Small portable Bluetooth speakers are, it seems, the new black. Every brand is wearing one, but that doesn’t mean that every small Bluetooth speaker is worth it.
Dell AD211 Bluetooth Speaker: On the plus side
Dell’s take on a Bluetooth speaker is relatively lightweight at just under 300 grams, making it, like most portable Bluetooth speakers, easy to stow into a bag for portable audio purposes.
http://youtu.be/Fey2TU9LtRk
Controls are markedly on the simple side, with power, volume, Bluetooth and call accept/hang buttons on one end of the speaker. The rear houses a 3.5mm audio jack and microUSB port for charging. Battery life is rated at around 10 hours, and my own tests suggest it’s feasible to run it for that length of time when fully charged.
It’s also NFC capable for pairing with compatible devices, and again this works quite well. It’ll also double, as many do, as a conference call speaker.
Dell AD211 Bluetooth Speaker: On the minus side
I could comment on the Dell AD211’s rather cheap build, or the tinny noise it makes when you switch it on, but that’s not really the core problem this particular speaker has.
With Bluetooth speakers being such a commodity product, there’s a lot of choice out there. The single worst thing about the Dell AD211 Bluetooth Speaker is that it is, at best, an ordinary speaker. Output is flat with little range, and a notable lack of bass tone if that’s to your musical taste.
On several occasions while testing I also noticed that it had trouble receiving clear audio from a paired Samsung Galaxy S5. Bluetooth audio is always tricky to “fix”, because the issue could be with the sending device, but having said that, switching over to a couple of different Bluetooth speakers eliminated the problem entirely.
Dell AD211 Bluetooth Speaker: Pricing
Dell lists the AD211 at $79 at the time of writing.
Dell AD211 Bluetooth Speaker: Fat Duck verdict
At $79 there’s a certain amount of price positioning for the AD211 that might make up for its lacklustre audio performance — or in other words you might think that you’re getting what you pay for.
I’d argue strongly that you can do better at not much of a price premium to the AD211, such as, say, the Jabra Solemate Mini. Being Dell, there’s always the possibility of price cuts or specials when bundled with other devices, and under that criteria it might be a workable, if unexciting purchase. At $79, though, you can do better.