You probably have some great tunes kicking around on your smartphone, but your smartphone speaker is hardly the best way to share that music with your friends. You’re far better off using something bigger, yet still portable, in the form of the Jabra SOLEMATE Bluetooth Speaker, on sale now for about $70 off from the original list price.

Naturally, this portable speaker will work with any Bluetooth compatible device, but it also takes on the standard 3.5mm connection for other audio sources too. There are three front-facing speakers, including a powerful sub-woofer that comes backed with a proprietary passive bass radiator for added umph. And it’s a Bluetooth speakerphone too, so you’ll be able to make and take your calls through this device as well.

There’s an effective range of about 30 feet and the built-in rechargeable battery will give you up to eight hours of wireless music time and up to 40 days of standby time. Sound gets up to the 120dB SPL range, so don’t let the smaller size fool you either.

Available in your choice of black or white, the Jabra SOLEMATE Bluetooth Speaker is discounted down to $129.99 on Amazon, including free super saver shipping.

The post Daily Deals: Save $50 on Jabra SOLEMATE Bluetooth Portable Speaker appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Maybe you don’t like the spherical nature of the GOgroove BlueSYNC OR3, but you do like their audio quality in a more conventional shape. Perhaps borrowing a little design inspiration from the Companion Cubes in Portal is the GOgroove SonaWAVE3 portable speaker, which is on sale for $20 off the regular price.

As you can see, the GOgroove SonaWAVE3 is shaped like a cube and it’s a portable speaker system that will work with smartphones, tablets, MP3 players, laptops, game consoles, and whatever else takes a standard 3.5mm audio connection. Alternatively, you can use the SD card slot or the USB port to play your music directly.

The SonaWAVE3 has two large, side-firing drivers and the unique back-lit LED glow certainly gives it some visual appeal to boot. You can expect 6W RMS output from those speakers and it has an internal 600mAh battery for mobile music. The cube itself isn’t quite a perfect cube at 5 x 4.25 x 4-inches, but it’s close enough.

The regular price on the GOgroove SonaWAVE3 is $54.99, but you can get it now for $34.99 on Amazon, including free super saver shipping.

The post Daily Deal: $20 off GOgroove SonaWAVE3 Portable Stereo Speaker appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Are you looking for a cool cube of a speaker to connect to your smartphone, tablet or MP3 player? You might want to look at the GOgroove SonaWAVE 3, which is currently on sale for almost half off. This is a portable speaker system that’s shaped like a little black cube with blue accents, including a backlit LED glow on the front panel.

Connectivity options are fairly universal, as you can play audio from tablets, smartphones, MP3 players, laptops, portable gaming consoles or pretty well any device that uses the standard 3.5mm audio jack connection. There is also an SD card slot and a USB port for direct MP3 playback capabilities too. The two side-firing drivers combine for 6W RMS and 12W peak.

As this is a portable stereo, it’s good to see that the 600mAh battery can last around 3-5 hours of continuous playback, recharging via USB or AC outlet. The GOgroove SonaWAVE 3 is on sale for $29.99 on Amazon, which is $25 off the regular price of $54.99. That includes the free Super Saving Shipping too.

The post GOgroove SonaWAVE 3 Portable Stereo on Sale for $29.99 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

We’ve gotten our hands on Tunebug’s Vibe portable speaker, a small brushed-zinc triangle which claims its “SurfaceSound” technology turns most surfaces it sits on into a flat-panel speaker.

And, true to its word, the wee Vibe does exactly that. The included Sound Base (really nothing more than a glorified cardboard box) is a good start, and works pretty well as a speaker itself. Though, with the base sitting on the heavy wooden antique sewing machine table I use as a desk, there’s not much for bass.

But we’ll come back to that in a second.

The Vibe’s internal 450mAH LiPoly battery held out for more than six hours of play at high volume, which is better than the five hours Tunebug has written on the product’s info page. It charged back up in just a couple of hours using the USB charger plugged into the iPhone’s outlet-to-USB converter.

Over the course of the last two days, I’ve tested the Vibe on a variety of surfaces at a variety of volume levels and playing a variety of genres. I’ll start by saying that the sheer novelty of SurfaceSound is almost enough to justify the bug’s $70 price tag in itself.

On the other hand, under most circumstances this speaker is not going to cut it for heavy users of dubstep. It has little to no bass on most desks, tables, countertops, etc., even on the Sound Base. What’s more, the felt pad on the bottom is pretty slippery, which causes the bug to shake itself right off of its perch when it’s trying to pump out fat beats.  If you want more grip and bass, check out our review of Wowee One.

But there are some surfaces that do work for a fuller sound. Here’s a short list of some of the best and worst places to listen to your music with SurfaceSound.

The three worst:

The washing machine.

A tea tin
A tea tin. Tinny, rattly, kind of dusty

Newspaper

It sounds tinny, no bass whatsoever; the high notes are almost screechy

Muffled, quiet, only low-mids audible

The three best:

On the Sound Base on a djembe.

Decent bass, very full sound, good volume. Though, the vibrating skins do cause the Vibe to rattle off the base a lot faster than many other surfaces at high volume. Great surface for 40 Below Summer, Neko Case.

The Vibe sounds great on its box on the djembe.

Good low-mids, treble; sound reflects off the floor underneath giving some depth. Good for Gogol Bordello, Jefferson Airplane.

The best SurfaceSound surface is, apparently, the toilet lid.

The toilet lid.

A lot of surfaces sound like crap under the Vibe. This, ironically, is not one of them. The plastic lid’s sound reverberates through the water and porcelain, bringing a deep sound, the best bass of any tested surface and swell volume. Great for Lupe Fiasco, Apocalyptica; anything, really. It just sounds good here. If unsatisfied, try setting the speaker on the Sound Base on top of the toilet lid for a different sound.

The bottom line:

It’s very portable, charges from your USB, and requires no setup, drivers, software; just plug it into the headphones port in your media player or laptop and you’re good to go. It’s not going to replace your home setup, but it’s definitely good for a bit of music on the go. The search for the perfect surface can keep buyers entertained for days – maybe hours for those lucky enough to have been born with an attention span.

It can get a bit crackly at high volumes, but that really depends on where you put it.

It’s definitely not for everyone, but it was a solid concept that saw solid execution. That’s good for a 7/10 in our books.

TuneBug Website

The post Hands-On Review: The Tunebug Vibe appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

We’re giving away a brand new bass pounding portable speakers that you might have seen in our review earlier this week.  The WOWee One has a built-in lithium-ion rechargable battery pack, allowing you to turn any flat surface into a bass pounding loud speaker.  They retail for $70, but all you have to do is head on over to the review page and tell us where you would stick it! The contest is open to the USA and Canada only, a winner will be announced Friday, August 13 so you have until then to enter.

[Enter Contest Link]

The post Win a WOWee portable bass speaker appeared first on Mobile Magazine.