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LOUD SOUND AT A QUIET PRICE
The first time I saw the Wonderboom speaker a few years ago on the dock at our friends’ cottage, I was a little skeptical on the quality of the sound and it’s built. However, the longer I listened to it, I was pleasantly surprised at the fullness of the sound and the length of playtime. Now the speaker has evolved to the new rebranded name, Ultimate Ears Wonderboom3. This little powerhouse of a speaker, features 360 degrees
Ultimate Ears Wonderboom Speaker 3.
sound, 14 hours of playtime at a quarter of the price of premium brands. It even has an outdoor mode button that activates that is specially configured for outdoor environments. I also tried this speaker in a loud production environment, and it can easily be heard over the machine noise. Even in that noisy environment, I didn’t even reach the maximum volume setting. It would have been too loud.
DESIGN BUILT AND BUILD QUALITY
The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 speaker is a very light speaker that makes it ideal for a person on the go. It is a great travel comp
anion, that will not weigh you down, since it only weighs 14.8 ounces or (420 grams). For the basis of comparison, the Bose Soundlink Mini II weighs around 24 ounces (680 grams). But don’t let the lightness of the UE Wonderboom 3 speaker, fool you. It is in way reflective of its built quality. Owning one is a worry-free experience. It is dust proof, shockproof, making it to be a great companion for a day at beach, the lake or the pool. It is rated waterproof IPX67 which means that it can be submerged in 3 feet of water for up to 30 minutes. With that said, you don’t really need to worry about the UE Wonderboom 3 being submerged in water, because it floats. The only watch out is to ensure that after charging, the protective cover is tightly covering the charging port.
It is not bulky to carry around because of its small size of 4” x 3.75” (10.4 cm x 9.5 cm). It will hardly take any space in your day pack when travelling. To add to the build quality, the UE Wonderboom 3 speakers are made of recycled materials which aligns, with our environmentally friendly gadgets.
SET UP
Set up is fairly easy. Once initially charged after unpacking, turn the unit on by pressing on the (-) sign on the top of the UE Wonderboom speaker. To begin pairing with your smart device, press on the round button
opposite to the (On) button. The unit will release an audible sound to indicate that it is ready to be paired. Go to your smart device and search for the Wonderboom speaker. Once you select it, then the unit will sound again to indicate that it is ready for use. That’s it! Once your music session is over, you can simply turn off the speaker. Next time you turn it on, the speaker will automatically, connect to the last device that used it as long as it is within range.
EASE OF USE
There are only 6 buttons. These buttons are all you need to control your music from the speaker if your smart device is out of reach. The only missing from these functions is the ability to play the previous track.
- On Button (-)
- Pairing Button (round)
- Middle Round Button (pause, next track)
- (+) Button – Volume Up on the side
- (-) Button + Volume Down
- (↑) Outdoor Mode Button
Charging the speaker is also straight forward. Simply uncover the cover at the bottom side of the speaker and plug in a USB charger. That’s it. The play time on the UE Wonderboom 3 speaker is approximately, 14 hours, so you really don’t have to do this often. Even if you start getting warnings that your speaker needs to be charged, you can just plug in the Micro USB charging cable and keep on playing while its charging. You don’t need an electrical source to chare these speakers. You can just use a portable charging device. Where this speaker has criticisms is the charging time. From a fully drained battery, it takes about 5 hours to charge fully. As well, the charging port still uses a micro-USB format and not the C type. Micro USB supports slower charging and data transfer speeds. As well, since later models of Android or IOS devices use USB-C, you will have to carry multiple types of charging cables. If you need to have a louder or stereo sound for your impromptu party, you can simply pair another UE Wonderboom 3 speaker to each other for stereo sound. The only problem with this is that the UE Wonderboom 3 speakers are not backwards compatible. This means that you can only pair with another UE Wonderboom 3 speaker. So, if you have an older model, you can’t pair with the new model. It’s a bit of mystery why UE Boom speakers did not design it to be backward compatible, but it’s definitely something to consider if you are planning to use multiple speakers together. It’s interesting to note that the previous models were backward compatible.
SOUND QUALITY
The sound of the UE Wonderboom 3 is solid. It can fill the room with music with no problem. When used outside, I found that the normal mode is sufficient to be heard. I have never found a need to turn it up at full volume. It is loud! To be honest, I have never used the outdoor setting mode. It should be noted that using the outdoor mode will drain the battery faster. In regards to the quality of sound at high volume, some people have mentioned that the base sounds become distorted at high volumes. However, I don’t notice that. For the portability and price of the UE Wonderboom 3, the sound is great at all levels.
SUMMARY
The UE Wonderboom 3 is a speaker that delivers great quality and durability. It’s small size, weight, and being dust proof, IP67 IP rating water resistance makes it an ideal companion for travel. The set up is very intuitive and seamless. It literally takes less than a minute to get it ready for use. During use, the sound is full and loud enough to fill most rooms, and loud enough to use outside. In regards to battery life, I found it to be adequate enough to use it to party all day.
There are opportunities for improvement. The USB port to charge it still uses and Micro USB instead of the later standard of USB-C that would decrease the charging time. Although it can be paired with another unit to create a stereo sound, it is not backwards compatible. It can only be paired with another UE Wonderboom 3, not the earlier models. For the price, I highly recommend the UE Wonderboom 3. Despite some minor shortcomings the benefits far outweigh the negative points. You won’t be disappointed with Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 speaker.
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