WEBVTT

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- Welcome to Battlemodo,
(loud music from speakers)

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I'm your host Adam.
(loud music from speakers)

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(loud music from speakers)

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Let me turn these off.
(loud music from speakers)

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(music playing)

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This is so stupid.

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Let's talk about speakers.

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(upbeat music)

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Bluetooth speakers are
cheaper and better than ever,

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and while you can easily spend

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$200 or $300 on one,

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you definitely don't need to.

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We've got some great Bluetooth speakers

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for $100 or less on this table,

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and after three battles:

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design, connectivity, and sound quality,

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we'll know which one is the best.

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Meet the contestants:

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The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom,

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the Bose Soundlink Micro,

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the Sony-XB21,

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the Sony-XB10,

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the JBL Flip 4, and the JBL Clip 3.

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For Sony and JBL, we have two price tiers:

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the $100 speakers and

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the $60 speakers.

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For Ultimate Ears, the
Wonderboom is currently

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the cheapest speaker the
company makes themselves,

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although you can find
an older model called

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the UE Roll, for about $60.

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So what we have here are
six speakers we like,

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but only one can win Battlemodo.

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The first battle is design.

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All these speakers are
actually really similar

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in terms of specs.

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Except for this Sony speaker, all of them

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are IPX-7 rated, which
means they can be submerged

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into up to a meter of
water, for up to 30 minutes.

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The Sony XP10 is IPX-5 rated,
which means it can only handle

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a spray from a hose or splashes and stuff.

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So, let's eliminate that.

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The remaining speakers
are also drop-proof.

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(speakers banging on floor)

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So that really leaves us just
with aesthetics and usability.

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If you want your Bluetooth
speaker to be versatile,

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you wanna be able to put it
anywhere and still sound good.

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That's where the hockey puck
design of the JBL Clip 3

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and the Bose Soundlink Micro fall short.

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You can either hang them from something,

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or lie them flat on the ground,

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neither of which seem ideal.

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So, let's eliminate those, too.

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Now, there's something
inelegant about using

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the JBL and the Sony speaker.

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There are just too many buttons.

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And that's the thing the
Wonderboom excels at.

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The design is so simple and useful

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anybody could figure it out.

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So the winner of this battle:

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the UE Wonderboom.

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That brings us to battle number two:

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connectivity.

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Perhaps the biggest challenge
with any Bluetooth gadget,

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is connecting it to one or more

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devices and keeping that connection.

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So, there will be two
parts to this battle.

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The first part involves
turning on the speaker

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and seeing how quickly it
connects to an iPhone, if at all.

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The second part involves trying to connect

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as many devices to the speaker at once,

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and seeing how much havoc results.

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(various speakers beeping)

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I hate it when they talk to me.

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For the first part of
the connectivity battle,

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all the phones did pretty
well, they were able to

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quickly connect to an iPhone
and stay connected no problem,

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so that part was a draw.

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The second part had a clear
winner, the Wonderboom.

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The Wonderboom could
connect to three iPhones

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at once, while the Sonys
and the JBLs could do

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two at the max, and sometimes
that was even a bit dodgy.

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So, the Wonderboom wins the second battle.

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None of this matters if the
speaker sounds like shit.

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So, our third battle is sound quality.

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You want to be able to drop
your speaker on the ground,

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or a table, or hang it from a tree,

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and hear your sweet music
from every angle, really well.

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It really has to sound
good too, which is why

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we've gotta eliminate the JBL Clip 3

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and the Sony XB10 right away.

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The drivers in these little
guys are just too small,

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so you need to crank up
the volume to hear it well,

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and that just distorts the
sound and makes me sad.

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We're gonna test the sound
quality of these speakers

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with this microphone
array and three songs.

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We're gonna test bass and vocals using

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"Doin' It Right" by Daft Punk,

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low volume and detail
using "Florida" by Diplo,

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and high volume and clarity
with "Phantom" by Justice.

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wins the sound quality battle
for its excellent 360 sound,

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and just range in general, it's awesome.

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So you want a great
speaker at a nice price?

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Try the winner of
Battlemodo, the Wonderboom.

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It's got a great design,
it connects without hassle,

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it has the best sound quality

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of all the speakers we tested today.

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But, don't overlook these
cheaper speakers either.

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They're nearly half the
price as our winner,

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and while you won't get as many features,

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you will save some money.

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So, Wonderboom's the winner.

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Rock on, Gizmodo.

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