Jabra Solemate: a portable speaker with a kick

You would be forgiven for thinking weak sound and poor battery life when you think ‘portable speaker’ - most devices in that category have been so. If it’s not the weak sound, they’re very large and difficult to lug around. And, if it’s not poor battery life, they feature batteries that need to be changed frequently.

Enter the Solemate: the portable speaker by Jabra which aims to address these shortcomings. It’s also quite the looker, the speaker drivers are covered by a metal mesh while the top and the bottom have a rubberized feel to it for added grip.

The top features three buttons – volume up, volume down and voice prompt. While the first two are obvious, the voice prompt message when pressed tells you the battery level.

The Solemate can connect to just about any device with 3.5mm, Bluetooth and USB sound capabilities.

The bottom of the device includes a snugly fitted 3.5mm cable that can be pulled out to connect to most devices. Plugging in the USB cable to your computer will automatically install the drivers, so you can use it as an external sound card and speakers too. The Bluetooth pairing is initiated by holding the power button for a few seconds; an electronic sound sample starts with the Solemate orally instructing you to connect your Bluetooth enabled device.

The Solemate is designed to look like a shoe and has a fairly small footprint. It weighs only 610g and is easy to carry around.

It features speakers which go up to 120dB of sound; while this may not be enough to fill a room, the sound from the Solemate is loud enough for a group of people sitting around a picnic. Perhaps what is most impressive is it’s built in subwoofer that adds a certain oomph to the sound. The speaker also doubles as a microphone for video calls, but it doesn’t perform too well in that respect. The mic is weak and at times sounds muffled.

Priced at AED 749, the Jabra Solemate doesn’t come cheap. If you’re looking for a portable speaker, the Solemate is a good device and you will get what you pay for.

The writer is a digital marketing professional and an early adopter of all things digital.