Bose SoundLink Wireless Mobile review: Bose SoundLink Wireless Mobile

You're a musically savvy chap or chappette, right? Why confine your music taste to your own ears when the world could benefit from your sonic wisdom? Bust out the Bose SoundLink Wireless Mobile speaker and fill your friends' faces with tunes, all via the magic of Bluetooth.

This diminutive speaker will set you back around £260, or £300 if you want the version with the fancy leather front. That's a lot of cash to splash, so is the SoundLink worth it?

Design

The SoundLink makes a good first impression. Its natty design is classier than that of most portable speakers. There's brushed metal around the sides, chrome around the edges and a row of buttons finished in matte black along the top. The front plays host to a wide, silver grille. The protective flap that covers the grille folds beneath the speaker and acts as a stand.

The SoundLink is fairly small. Measuring 244 by 130 by 48mm, it's slender enough to fit in a bag and carry around. Its weight might stymie your adventures, however -- at 1.3kg, you'll definitely feel the heft of this unit if you're lugging it about.

All things considered, this speaker cuts a fine figure, although, at this price, we'd expect nothing less.

Build quality

You'd be forgiven for thinking something that looked so at home on your mantelpiece would prove too fragile to survive life out and about, but, happily, the SoundLink's build quality is quite solid.

The frame feels well glued together, and we'd hazard that it would survive a knock or two. We wouldn't smack it with a sledgehammer, but we think it'll handle a picnic just fine, and the protective flap that folds over the grille may protect the speaker from light spills.

Nevertheless, dropping the SoundLink could prove an expensive mistake. Unless you've got disposable cash coming out of your ears, we'd think long and hard about what kind of punishment you put this little speaker through.

Bluetooth

The SoundLink connects to your gadgets via Bluetooth. While there's a 3.5mm socket around the back too, Bluetooth connections are definitely what Bose has in mind for this speaker.