SoundWave SW50 Bluetooth speaker review

Here's an interesting product that the good folks at Mobilefun has sent to me to test out. The SoundWave SW50 Bluetooth speaker might not sound terribly exciting, but after two days with it, all I can say is I was surprised by how good it was. More so whenever it moonlights as a hands free speaker phone.

The SoundWave won't win any awards when it comes to design. Built quality seems solid, but I am not too quite sure about the exposed mono speaker on the top and the thin plastic grill that protects it. The white glossy finish shows off dirt easily, but it doesn't seem to attract much fingerprints. Three rubber feet sits on the bottom to prevent it from sliding, but a gel mat is also included for those slippery surfaces.

With a single on/off dial and a dial button, pairing the speaker to my Lumia 800 and Xperia P couldn't be simpler. Once the speaker was paired with my phone, it is ready to accept any form of music streaming. The sound quality is more than acceptable for such a small speaker and I found it better and louder than most speakers you would find on a mobile phone and laptop. Despite increasing the volume, the speaker was able to handle the increased loudness without any crackle. Colour me impressed.

As a speaker phone, the SW50 surpassed my expectatons. When a phone call comes through simply press the dial button on the front of the speaker and it would connect automatically. I had my doubts about the SoundWave due to how close the microphone is to the speaker phone, but any doubts were put to rest once I made my first call. Because it supports the standard Bluetooth A2DP protocol, voice dialing is also possible, provided your phone supports this feature. You could theoretically use it as a vehicle hands free speaker phone, but you would need a flat grippy dashboard or place it in a cup holder.

Powering the speaker is a built in 400mAh battery. A mini USB port and cable will allow you to charge the speaker from a PC (unfortunately you can't playback via USB from a PC). The advertised talk time for the speaker is 12 hours, which I can't confirm (I hardly ever make 12 hours of phone call on my mobile phone a year!) - but it was able to play music for a good couple of hours a day for two days before it gave up.

With a price tag of £20, it is easy to dismiss the SW50 as a poor person's Jawbone Jambox, but don't let the cheap price fool you. It's still a rather impressive product. Sure the sound quality won't wow anybody, but it is more than adequate for the price and perfect for voice calls.