Crystal Acoustics Ovale-E Portable Bluetooth speaker for Superior sound, portability, plus speakerphone function

First of all, just to set the record straight. The other reviewer, gar1975 falsely claims that this speaker cannot be charged with a mains charger. It is evident that he doesn't even own the product, so giving the product a 1-star is totally unfair. I have reported to Amazon to remove that review. According to the user manual: "You can charge the OVALE with any mobile phone charger with a 5V USB jack". I charged my speaker using the supplied miniUSB cable connected to my HTC USB charger.

Now to the review. I was looking for a portable bluetooth speaker to connect my iPad 2 for music and watching movies on Sky Go. As soon as I came to know about it, I placed an order. It arrived today (impressed with the relatively quick delivery time from Amazon).

The speaker itself is quite light, weighing about 220 grams. It comes with a coin-shaped stand (about the size of a 10p coin), part of which wedges into a slit at the back. It is quite stable an unobtrusive. The battery comes separately packed. It's the size of a mobile phone battery & is Li-Ion.

I put the battery at the back & charged the speaker for about 30 mins. I then switched it on. Initially, my iPad couldn't locate it, until I clicked the "mode" button on the speaker. My HTC phone also connected to it without any hiccups.

I was pleasantly surprised at how loud and clear this speaker is, especially for the size and money!! Dialogues are clear, decent bass & good highs. At loud volumes, the quality does degrade a bit, but nothing I would be worried about.

Downsides? I have struggled to adjust the volume on the unit itself - it skips to the previous or next song! Maybe I'm not pressing the button right. I'm not too bothered, as I won't be using it anyway. I can control the volume through my iPad.

I haven't checked the calling features and mic yet. Will update the review when I get round to it (I don't think I'll use that feature though, but nice to know it's there).

All in all, I'm a very happy owner!!

Given that this speaker costs £34, I'm happy with it. It's a nice compact size that gives pretty good quality sound considering. Obviously, you can't expect audiophile sound quality at this price/size.

I was originally looking for something small to take with me & the Mrs. in to hospital when she has our baby (so maybe not hear it over the screams!). I was considering the logitech mini boombox & the Creative D80 when I saw the spec. of this on What Hi-Fi website, and thought I'd give this a try instead.

I haven't given it a thorough test yet, but connecting it to my Samsung SIII and listening to music via Spotify I'm pleased with my choice. Can't comment on battery life or voice call functionality yet. It paired easily with my phone too.

As stated by a previous reviewer, this can be charged using a standard 5v mobile phone charger that takes a USB connection.

One negative is the volume controls are a bit fiddly. The buttons are combined with the next/back buttons. A quick press will go back/forward one track. Press and hold will alter the volume, but this is not a very smooth increase/decrease. It will jump up/down in big steps. More often than not you will take your finger off too soon and end up skipping tracks instead. I guess your better off setting the device at a reasonable level and use your phones master volume control instead.

The other minor negatives (that can always be expected with small devices of this nature) is that the sound will begin to distort above 85% of maximum volume and that bass levels are not going to shake the furniture around the room.

All in all, definitely worth a 4 Stars!

a 'portable' device that can only be charged by connecting it to a computer. i mean really? renders it useless for me. when i go away for a beach holiday, i dont take my computer with me. if i need internet access while away i'd use my iPad or iPhone. would it of really been that difficult to of included a mains charging facility?