Bose Portable Smart Speaker

The Bose Portable Smart Speaker is an incredible-sounding smart speaker that’s flexible enough to handle any situation. It produces surprisingly spacious audio, including deep, rich bass that spreads evenly in all directions so it envelops you from every angle. It’s battery-powered, so you can easily bring it with you all around your home and ask Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa for music. And away from Wi-Fi®, it’s still an excellent Bluetooth® speaker – so your sound can go wherever you go. Plus, you can control it with the Bose Music app, Apple AirPlay 2 or Spotify® Connect, or with the intuitive buttons on the speaker. And you can group it with other Bose smart speakers and soundbars to fill your home with sound – or even send synchronised audio to a Bose Bluetooth speaker or pair of headphones.

The Bose Portable Smart Speaker is our only portable smart speaker, while the Bose Home Speaker 300 and Smart Speaker 500 have no battery and must be plugged into the wall to function. Acoustically, the Portable Smart Speaker and the Home Speaker 300 have comparable performance, with the same 360-degree sound and impressively rich bass from similarly compact sizes. Meanwhile, the larger Bose Smart Speaker 500 is our best-sounding smart speaker, providing wall-to-wall stereo sound from a single enclosure. The Smart Speaker 500 also includes a display screen to show you what’s playing. Finally, the Portable Smart Speaker is water resistant and does not have an AUX input, while the Home Speaker 300 and Smart Speaker 500 are not water-resistant and do include AUX.

All three speakers share the same voice, app and software features, including your choice of Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, compatibility with the Bose Music app, Apple AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth, the ability to synchronise in multi-room groups, and more.

The Bose Portable Smart Speaker has noticeably more powerful acoustic performance than the SoundLink Revolve+ II and is a bit larger, with a different visual design. Both products work as a Bluetooth speaker in any environment, but when you bring the Portable Smart Speaker onto a Wi-Fi network, it also works as a smart speaker with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa – plus all the other features of a Bose smart speaker (Bose Music app compatibility, synchronising multiple speakers, AirPlay 2 and more). The SoundLink Revolve+ II does not have any built-in voice assistants, smart features or Wi-Fi access. Finally, the SoundLink Revolve+ II has a battery life of up to 17 hours, while the extra acoustic power and voice assistant functionality of the Portable Smart Speaker limit its battery life to up to 12 hours at loud volumes.

First check if your speaker is in Setup Mode: the upper and lower portions of the light ring should be glowing an amber colour. If this is not the case, please follow these three simple steps to make sure your speaker is in Setup Mode:

1. Connect the speaker to a power socket using the USB-C cable and power supply
2. Turn the speaker on by pressing the power button
3. Simultaneously press and hold the volume down and the play/pause buttons for 6 seconds. While you’re doing this, the sides of the light ring should glow white and increase in size

The Bose Portable Smart Speaker can play music directly from streaming music services over Wi-Fi, controlled either by Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa (where available), or using the Bose Music app. The Bose Portable Smart Speaker also has Bluetooth capability. Additionally, you can play music on the Bose Portable Smart Speaker from the Spotify app on a smartphone, tablet or computer using Spotify Connect, and from an Apple device via Apple AirPlay 2 compatibility for streaming content like Apple Music.

Yes. When no Wi-Fi is available, you can use the Portable Smart Speaker as a powerful Bluetooth speaker by connecting to it through your mobile device’s Bluetooth settings. Wi-Fi is required for smart features such as voice control through Google Assistant or Alexa, Apple AirPlay 2, Bose Music app control and content browsing, multi-speaker grouping and more.

If you start music on the Bose Portable Smart Speaker through Wi-Fi (using a voice assistant or the Bose Music app, for example) and then you carry the product away from your Wi-Fi network, at some point the speaker will lose its Wi-Fi signal and the music will stop. At that point, if you want to keep playing, just press the Bluetooth button on the speaker to connect to your mobile device and play content from there. If you start playback over Bluetooth away from Wi-Fi and then bring the speaker home to a Wi-Fi network, it will reconnect to Wi-Fi in the background without interrupting your music.

Battery life depends on what type of music you’re playing and at what volume, but the battery of the Portable Smart Speaker will last for up to 12 hours while playing at a loud volume. It will last for over 24 hours in standby mode, listening for voice commands. And if you turn it all the way off for storage, travel or battery savings, it will last a month or more.

4 hours, as long as you are using the Bose-provided power cable attached to the speaker or to the Bose Portable Smart Speaker Charging Cradle (available as an accessory). Using a third-party USB-C cable or power source may increase charging time.

