Part of the essentials for me as a freelancer are my hands-free earphones/mic combo. They’re a godsend when it comes to doing interviews in Australia and overseas, whether it’s through my iPhone or Skype (still on my phone), leaving me to scribble ideas as the interview continues. There are times though, when the hands-free tends to make it harder for me to hear what the other person is saying, so I’m always on the lookout for things that make that easier for me, especially because my laptop is old and the speakers aren’t of much help either, and updating isn’t on the cards for me for a good long while yet.
Which brings me to NudeAudio and their collection of new black, portable speakers.
Looks kind of spiffy doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you be kind of pleased to be able to show that off on a desk or in a party? I mean, we’re in a world of speakers that come with tons of capabilities, and when I opened this up, I actually did expect a long list of instructions in order to connect it to my phone.
What I got was 4 pages of instructions, no, diagrams explaining what had to be done. Four.
Naturally, I was suspicious and expected things to go wrong the minute I switched it on. But, I was happily disappointed in that regard. I switched it on and a couple of seconds later the speaker had connected to my iPhone 6 Plus. Yeah, it worked like a charm on a new phone already.
All I had to do was make a call or play a song and that was it. No long instructions needed.
So now, comes the fun part – trying it out. A phone call is incredibly clear, and for someone who sometimes strain to hear things on a hands-free, that’s a blessing.
Next, I tried it out on our deck. It’s summer – well, no, it’s trying to be spring and failing miserably here in Australia – but our deck out back is ideal for relaxing on during the weekend. So on this lazy Sunday, I decided to wake my neighbourhood up with the strains of Free Your Mind by En Vogue (which, if you know the opening lyrics, this will tickle you pink!) and the speaker’s 10-metre range.
And I actually do think I might have woken someone up because I discovered the volume buttons on the speaker. As a result, this was easily loud enough to hear across the deck, and down to the garage. I was impressed, I had been wondering how this would handle being used in a crowd, with dozens of voices, and I think it’ll hold up just fine, and possibly better than our iPod dock anyway.
I’ve spent the afternoon writing and listening to music on it, and it’s been a pleasure listening to the clear sound.
The speaker comes in three sizes — small, medium (up first above) and large, so they’ve got most situations covered with the different sizes. They all come with the cords attached, and a USB connection to connect to your computer to charge it. However, I used mine straight out of the box. It takes about 5 hours to charge and lasts about eight hours. It feels lovely to the touch as well, which got me wondering about earphones — but NudeAudio isn’t doing those yet! Sadly.
I’ve connected it to my computer now, and the bluetooth on my poor, old laptop works just fine with it. Now, I can conduct Skype interviews on my computer! But I did have to turn off the bluetooth on my phone for it to be able to connect.
All in all, this little beauty works like a charm and will be a welcome addition to any freelancer’s bag of essentials!
For more details, check this out!
