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Review: Aluratek BUMP portable wireless speaker
For some, having access to music on the road is pretty important - this could be as simple as some good quality tunes on an iPod, or a way to get music in your hotel room. In the past, we've looked at some portable speakers. and today we'll review one that lets you cut the cords on your portable music.
The Aluratek BUMP AUWS01F portable speaker consists of two parts - a rechargeable speaker, and a USB wireless dongle. To get your music, you simply plug the dongle into your laptop, and turn the speaker unit on. There is no need to install software, as the dongle shows up on your laptop as a generic audio playback device. You also don't need to worry about "paring" or other wireless tricks, as the two communicate over their own 2.4GHz wireless system.
The BUMP speaker does two things really, really well - sound quality and wireless range. Wireless range is absolutely crazy - I was able to walk from one end of my house to the other, without as much as a crackle or pop in the music - well over 200 feet away. The fantastic sound quality from the speaker is another great selling point - despite being a single speaker (so no stereo), bass and volume are great, and when cranked up, it'll easilly fill a room with decent music.
Controls are simple - a single large circular button on top provides access to power and volume - sadly no track skip/play/pause buttons here. On the rear, you'll find a miniUSB charging port and a 3.5mm audio jack for plugging your portable media player in.
Uses for the speaker are endless - I recently took it to a hotel room and used it to listen to a movie I was playing on the hotel TV, but it also works perfectly for bathroom tunes streamed off your laptop when you take a soak in the oversized spa tub (just keep it away from water).
At $79.99, the Aluratek BUMP is considerably cheaper than most other portable speakers like the foxL and the Jambox - but because it operates on its own radio system, you can only stream music off your portable device with the wired connection. Battery life is rated for four hours and the package includes a USB cable and an audio cable.
Filed under: Gadling Gear Review
