I still question why companies are making wireless speakers. I honestly don’t think people use them, surely? I’ve also found them to be a hassle to set up with minimal battery life. However, while I sit here writing this, a Philips BR-1X Bluetooth Speaker has been chugging away, song after song, for more than 2 hours now. Call me impressed.
I’ve never been too big a fan of Bluetooth either. I’ve struggled to send files to other phones via the connection, despite fiddling with it for a good 20 minutes. If by some miracle you get a connection, 2 steps in any direction would reset the whole silly process.
So here I am using a gadget I’ve never seen friends or family (even strangers for that matter) use, with a feature that I don’t like and I find myself wanting one. Weird.
Connecting the Philips BR-1X Bluetooth Speaker is really easy. Turn on your Bluetooth and search for devices while the power button flashes on the speaker itself. When the device appears on your phone just tap to connect and voila! I didn’t even need the instructions to figure this one out (which is a feat on its own).
The device is fitted with two 2” speakers and a small base at the back. The quality this little guy throws out is incredibly clean even at the highest volume settings… which is: can’t hear the person next to me screaming in my ear. However, it can even louder. Philips has designed this speaker so that it can be connected to another BR-1X in case you need a little more party at your party. If you need some more party a third can be connected and so it goes. We didn’t have another to test how this works, however it seems simple enough: you’d just connect the supplied aux cable to the aux out and in to the aux in on the other speaker. I’m not sure whether the Bluetooth connection would need to be made to both speakers, but I doubt it.
The Philips BR-1X Bluetooth Speaker also comes with a charger that allows you to charge it quickly when you’re at home but it also has the standard micro-USB charger for on the go use and recharge. Its major downfall is that it is covered in a rather bland green rubber for protection from potential drops. Your sound quality will be superb but it definitely won’t add to your interior décor.
It’s a great speaker which would be great outside in summer to blast music during a braai. Keep in mind you cannot connect your phone to the speaker using an aux cable. As I said earlier, the Bluetooth is relatively easy to set up so this isn’t a game changer but seen as it came with an aux cable it would have been a nice “extra”.
Disclaimer: I was actually gifted this speaker in a goodie bag and decided to review it just because.
