I have a newly acquired wireless Bluetooth speaker to add to my collection.
Unfortunately, it's one of those items on Amazon where a third party vendor is selling it and all the (17) reviews (8 or so comments) are not in English.
The speaker is listed as NAUTICA Portable Bluetooth Speaker, Wireless, TWS Pairing, IPX5 Splashproof, Dynamic Led Lights, Bluetooth 5.1, Carrying Strap, Advanced Sound for Home, Outdoor (Black) and is currently $14.99.
The Amazon page says it has "Bass boost" but it doesn't. Unless you've got your own boost connecting to it (I think?). There are no other buttons on this thing outside the power button. As it's a third party vendor selling it, I don't think Amazon reviewed the listing, because it's not a "Spekaer". It's a "speaker". Like I stated earlier, all the reviews are not in English, so the "language" being Turkish make sense that all the comments are actually written in Turkish. There's no audio coming from this speaker until you pair it to your device and choose the sound you want. The manual is in English, so that's a good thing?
There is no carrying case with this speaker. WYSISYG: Charging cable (1 foot mini USB), speaker, small manual, hanging strap. Nothing else.
Once I opened the box and took it out of the packaging, it didn't take long to charge this speaker.
As I started above, the charger is a micro USB. Like a lot of technology these days, this does not come with a charging block; you have to supply your own terminal end. Once charged and paired to my phone, the Bluetooth menu shows "Nautica S20" in the list of ready devices, but does not show up under the "powered on" Bluetooth devices, making it hard to know the battery level of the speaker. I guess it will have to be one of those "guess how long it'll last" situations.
If you look at the first picture, there are two widgets up top, below the status information (Cellular service, etc). One widget is the music information and has the ᚼᛒ in the right hand corner. Above that, there's a little headphone symbol next to the battery level, which tells me I've got headphones connected. However, in the volume bar under the music widget, there's the ᚼᛒ in the volume bar, which tells me that something is connected wirelessly via Bluetooth to my phone. Now the challenge becomes even more strange: in the second photo, all you see is my phone and watch battery levels. So where is the wireless device the first picture shows? What's that battery level? This is why it could potentially be frustrating to not know how much juice you have left in this thing. If it can't decide whether it's a headphone or a Bluetooth device, you're going to wonder when you need to plug it in for a refresh.
The strap attachment is nice, but you really have to have strength to pull the strap apart. It's a pop button and seems to have a solid grip, so the few times I've already tried to hook this speaker to items, it's been a struggle. Once I got the strap apart, it's a simple slide around a knob, through a rod or whatever you want to secure this thing to. Pop the button back together, et voila, you got yourself a hanging speaker.
I feel like I need to talk about the power and light situation a little more.
As seen in the video below (you've been warned):
The song in the video is Still The Same feat CASIDEAD by Rufige Kru & Goldie. The full album drops May 16 for anyone interested in electronic, jungle, breakbeat hardcore, and darkcore. Or just Goldie.
I recorded the video (much like I took the photos) with an iPhone 11. The photos were edited in Photoshop as I put my name on them and edited myself out of the cabinet knobs. The video was edited in Pinnacle Studio so I could put my name in it.
Yes, I filmed the video in my bathroom.
Back to the rave challenge.
The disco flashy strobey business of the LEDs aren't a bad thing, I just wish there was a way to turn them off when you don't want to use them. I paired this speaker to my phone so I could listen to podcasts and not have to always wear headphones if I'm at my desk or go outside and sit in the driveway for a while (which I plan to, this weekend). I don't have music on my phone anymore. I mean, I used to; for when I'd go traveling, but I don't travel as much as I should.
I've also gotten addicted accustomed to a lot of different podcasts and feel like music is just too much to store on my device right now. Which is also why I was using an MP3 player in my car at one point in time. I'd load that sucker up to the brim with various tracks, press play and drive on. Now that things have changed, I'm getting a pretty decent education with the stories I listen to.
Therefore, for the moment, I'd prefer to keep it that way.
I'm not disregarding music by any means. It's that I have found some new learning materials. The more conversations I hear, the more ads are being played for other series. As it is, I know I need to catch up on old stuff I started, but once you go down one rabbit hole, it leads to others.
I'm so backlogged, it's not even funny.
Which is all the more reason I don't need an "ooooh.." or "ahhh...." lightshow on a speaker, just to hear people talk. It's great for a party atmosphere, when you want to dance the night away; but it's not great for a relaxing night in while reading a book.
Admittedly, sound is amazing, and my phone was only on 40% or so in volume when I was testing the speaker out. I have to give this thing credit, for sure. I think that if I used this when I was riding my bike back north, I would have heard every instrument pumped out as the cars went whizzing past me.
Man, I miss riding those 6 miles from my house to the local college, around the campus and back to my house. That was fun. How I'd do some reading and find little hidey holes in the community... Those days need to happen again.
This speaker isn't all that bad. It has its challenges but I can make it work. For someone who can't sleep with a lot of lights on, I will probably flip the speaker over on its light side, so there will be a louder conversation coming out of it if I decide to play something to fall asleep to. It's not a deal breaker to have a luminosity show, but it'll probably make me more cognizant of what I'm listening to and for how long.
Until I find more out there sound and vision tools, take care of yourself and go explore something new.
Cheers;
