While some speakers are meant to stand up, other can lay flat. And some won’t care, which is what Bose appears to be doing with its latest SoundLink speaker.
Even though it seems like everyone makes a wireless speaker, most tend to adopt a similar look: the cylinder and its can of sound. The UE Boom is the obvious one, but there are also cans of sound from JBL, flat cylinders of sorts that look like pills, and even the Sonos Roam and recent introduction of the Roam SL look a little like cylindrical sound makers, if not for the slightly triangular design.
The cylinder look is in for wireless speakers, but it doesn’t have to be the only design a portable speaker offers. In fact, for Bose’s latest, it’s a little flat but still long, delivering a sound made to be clipped to bags that can work standing upright or even lying down.
That’s the goal in the SoundLink Flex, the latest in Bose’s long-running “SoundLink” speaker range, which features a wide design still meant to be compact and portable, and including two passive radiators inside.
Of particular interest is orientation detection, which sees Bose’s “PositionIQ” technology to work out whether the SoundLink Flex is standing up or sitting on a surface, and using that understanding of orientation to make the sound work better for that position.
Outside of that handy feature, the Flex is also IP67 water resistant and can float in water, while the battery offers up to 12 hours of life.
Like other wireless speakers, you can set up two of them to work in a stereo mode or just go with the one by itself, and if you have more Bose speakers at home, the company’s “SimpleSync” technology will provide a smidgen of multiroom technology to bounce from itself to other speakers, including soundbars.
Locally, Australians can expect to find the Bose SoundLink Flex in stores and online from April 1, where the new speaker will be priced at just under $250 when it launches.
