The excitement in audio recently has been in Wi-Fi speakers for smart homes that can be coordinated and controlled by voice commands. But Bluetooth wireless speakers still are very useful -- especially as a personal, easily-portable speakers that can move from room to room, indoors to outdoors, and come along when you are on the go.
This year's focus for Bluetooth speakers is on making them more rugged -- and not only waterproof, but even able to float. The Altec Lansing line of portable speakers also integrate with voice assistants, and some support extended range for the Bluetooth connection -- up to 100 feet.
For personal use, at your desk or in a hotel room, you can start with a mini speaker like the Altec Lansing Baby Boom, a compact, rugged speaker that is smaller than your hand (around 4 x 2 x 1 inches, and 1/4 pound).
The Baby Boom puts out impressive sound for its size, with two 1" drivers with neodymium magnets.
You can pair two of them as stereo speakers, with a 30 foot wireless range. And it works as a hands-free speakerphone for your smartphone. It also has a 3.5 mm auxiliary input to play from other wired sources.
The Altec Lansing Baby Boom has 6 hours of battery life, is waterproof and floats, and is available for around $29. It even has a carabineer clip to attach to your backpack.
Or step up to a slightly larger speaker like the Altec Lansing Mini LifeJacket Jolt, a compact speaker with serious bass (around 6 1/4 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches).
This is not quite pocket size, with dual 1.5" neodymium drives / woofers plus two 40mm passive radiators, has a 100 foot wireless range, and you can pair up to 50 speakers at once for a big house party.
It also has a dedicated button to activate Apple Siri or Google Assistant, and is waterproof and floats.
The Altec Lansing Mini LifeJacket Jolt has 16 hours of battery life, and has a USB port so it also can be used as a charger for your smartphone. It's available for around $79.
Then the Altec Lansing Versa line of smart speakers pairs and plays over both Bluetooth (for on the go) and Wi-Fi (for at home). Use the Altec Lansing VersA Navigator app for Wi-Fi setup and to bridge to Amazon Alexa for tap-to-talk voice control.
The smaller Altec Lansing VersA 2 Go model is still relatively compact (around 4 x 4 x 2 inches).
It delivers impressive sound with a 1.75" woofer and 2" passive radiator, with a 100 foot wireless range.
Altec Lansing VersA 2 Go is waterproof, has 8 hours of battery life, and is available for around $69., It also has a carabineer clip.
So in the range of $29 to $79 you can have a rugged Bluetooth speaker that syncs cleanly with your smartphone to deliver improved sound and relay voice commands. They talk to you to confirm power on and Bluetooth pairing status. These also all have a two-sided design, to fill a space better by pumping out sound in all directions.
- See full Holiday Tech 2018 presentation for my local talks in the Princeton area
- See companion article in U.S. 1 Newspaper, Nov. 14, 2018
Find the Altec Lansing Mini LifeJacket Jolt
on Amazon.com