Summer's the perfect time to buy a Bluetooth speaker so you can blast your favourite music when you're swimming in the pool or out on a camping trip with friends. Compatible with practically every device known to man, Bluetooth speakers will make sure that, as long as your phone, tablet, or laptop is around, your music will be loud! Our favourite is the Ultimate Ears wonderboom 2 due to its tiny form factor and its water and dust resistance, but there are plenty of other options.
Best Small Speaker: Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2
Ultimate Eras speakers don't have to be expensive to be good. The Wonderboom 2 gets shockingly loud for its size, and sounds excellent for just about every type of music, from pop to rock to hip hop to jazz. Like the Megaboom 3, the Wonderboom 2 has omnidirectional sound, making it great for parties. It also comes in multiple flashy colours, just like the Megaboom 3, and you can pair it up with another speaker — although it's only with another Wonderboom 2 speaker.
It's also IP67-certified, meaning it's resistant to dust and submersion — in fact, half of the photos you'll find online of the Wonderboom 2 feature the speaker floating in pools. As a bonus, the Wonderboom 2 is durable, rated to withstand drops from up to 5 feet, and lasts for up to 13 hours between each charge. Not bad at all for a speaker of this size.
Best Battery Life: Anker Soundcore 2
There isn't much to complain about with the Soundcore 2. For a fraction of the price of the other Bluetooth speakers, Anker's latest packs respectable sound and all-day battery life into a small, rugged chassis. The Soundcore 2 is waterproof and rated to last for a full 24 hours — of course, you'd hope Anker of all brands would be able to provide good battery life.
Unfortunately, the Soundcore 2 is significantly lacking in bass, which can have a major impact on certain genres of music, and it's a bit quiet compared to other speakers on this list. Still, for the price it commands, it's a great little speaker available in a few colour options, and you can even buy more than one and pair them together for surround sound audio.
Best Value: Tribit XSound Go
The Tribit XSound Go is another inexpensive speaker with long-lasting battery life and IPX7 water resistance. It doesn't have the most impressive sound, lacking in bass and high-end clarity, but it's certainly better than what any phone's speaker can put out.
You get 24 hours of battery life on the XSound and an impressive range of up to 66 feet. There's a lanyard slot on the speaker to attach it to any bag or even hang it off of a tree branch, and a rubber flap covers the headphone jack and Micro-USB charging port. If you're on a tight budget, it's hard to go wrong with the XSound Go.
Another Affordable Option: Sony SRS-XB12
The XB12 is a relatively new Bluetooth speaker from Sony with a soft touch rubber body that's both water-resistant and able to take a beating. It fits in the palm of your hand, and gets surprisingly loud and clean, with even reasonably balanced bass despite its small stature.
Like most other speakers in this list, the XB12 uses Micro-USB for charging and comes in a small assortment of eye-catching colours with matching wrist/carrying straps. It lasts up to 16 hours per charge, though it takes several hours to reach a full charge. With the solid build quality and a rugged exterior, there's a lot to love about the XB12 at a competitive price.
Another Small Speaker: Bose SoundLink Micro
If the SoundLink Revolve+ is out of your price range, the Micro is a smaller speaker for about half the price that's both water-resistant and shockproof. It's available in a few interesting colours and offers clean, distortion-free sound at a respectable volume — though the small size means it's a bit lacking in bass.
The most significant disadvantage of the SoundLink Micro is its battery life. At only 6 hours, this is far from the longest-lasting speaker we've seen, but your neighbours will likely appreciate the hard limit on loud music. The SoundLink Micro also has built-in microphones, which allows you to carry out calls and even talk to Google Assistant or Siri when connected to your phone.
If it were our money
When it comes to portable Bluetooth speakers, you need to consider a few features in your product, including battery life, sound quality, and element resistance. The portability means you're going to want to take it places that might be dangerous to electronics, so you're going to want a speaker that's built to take on the go.
There's no shortage of Bluetooth speakers to choose from, but if I were buying one, I'd go for the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2. While there are more specialized options that prioritize things like longer battery life or better sound, the Wonderboom 3 is the most well-rounded speaker, offering good, punchy sound, water resistance, decent long battery life, and a small form factor.
Credits — The team that worked on this guide
Hayato Huseman is the Managing Editor of Android Central. As he's writing this, a mountain of old Android phones is about to fall on his head, but his Great Dane will protect him. He drinks way too much coffee and sleeps too little. He wonders if there's a correlation.
Daniel Bader is the Managing Editor of Android Central. As he's writing this, a mountain of old Android phones is about to fall on his head, but his Great Dane will protect him. He drinks way too much coffee and sleeps too little. He wonders if there's a correlation.
