WOWee One Classic Gel Audio Portable Black Speaker Review
Andy Ruffell / 13 years ago
[wpcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]We’re in a time where portabability is a key factor in what you purchase and it’s because of this, that we see more mobile phones utilising multimedia features and more consumers purchasing tablets such as iPad’s and Asus Transformers. Along with this comes the huge market for accessories which adds to the portable friendliness and opens up a whole new market.
One key area with these portable devices is the ability to listen to music and watch your favourite content, no matter where you are, and being able to immerse yourself further into the medium is a vital aspect of getting the best experience.
Portable speakers seem to be one of the latest fads as a new generation of users came along, wanting to share their tastes with their friends and what better way to do this, than to crank up the volume and hear for yourself.
The downside to having anything portable, and myself included with my iPhone, is protecting it, but WOWee seem to have combatted this with their unique rubber design that offers protection against dropping your device, without the fear of it smashing into a million pieces.
Generally with a portable speaker, especially those with low price tags, leaves us wondering how will they really perform or will it be the same old story of having a great idea, but no real performance to back it up.Trying to make this device as versatile as possible, all comes down to the connectivity options and it simply has a 3.5mm jack for transmitting your audio from your device to the speaker and a mini USB connector for charging the speaker. It is also worth noting that both cables come pre-supplied with the speaker.
[/wpcol_1half] [wpcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]When we saw the technical specs of this unit, an output power of 2W and a 40Hz ~ 20kHz frequency doesn’t exactly scream out to you, but for a small and effective unit, it could be quite promising.
Tech Specs
- Dimensions (WxLxH): 60 x 120 x 25.8 mm
- Product Weight: 200g
- Driver: 1 x conventional Cone speaker, 1 x Gel Audio™ driver
- Frequency Response: 40Hz ~ 20kHz
- Amplifier: D-Class
- Output Power: 2W RMS
- Input Power: 5V DC (via mini USB)
- Rechargable Battery (Built-in): Lithium Ion 3.7v
- Playback Duration: Up to 20hrs
- Audio Input: 3.5 mm audio jack
- Compatible: iPod™, iPad™, mp3, mp4, mobile phone and computer applications.
- Pack includes: USB Charging cable/3.5mm Jack cable
The high end range is quite pleasing and gives a clear, crisp output and is easily heard from a far distance and makes vocals really stand out when listening to music or movie footage.
When looking at the mid range output, the speaker gives a good balance between lows and highs by giving a clear output with a slight punch, without going low enough to correspond in the lower end of the spectrum.
We all love bass, and quite surprisingly, the speaker gives a clear and punchy range that allows you to pick out the snare, toms and bass drum and when they are being used which is simply amazing for a device that is no bigger than a mobile phone. The low tones really give a truly special experience, especially when watching a movie on your phone or other, similar device. Due to the size of the unit, you will expect quite a lot of vibration though, which depending on what surface it is sitting on, can be quite tedious.
Until now, I had never heard of this speaker or the product range, but now I’m sure I won’t ever forget them. They have managed to squeeze a lot of technology into the Gel Audio portable speaker whilst keeping cost to a minimum. At a low £37.79 it’s definitely one to be put onto the Christmas list that will allow you to share your favourite media content to your friends and family with ease and with the added aspect of being a small, slim device it can easily be put into your pocket or slipped into the optional hard case.
When looking at the different ranges we tested with, it seemed to handle all including the low range bass with ease and gave crisp and punchy tones at all ranges and certainly left us gobsmacked that it was coming from such a small product.
Sure there are other similar products on the market, but none are as uniquely shaped and made as the WOWee One Classis Gel Audio portable speaker.
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