Everyone, and I mean everyone, seems to be getting in on the portable Bluetooth speaker game. Now the ante has been upped by the venerable Dutch consumer electronic company Philips, and the offering is a pretty good one.
Like the JamBox which inspired this whole market segment, the Shoqbox (as it is named) is a small rectangular “candy-bar” style speaker with stereo drivers and a Bluetooth radio. The difference is that this one has been ruggedized.
The Shoqbox is designed to be taken outside, whether that’s to a party or on a trek. You can dangle it from a carabiner, you can splash it and drop it and it keeps on going. Plus you can combine two of them and they cleverly split into left and right channels for great stereo when you set up the campfire.
Weight is a decently light half kilo (under a pound), and the battery lasts for ten hours. The Shoqbox is also pretty loud, with a pair of 4-Watt drivers, and packs a microphone for making calls via your cellphone.
So new is the SB7220 that I can’t yet find a price or a U.S website, but judging by older models it’ll be somewhere between $180 and $200.
Source: Philips
