Spigen R12S Bluetooth Speaker Review
The gist of it is that this speaker delivers great sound for its size. With its innovative and intuitive controls, it's also very simple to use.
It pairs easily to all my devices and it is now a permanent part of my beach bag, allowing my entire family to enjoy music while catching some rays.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We were not financially compensated for this post, but received a sample for review purposes. The opinions are completely our own based on experience with the product.
Overview of Features
► Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity
► 3.5mm audio jack for non-Bluetooth devices
► Mini-SD slot for playing music directly without an attached device.
► Built-in microphone for hands free calling
► Very portable design
► High quality sound for its size
► Innovative controls. Just press the speaker edges instead of any buttons.
► Long life Lithium battery
Sound Quality
I have a number of Bluetooth speakers around my home from Bose, LG, Google, Amazon and Sony. This Spigen portable speaker can hold its own.
Its sound is much better than the Amazon Echo Dot (and of similar size) and comparable to the Google Home.
Its only shortcoming is that it lacks the deep bass sound of some of the larger speaker models, but you can't hold that against this little guy.
You need a bigger housing to hold a bigger woofer and since the attractiveness of this speaker is its portability and ease of use, a bigger housing doesn't make sense. For its size, it's got a pretty solid sound.
Battery life
I've had the Spigen Bluetooth speaker playing on battery for about 5 hours so far and it did not showing any signs of being at the end of its battery lifespan.
The actual battery life will of course depend on how loud you play and also what kind of music you are listening too, but needless to say it has battery enough for just about any occasion.
The BL-5B Lithium battery is replaceable by popping open the bottom lid and inserting a new one, so in theory you can have unlimited battery life if you have replacements charged and available.
Inputs
The Spigen R12s can be connected to using
► Bluetooth,
► a 3.5mm mini jack cable
► or you can simply plug in a micro SD card with MP3 tracks on it and have a truly wireless unit.
You can also attach the speaker to your computer using a
Micro USB cable if you would like to use it attached to your laptop for better sound than your built-in speakers. The USB port also serves as the charging port.
Controls
There are no buttons on the face which give it a really sleek look. The controls are on the bottom of the device and serve as the feet as well. You control the speaker by pressing (or long pressing) on the edges of the device itself. It works great on all hard surfaces. If it's sitting on a softer surface (like a bed, cushion, or my beach towel on the sand) you may have to reach under to press the buttons on the underside.
The top and bottom edge buttons are for power/pairing/modes and play/pause. The left/right edge will adjust volume and skip tracks depending on whether you press and hold or quick click.
Appearance
The Spigen R12S is covered in a metal shell and it looks very solid and durable. The bottom side holds not only the controls, but a flip lid compartment for the battery (no need for screwdrivers - a paperclip on my desk worked great).
On the speaker I tested, the logo is in my opinion upside down on the face based on the logical placement of the buttons (next track/volume-up is on the left side when the logo face me) and the included user manual could benefit from some proofreading from a native English speaker, but that doesn't impact the performance of the device - its just slightly annoying.
Conclusion
GistGear awards this great little speaker 5 (out of 6).
The Spigen R12S Bluetooth Speaker is a truly great and multifunctional speaker given the constraints put on its by the small size. It can function as a speaker supplement to your phone, Bluetooth speakerphone, computer speaker and is a truly self contained music player when playing from the onboard SD card.
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Portable Bluetooth Speakers
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