under the intersection of lines and easy to hit reliably, however but the volume down minus sign button is difficult to find on first or even second press. Note: the “target” button is feels like it is about he size of a pinky finger tip, so easy to miss under that large minus sign. Second, the micro-b USB charging port is on the bottom next to the D-Ring. I’m not a fan of micro-b usb sockets because they wear out sooner than mini-b USB sockets and being on the bottom means you have to flip it over to charge, and if you want to listen to it while charging the on/off controls and pairing are on the bottom. Because these are both minor, I didn’t deduct any stars since the core functionality (the quality of the sound) is beyond what Beats, JBL and others are offering. Bottom Line: I would buy it again. (& I might buy another to pair them together using the free app)

Turns my Apple phone into a excellent device for a conference call

Love this. Great distance. When my phone is in range it automatically connects!

Ordered at ₹11000. But the price dropped after a month the price dropped to ₹8000 and thanks for the amazingly fast delivery amazon. Coming to the speaker It just works flawlessly and every time i just look at it the music mood turns on and just works so good. It can be turned up from the app on iOS and Android and you can set alarms, tweak audio(which works pretty well), update the software, change volume. The speaker is very loud and clear and also very handy. The bluetooth range is also pretty good and easily crossed 3-4 near walls of the house. Packing was good and the box had a very good charger which i mostly use charge my phone. Its a 2amp charger and has both prongs (indian and american) Battery is pretty good and requires roughly a charge every week after a usage of 4-5 hours at 50% volume. Also it has got a microUSB port for charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack. So its a pretty good speaker and you should go for it if you love listening music loud

This speaker is compact and has an amazing sound! I definitely recommend the UE Boom products!

Great sound I will be buying another to complete the pair.