Logitech used an event at the UNSW Roundhouse in Sydney last night to launch a new Ultimate Ears 360 degrees round speaker.
The low cost speaker is an expansion model to the Ultimate
Ears range which includes the Mega Boom speaker that was launched last year.
The new flying-saucer-shaped Ultimate Ears product is called
the ‘Roll’ it will sell for $149 in Australia Vs US$99 in the USA.
It will join the $199
Boom launched two years ago and the step-up $295 Mega Boom, which shipped in
January. The Roll replaces the bottom end mini portable UE speaker model that
lacked 360-degree stereo sound and was neither waterproof nor dustproof.
“We’re building a family with the same core features,” said
Ultimate Ears senior VP Rory Dooley.
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The 360-degree sound field reflects “the way people consumer
music,” he added. The new speaker, available in six colours and design
patterns, features a top-mounted woofer flanked by a tweeter on each side and
pointing out at an angle to disperse stereo sound over 360 degrees.
It’s IPX7-rated to survive immersion in up to 1 meter of
water for up to 30 minutes, even without the user closing a flap that covers
the USB-charging port and 3.5mm input.
The flap must be closed, however, to make the speaker
dust-proof. The Mega Boom is also IPX7-rated, and the standard Boom is IPX4
rated for water-resistance.
Both are also dust-proof, but both require their flaps to be
closed to withstand water and dust. All three speakers are also said to be
drop-proof, and the Roll also floats when attached to a small inflatable life
preserver provided with the speaker.
The Roll uses antenna design to extend Bluetooth range to 19.8
from the typical 1 metres.
Battery life is up to
nine hours. Like the other two speakers in the line, the Roll features
Bluetooth LE so it can be turned on and off via Bluetooth. With all three
models, one mobile device can stream simultaneously to two of any type of
Ultimate Ears Bluetooth speaker at a time, each running in stereo.
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Two Ultimate Ears speakers of the same type can be used
simultaneously as a separate left or right speaker. In the fall, Ultimate Ears
will offer a firmware upgrade to enable a mobile device to stream to as many as
10 speakers at a time, though only two speakers at a time could be used as a
left-right pair.
The update will be downloaded to a mobile device for
transfer over Bluetooth to the speakers. No other supplier currently offers
firmware-upgradable Bluetooth speakers, whether side loaded from a PC or
transferred via Bluetooth, Dooley said. All models also feature internal clock
so they can be used as alarm clocks set from a mobile device.
