Bose Portable Home Speaker review

Name: Bose Portable Home Speaker
Brand: Bose

Lauren Chaplin

Last updated: Feb 3, 2021

Quick verdict: Bose’s first portable smart speaker features an ease of use and overall sound quality that makes it one of the best movable options on the market.

Lightweight design
Choice of Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa
Crisp, clear 360-degree sound
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth versatility

Some initial app connectivity issues
No aux connectivity
Expensive for size
Doesn’t come with charging cradle

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Bose has long been a leader in high-quality sound, offering up an impressive range of speakers that is hard to beat.

While it already had several compact smart home speaker options in the form of the Home Speaker 300 and 500, it had yet to create a portable version. The Bose Portable Home Speaker aims to bridge that gap by delivering the first moveable smart speaker from the brand. So, does it do a good job? You bet.

Design

Sleek appearance
Choice of silver or black
Bucket handle for portability
Easy access to functionality buttons

If you thought that the Bose Portable Home Speaker looked familiar, it's because the product is incredibly close in style to that of the SoundLink Revolve+. Both speakers arrive in a sleek, sophisticated design complete with an integrated bucket handle for easy portability. In typical Bose style, both models are also available in two colourways of Triple Black and Luxe Silver, which makes it easy to slot them into your home decor.
Similar to the Revolve+ too, the Portable Home Speaker features buttons on the top of the unit for basic functionality. These include power, Bluetooth, volume, play/pause and skip buttons, along with a button to summon or dismiss your virtual assistant.
This is where similarities end though, with the Portable Home Speaker design featuring perforations around the top to accommodate the built-in microphones for the smart assistants. The Portable Home Speaker is also slightly heavier, weighing in at 1.06kg compared to the Revolve+'s incredibly lightweight 0.9kg design.
Despite being heavier than its predecessor, the Portable Home Speaker is still lightweight enough to be convenient to carry around. It also comes with a durable exterior and an IPX-4 water-resistant rating, which is handy if you intend on taking it outside.
The wraparound grill located in the bottom third of the speaker is the only part of the design where convenience lacks, as it makes getting small grains of dirt or sand stuck in it a real possibility. While this isn't a huge deal, it was possibly not the best design choice for a speaker made to be taken anywhere.

Performance

Choice of virtual assistant
AirPlay 2 and Spotify enabled
No aux connectivity
Some initial app connectivity issues
Charging cradle not included

Like the Home Speaker 300 and 500 models, the Portable Home Speaker offers 360-degree sound, meaning that you can place it anywhere in the room and still hear the sound clearly.
Though the audio quality doesn't quite stand up to the 300 and 500 models, it definitely beats that of the Revolve+, giving you a really full, well-balanced sound. And when compared to its biggest rival, the Sonos Move, it certainly proves itself a force to be reckoned with.
While the Sonos Move may be slightly more powerful and punchier on the bass, there isn't actually a huge amount of difference sound-wise. This is quite surprising given that the Portable Home Speaker is notably smaller than the Move.
Similar to the Move too, the Portable Home Speaker can be used with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, giving you the flexibility to access your music wherever you are.
As with many of Bose's speakers, the Portable Home Speaker is able to be integrated into a system with other speakers that use the Bose Music App. This makes it great both as a home speaker and as a portable one.
The Portable Home Speaker also connects to an array of popular music services like Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer and AirPlay 2, making it pretty simple to play your favourite tunes. Unfortunately, it doesn't have aux connectivity, which will likely disappoint some users.
App
As will all Bose products, to get your Portable Home Speaker set up, you will need to download an app. In this case, it's the free Bose Music App which comes complete with step-by-step instructions on how to set up your speaker and connect to your Wi-Fi and streaming services.
Despite what should have been a simple set-up though, I initially had a lot of difficulty getting the virtual assistant set up. After countless error messages, I actually gave up and spent the first few weeks using the speaker with Bluetooth enabled, which was incredibly frustrating.
Whether or not this was a bug is still unclear, but after the next app update rolled out, I removed the speaker from the app, set the whole thing up again and finally managed to get it to connect.
Once the app is properly set up though, it is very simple to use and offers convenient features like music browsing and easy speaker grouping.
Smart home
Possibly one of the most convenient things about the Bose Portable Home Speaker is the option to choose your virtual assistant. Offering both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, you can easily connect the speaker to any device to get the music playing.
In addition to streaming music, your assistant can do all the usual things including giving you news and weather updates and setting timers and reminders, making it a great multi-use product.
Admittedly, I only tested the speaker with the Google Assistant, but found the experience to be fairly painless once I finally got it working.
Unlike with some smart home devices, the in-built microphones were able to pick up my voice quite easily from anywhere in the room, even when I had music playing. And, while I wouldn't expect much else from a speaker worth $500, it is still nice to know that it does its job efficiently.
Battery
Offering 12 hours of play from a single charge, this Bose speaker gives you a decidedly decent run for a portable model, especially when compared to the 10 hours of play that you get from the Sonos Move. Of course, like all portable speakers, this timeframe is largely dependent on how you use it (I've personally found that it's closer to 10-11 hours).
In terms of charging, the speaker comes complete with a USB-C cable. However, the more convenient option of using a charging cradle comes at an additional cost of $39.95, which is a little disappointing given the already expensive price point of the speaker.

Verdict

Delivers impressive sound quality for a portable speaker
Easy to use and move around

Should you buy it?

If you're after a great-sounding speaker that you can take anywhere, the Bose Portable Home Speaker is arguably one of the best currently on the market. While it doesn't quite stand up to the Sonos Move in terms of power and bass, it offers a similar experience in a design that is much easier to carry around.

The option to choose your own virtual assistant, as well as switch between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities, also makes it an all-round convenient and easy-to-use product.

Overall, this is an impressive speaker that lives up to Bose's usual high-quality standard. However, it does come with quite a hefty price tag for such a small speaker, making it something of an investment.

Pricing and availability

Price

RRP $499.95

Where to buy

Amazon Myer

Specifications

Finder score: 4

How we score our reviews

Where to buy

General

Water Resistance Rating

IPx4

Camera

Voice Assistant

Google Assistant
Alexa

Connectivity

Bluetooth Support

Yes

Wireless Network Support

802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz)

Audio

Speaker Information

Portable

Audio Out

Yes

Microphone Array

More Finder reviews

Lauren Chaplin

Lauren Chaplin is Finder's senior shopping writer, covering the latest in fashion, home, tech, beauty and wellbeing. She has a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of South Australia and has previously been published in Women Love Tech, The Carousel and South Australian newspaper The Bunyip. When she isn’t working, she's reading or bingeing on Netflix.

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Bose Portable Home Speaker review