Divoom Bluetune-Bean – Pocket Sized Wireless Speaker+Speakerphone [Review]

Music is a big part of everyday life now. Back when music was confined on physical media like tapes and CDs, we were limited by how much music we could carry based on how much our carrying cases could hold or how many CDs our CD changer could accommodate. That all ended with the introduction of MP3 music players and ultimately now, our mobile phones. Smartphones in particular can play music from our own private collection or from the cloud on services like Spotify, Pandora, and soon, iTunes Radio. Music sounds great on these devices when paired with a good set up headphones but usually, playing music through the tiny built in speakers is a crapshoot. Sometimes you can get away to listening to music this way, but more often times than not, it just sounds like utter poo. That’s where Bluetooth speakers come in. Bluetooth speakers allow you to stream your music wirelessly to something with a bit more oomph to it allowing you to enjoy your music at a much louder volume. I’ve looked a whole lot of Bluetooth speakers over the past year and will say that they are probably one of the best investments you can make if you’re serious about your music. With that said, I’ll be looking at the new Divoom Bluetune-Bean today which is their latest portable speaker system. This one is designed to be ultra portable thanks to its size and the unique way in which you can attach the speaker to a bag for transport.

Design and Build

Unlike the usual box and cylinder shaped speakers that are common place these days, the Divoom Bluetune-Bean has a rather unique shape that resembles its name. It’s a round, dome shaped speaker that fits in the palm of your hands. The unit itself is plastic, though it gets toughened up with a fairly thick layer of silicone rubber that is wrapped around the outside. This gives it a really soft, smooth feel to it but at the same time, also attracts quite a bit of lint. The silicone wraps around almost the entire body except for the bottom and has a lot of holes cut out on the top to allow sound to pass through.

You’ll also notice an aluminum loop that protrudes on the top of the Bluetune-Bean. This loop allows you to clip on a metal carabiner so that you can hang the speaker on your bag for easier transport or portable listening while trekking through the woods for instance. This is definitely a feature you don’t find on many portable speakers and this makes it real handy if you want to listen to music on the go.

There are two buttons located on the side of the speaker allowing for easy operation. One is a power button while the other is to enable the speakerphone function. This also means there is a small mic included so you can use it to talk on the phone, hands-free. On the bottom is a small rubber door that helps protect the USB port located beneath it. The Bluetune-Bean features a built-in rechargeable battery that offers up to 6-hours of playtime between charges.

Usage

The Bluetune-Bean is incredibly easy to set up. Just power it and go into the Bluetooth section on your mobile devices. It should automatically show up in your list of available devices you can connect to. From there, the speaker should automatically pair with your device and you’ll be ready to use it.

The speaker is now paired and will begin to output all audio coming from your device. That means media audio such as movies, music, and games will be heard on the speaker as well as device audio like notifications and alarms. All will now be transferred and heard on the Bluetune-Bean. Since this wireless speaker is also a speakerphone, when calls come in, you can pick up the call using the phone button on the speaker and talk through hit as well thanks to its built in mic. This allows you to do hands free calling.

To charge the device, flip the little rubber door at the bottom and use a mini-USB cable to charge the Bluetune-Bean with a wall charger or plug it into another USB source like your computer or laptop.

For such a small speaker though, it’s loud. Volume is controlled via your device and at the highest setting, the Bluetune-Bean is really loud. It sounds great and has decent amounts of bass, but I did have to turn it down a bit.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for a highly portable Bluetooth speaker, the Divoom Bluetune-Bean fits that bill. It’s small, rugged, and the loop and carabiner allow it to be easily carried by being hung on a bag loop or strap. This means that you can also listen to your music with it attached to your bag while walking around town or hiking through the woods.

What you may not like about it is that there aren’t really any controls on the speaker. Volume, music selection, advancement, and other things need to be controlled with your device. The only thing you can control is picking up calls and hanging up.

Despite that, its a great, no frills device that does what it needs to do and does it well. Not only that, it’s inexpensive too at only around $30.00 and comes in 5 different colors.