Gear4 Espresso Wireless Bluetooth Speaker Review: Mini But Mighty

Gear4 Espresso Wireless Bluetooth Speaker Review: Mini But Mighty

Gear4 is a brand owned by Disruptive Hong Kong Limited and was launched back in 2006. It has been one of the market leaders in docking speakers as well as iPhone, iPod and iPad cases. Recently they entered the wireless portable speaker market.

Box

Meet the Gear4 Espresso, a small but powerful Bluetooth speaker. It sports a 4-hour battery life and can connect to almost any Bluetooth capable device up to a range of 10 meters.

Unboxing Video

Retail Package

The box is made of transparent plastic with labels and markings all over, but still you can give a good look of what is inside. Removing the contents of the box will reveal the USB cable, the Quick Start Guide and the Espresso unit.

Unit

The unit is a small and as the name suggests it looks like a cup of brewed coffee. Based on my own measurements the top has a diameter of approximately 6cm,  the bottom diameter is about 4.5cm and the height is around 6cm.

At one facade of the Espresso you will find the micro USB port for charging. You can charge using your PC or Mac through the supplied USB cable, but you can also charge it by using a micro USB charger that is pretty common these days. The handle acts as a clip which comes very handy if you want to securely attach it somewhere when you are on the go.

There are two notification lights located at each side of the USB port. The left one is for the Bluetooth which flashes while pairing and becomes steady blue light when already paired. The second one on the right is for the charging notification, no light means fully charge while solid red light means it is still charging.

To start using it, locate the power button at the bottom and once the device is turned on you can easily find it on your Bluetooth capable gadget, select it to pair with it and you are good to go.


PERFORMANCE AND VERDICT:

The Espresso surprisingly gives quality audio output, the sound coming out of it is not just loud, but also rich and full of bass. However, the lack of volume controls means you need to do it on your gadget. It has 4-hours of rated battery life, in actual usage, it last about 3 hours and 40 minutes which is still pretty good.

The Gear4 Espresso is distributed by Digits Trading, you can find more information about them on their fan page at https://www.facebook.com/digitstrading.  It is available at Astrovision, Astroplus, Istudio, Mobile 1, Beyond the Box, Digital Hub Burgos, iStore, District 32, iGig, Technoholics, and Digital Walker for Php1,350.