Have you ever been to someone’s house, sitting around and talking…maybe playing cards or a board game? You know, just really enjoying yourself. All of a sudden somebody gets the wise idea to start playing music through their smartphone. Â What a mood killer!
No matter how good your speakers or where they are located on the smartphone, it’s a shrill and terrible experience. Nobody wants to hear your Slow Jamz playlist on that thing!
The next time someone goes to pull a stunt like this, cut them off and break out something like the Lenmar Rise.
Packed in an almost cube-like form factor, the Rise is a portable Bluetooth speaker that provides a much clearer sound experience than that of your smartphone. What’s more, it pulls double-duty as a speakerphone for your calls and looks right at home on any desk or night stand.
Sound is about as clear as you might expect for something of this size however bass and mid-range stuff was not robust as we would have liked. Keeping in mind its overall size we were okay with volume levels and quality for podcasts, spoken audio, audiobooks, and phone calls. Switch over to Daft Punk, however, and you’ll get a loud and clear sound with not-so-awesome lows.
Internally, the Lenmar Rise offers a 700mAh battery (mini-USB) that provides up to 8 hours of usage. Results vary, of course, based on volume levels and frequency of use however we were impressed with the overall standby and usage. Suffice it to say, a charge every few days is all that’s necessary for the average person.
All of the standard playback toggles and controls are present on the Rise; volume, track advance, play, and pause buttons sit above the aux-in, power, and microphone. To turn on the speaker you simply make it rise or expand.
The Lenmar speaker is lightweight and portable but doesn’t come across as cheaply made. We liked the LED indicator light for charging and Bluetooth as much as we did the finish and design.
- Connects to any Bluetooth v3.0 enabled device for wire-free use
- Built-in lithium-polymer rechargeable battery allows for ultimate portability
- Unit doubles as mobile phone hands free microphone & speaker-phone
- Ultra-portable and compact design for home and office with closeable cover
- LED indicator provides charging status, full charger, and Bluetooth ready signal
- Speaker can still be plugged into any music playing device
Pricing for the Lenmar Rise is listed at $79.99 through Lenmar’s website, much more than we might be willing to pay. Scoop one up for about $50 or less and you’re doing alright for yourself. We noticed that Amazon has the speaker listed at $39.99 as of today and feel like this is more than a fair deal.
This speaker works best in an office or kitchens setting or places where you might want a fuller, louder sound. Along those lines, it makes for a great gift for kids who want to plug in their portable gaming devices or MP3 players. Both black and white models would look great on Junior’s night stand. Heck, keep it in a safe place and put it front and center on the game table next Friday night.
