Recently, a lot of gadgets that are Alexa compatible or have Alexa-related features have entered our hands. Many of you have fantasised about having efficient Alexa features on wireless speakers, and it appears that Motorola has taken note.
The Motorola Sonic Boost 210 is a wireless speaker that costs 37 AED and features Google Assistant and Alexa. At first glance, it appears to be a very intriguing product, so we encourage you to stick around to read our in-depth review, where you'll learn about its main attributes, retail price, and all of the other things that this peculiar Motorola "smart" speaker is capable of.
As usual, we'll go section by section to find everything that grabs our attention as well as its key strengths, keeping in mind, of course, what this peculiar speaker's weaknesses are.
Design and materials: Minimal but resistant
On our table, we have the model in red, though you can purchase it in a variety of colours, including red, black, white, sky blue, and yellow. It basically has a square shape with rounded corners and is made of a frame and a polycarbonate back with a rubbery touch. The Chinese brand has made it clear that they want to appeal to a younger audience with a design and a casual colour. With dimensions of 8 cm in height, 8 cm in length, and 3,5 cm in thickness and a total weight of 122 grammes, it is lightweight and easily portable in almost any situation. However, after conducting sound product analysis, I have learned to be wary of claims that something is "lightweight."
It weighs 122 grammes and has dimensions of 8 cm in height, 8 cm in length, and 3,5 cm in thickness, making it lightweight and very portable in almost any setting. Although I tend to be wary of "light weight" speakers personally and based on my experience analysing sound products, we will continue with the analysis and discuss sound in a later stage.
- Size: 8 x 8 x 3,5 centimeters
- Weight: 122 grams
- Colors: Red, black, white, sky blue and yellow
A Play/Pause button, two volume buttons, and a dedicated button for the microphone that controls the voice assistant are all located at the top. Acoustic material and the silver Motorla logo are found on the front. All of the connections for the right side, including the reset button, microUSB, and AUX, are still present. This side's same corner has a hole that will enable us to attach a strap to make it easier to transport; this is a feature that not all speakers offer and is much appreciated. Finally, the equipment is stabilised by four tiny rubber pads at the base and an engraving of the word "Motorola" on the back.
Audio quality, connection and autonomy
We always need to keep in mind that the device is a "pocket" loudspeaker. I'm not sure exactly how big or powerful the speaker is, but we do know that it doesn't have any kind of passive bass radiator, and it definitely shows.
Despite this, it provides a fairly clear sound almost always, meaning that even when playing music at the highest volume it is capable of, it will do so steadily and without distortion or noise. And while that is certainly welcome in a device like this, it's possible that the proper "tuning" is what limits its power. The lack of bass allows us to miss a little more "brutality" in it without obviously ignoring the limitations of its size.
That is to say, it makes the ideal companion speaker for small spaces, but in excessively noisy exteriors, its usefulness is somewhat diminished. It is crucial to emphasise that audio experts Binatone tuned it.
Its own AUX connection 3,5 mm (with cable included) enables us to connect any wired audio source. We only need the microUSB cable that is also in the box to charge it. In order to interact with voice assistants and, of course, answer phone calls, it has Bluetooth 4.1 and a micron for audio reception. We have tested the hands-free functionality, and it performs admirably. Finally, we have a playback time of up to four hours, though we have only successfully used Bluetooth to get about three hours on a single charge, which takes an hour.
Integration with Alexa midway
It is true that it is sold as a device capable of working with Alexa, and it is true. The first thing we must do is connect it via Bluetooth to our device, for this we simply do the following:
- Press Play / Pause button for 5 seconds
- Wait for the indicator LED to blink blue and red
- Find it on the sending device and pair
We must now download the Hubble Connect application before we can pair the device and communicate with it. It will provide us with a button to activate Alexa and Google Assistant, the only available method being: The Motorola Sonic Boost 210 performs admirably as a middleman in our tests, so forget about activating Alexa through the speaker itself. Instead, interactions occur through the mobile device. In our case, we have only tested Alexa from Amazon.
Pros
- It is compact and very comfortable to transport.
- Delivers crystal clear sound at full power.
- Has integration with Alexa and other virtual assistants.
- It is very well built.
Cons
- Lacks some power to surprise.
- To use Alexa you need to mediate with the smartphone.
- It could give something more at the level of autonomy.