Audio samples and comparisons coming later in November / December. The kit (includes solar panel accessory) featured in the video was purchased for $150 from Sam's Club.
First a confession - I expected more out of these speakers given the $250 price and the fact that I have been listening to the awesome Bose SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Speaker this past month. Not only are the Samsungs physically bigger, they claim 20 watts of power, and APT-X capability (which I did not test) - but they didn't super impress me.
Here's an audio sample:
It sure does look cool and slick though right?
Pros:
Looks really nice
Fantastic battery life
NFC makes it really easy to pair with NFC capable phones
Good sound quality, fairly well balanced (with bass boost off)
Vocals sound good
Strong bluetooth connection with no dropouts during testing
USB charging port for your music player or phone
Cons:
The black cover is only for speaker transport - leave it on and you have one cheap sounding speaker
No USB charging option, in a portable speaker
Manual says you should should not keep it plugged into the charger, it will shorten battery life
Sounds somewhat muddy compared to Big Jambox; missing some detail playing rock music
Lacks lower level bass that Bose Soundlink Mini seems to boom out of nowhere
Should be priced around $179.99 retail
Overall I give this speaker a 7 out of 10.
So here are my rankings given portable bluetooth speakers of this class/size:
(Better sound, speakerphone, louder)
(less clarity)