The microphones on the Bose Portable Smart Speaker may be turned off with a single press of the microphone-off button on the top of the speaker (on the left side). This button completely cuts power to the microphones, so the speaker will not hear any commands. For security reasons, it is not possible to use a voice command or the Bose Music app to turn the microphones on or off – only a physical button press can control the microphones. When the microphones are off, the red light beside the button will always be lit up. Simply press the microphone button again if you want to turn the microphones back on.

Yes. Although the Bose Portable Smart Speaker has Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa built in, you can also play music from other sources, such as integrated Wi-Fi music services available through the Bose Music app. You can also use a Bluetooth connection, Spotify Connect or Apple AirPlay 2. All these non-voice sources are available independent of whether the microphones are turned off or whether Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa are enabled.

Yes. As long as you have set up your assistant and are within range of a Wi-Fi network your speaker knows, your voice assistant will be connected, and your speaker will listen for your commands – even if it’s on battery power. That means you can use the Portable Smart Speaker as a voice-controlled smart speaker all around the home – ask it for music in the kitchen, on the patio, or even yell to it from the shower.

Yes. Using Alexa only, you can directly call Bose smart products, Amazon Echo products and anyone in your contacts list. Simply say, “Alexa, call Mum”, to initiate a call. Or say “Alexa, answer”, to accept an incoming call. You do not need your phone to make or take a call, and it’s free of charge. However, when calling products, both parties are required to have this feature set up and be on Wi-Fi in order to use it.

Currently, Amazon Alexa works with QC35 headphones II, Headphones 700, Home Speaker 300, Smart Speaker 500, Portable Smart Speaker, Smart Soundbar 300, Soundbar 500 and Smart Soundbar 700.

Yes. Although the Bose Portable Smart Speaker does not have a display to show the time visually, you can use Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa (where available) to ask for the time, timers and alarms.

Yes. The speaker uses the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard.

Yes. Bluetooth makes it easy for anyone to connect a smartphone or other device to the Bose Portable Smart Speaker in a familiar way, and allows you the flexibility to play audio from any source, like a YouTube video or a recording saved on a phone or laptop.

No.

Yes.

No. You can control the product from across the room using voice control through Google Assistant or Alexa (where available), or from anywhere on your Wi-Fi network using the Bose Music app or Apple AirPlay 2, or from remote locations using Spotify Connect.

Yes. The Portable Smart Speaker is IPx4 water resistant, so you can get it wet with splashes and sprays. While the speaker should not be submerged under water, it can easily withstand sprays from sitting next to the sink, the pool or the shower.

No. Only one mobile device can be connected to the Bose Portable Smart Speaker at a time via Bluetooth. However, it’s easy to switch between devices using the Bose Music app or the Bluetooth settings on the selected device.

The Bose Portable Smart Speaker applies unique Bose portable speaker acoustic technology in a new, more powerful form factor. An ultra-efficient, high-excursion transducer aims downward into an acoustic deflector to radiate rich sound uniformly in every direction, while three passive radiators deepen the bass by increasing the vibrating surface area of the speaker. Just like with our SoundLink Revolve and Revolve+ portable speakers, this 360-degree design avoids the positional sweet spots and frequency drop-offs of speakers that just aim forward – but this time, with the extra power and stronger bass that comes with a new shape and a third passive radiator. Placed in the middle of the room, a corner or anywhere in between, the Bose Portable Smart Speaker delivers the same impressive audio experience for everyone. Music is clear, surprisingly spacious and remarkably loud for a product of this size.

Yes. Bass and treble can be adjusted via the settings menu in the Bose Music app.

Yes. The Bose Portable Smart Speaker can play in synchronised multi-room groups with additional Bose Portable Smart Speaker units, or with the Bose Smart Speaker 500, the Bose Home Speaker 300, the Bose Soundbar 500 or the Bose Smart Soundbar 700. And coming soon, you can also send synchronised audio from the Bose Portable Smart Speaker to one additional Bose Bluetooth product, such as a portable speaker or pair of headphones. However, you cannot play synchronised multi-room content across the Bose Portable Smart Speaker and either Bose SoundTouch products or products from other manufacturers (including Google or Amazon).

Yes. You can cast audio content to your group of Bose smart speakers or soundbars through the Bose Music app or on the products themselves. Start by creating a group in the Bose Music app and casting to that group, or by pressing and holding the Action button on the connecting device to pair them into a group that’s playing a cast stream. Group your ground floor speakers, or all the speakers in the house and get the party started.