BetronKBS08 Bluetooth Speaker, Wireless, Portable, Mini, Black

Why did I choose the Betron KBS08?I wanted a bluetooth speaker so I can listen to internet radio while I'm in the kitchen without having to take the laptop with me, and also for a better sound than my laptop speakers for watching movies/TV. Also, I wanted one with some decent bass that can fill the room when I feel like dancing, but not pay an arm and a leg.Did I get what I wanted?It works perfectly on Bluetooth with my phone and AUX with my laptop. The bass is incredible, when you put it on a wooden surface like a table you can actually feel the floor vibrate. The sound quality is really nice and decently loud to fill the room. I carried it to every corner of our small flat and it didn't cut out even when I closed the heavy bathroom door.The light strips also make it look really cool and will be a really stylish eye catcher at any house party.Ease of use & charging:It was simple to pair (immediately connected with both my Lenovo laptop and Samsung smartphone without issues), quick to charge and worked for about 4 hours on full charge before a loud beep alerted me to its need to be fed some electricity. It comes with a 3-way cable that allows you to charge the speaker via USB. Charging was fast, I didn't time it exactly but I think it was fully charged again within 1-1.5 hours via a USB mains plug.There are only a few buttons so you can't do much wrong. You get the usual Play/Pause/Answer Phone, Forward/Louder, Backward/Quieter and Off/On, and also a Mode button that will cycle through the Bluetooth, FM and AUX functions when pressed. A nice lady tells you which mode you've gone into when the button is pressed and notifies you when the Bluetooth is connected.It has 3 cable slots for AUX, Mini-USB and MicroSDTF. In order to use the AUX function of the speaker, set the Mode to AUX, connect the Mini-USB to your speaker and plug the AUX cable into the device you want to get the sound from. I have no device that uses MicroSDTF so could not test that.The speaker starts up in the volume that you left it on when last using it, so if that was full volume don't hold your ears close to it during startup.Negative points:Overamplification:At very high volumes the low price of the speaker starts to show as it overamplifies during certain frequencies at a high volume.Bass in speech:For watching movies/TV, the bass is a bit TOO good. It's quite unnerving to have the basses in people's voice and sound effects emphasised that much.Permanent light show:While the lights are great for a party atmosphere, they do get a bit annoying when you just want some quiet background music and I have not found a way to switch them off completely.The above would make me reduce the rating to 4.5*, but it's not annoying enough to give it only 4* given the overall quality.The following oddity also happened to me that is NOT the fault of the speaker:Laptop Bluetooth Pitch Shifting:My laptop's Bluetooth settings make the speaker pitch shift and put out sound about a half tone higher than the source, resulting in everthing sounding like on helium. I managed to fix it briefly, but whenever a new song started, it would revert to pitch shifted sound again. I currently circumvent this by simply using it via the AUX cable or listening to internet radio via my phone, with which it works perfectly fine.Some research showed that this is actually a common problem, due to software drivers cutting corners on sound quality in order to produce a consistent signal. If this happens to you, it's not the speaker that's at fault but your driver and you may need to do some poking around (my fix on Windows 7: Start > Control Panel > Hardware & Sound > Manage Audio Devices > Properties > Tick "Remove All Enhancements").Verdict:The sound that the KBS08 produces is incredible for such a tiny thing and it's easy to use, a brilliant value for price ratio here! It weighs next to nothing and fits in a coat pocket, so it's ideal for travel as well - no more putting my phone in a water glass!I can't currently do all the things that I want with the speaker due to the pitch shifting, but as that is not the fault of the speaker I really can't blame it for that - the workaround with the AUX function or just using the phone works well enough for the time being. I just need an excuse to buy a laptop that has better bluetooth drivers on offer and I'll be set!

This is a very well made great looking little speaker with lots of features.Superb sound and great value for money..Love it....

Sound quality is good.It connects very easily to my Blu Tooth.I like the stylish design.The only drawback is that the charge life is a little short.

I bought two of these as I was so impressed. You can choose between 7 colours for the outer casing. Small and compact this speaker packs a punch. If you put this on a wooden floor or table the bass is powerful enough to fill the room with quality sound. I would advise pealing off the plastic protective cover on the bottom of the speaker, otherwise when in full volume mode the speaker will move slowly along the floor. Once the plastic is peeled off it grips the surface well.I like the subtle lights along the side and the top which change colour when in use. This speaker also speaks to you to let you know that Bluetooth is connected and disconnected. Whilst playing, if you get a phone call it will also start speaking the number of the person who is phoning you so you can recognise the number.You can connect to the speaker via Bluetooth or using a 3.5mm jack so you can pretty much connect any device to it and enjoy your music.Included in the box is a combined USB/3.5mm jack cable.The speaker has 3 modes, Bluetooth, Radio and Auxiliary. You would choose the Aux mode if you wanted to connect to your speaker using the 3.5mm jack. The Bluetooth mode is very stable and easy to connect to. Just go into settings>Bluetooth on your smart phone, find the "Betron KBS08 device" and simply connect. Please note that you can only connect to one speaker at a time. So if you have two speakers you will need to disconnect Bluetooth from the first speaker before being able to connect to the second speaker.Now to the Radio function. To connect to the radio you first have to choose "Radio" mode. You will have to insert the USB cable as this acts as an antenna. Then you have to press and hold the play/pause button in order for the speaker to start searching for channels. You then press the back or forward button once in order to pick a radio station of your choice. It's a bit of a palaver to do all this and I had to hold the speaker arms stretched high up in order for it to find a station. The signals tend to be weak so don't buy this speaker if you want it for a fuss free radio device. I didn't buy it for the radio so this didn't bother me.You can charge the speaker using the USB lead into any USB port in a laptop. I believe that these speakers have some charge when dispatched as one only took 10 minutes and the other took 30 mins to charge. When charging the light will be Red and then go off when charged. I believe some speakers will go Green when fully charged. You can also buy a mains charger if you prefer but make sure you buy the correct one to avoid any possible damage to your speaker. The correct specs are: AC/DC adaptor with Input: AC100-240V, 50-60Hz Output: DC 5V 500mA. I played mine for over 2 hours solid and it still didn't need a charge.Overall, I would say that this speaker has an amazing quality/price ratio. It looks good, it sounds good, it's sturdy and easy to use.