Portronics Pebble
MRP: Rs 3500

Speakerphones that pair with mobile phones have been around for a while, and recently, we got to lay our hands on one from Portronics. In case you are not familiar with the concept of this device, these are Bluetooth speaker-mic combos that pair with your smartphone, and give you sound that is typically louder than your phone's own loudspeaker, and you can speak into it from a couple of feet away. These are of great help when more than one person is participating in a call (people can huddle together and talk and listen. without anyone needing to shout).

   

Build And Features

Shaped somewhat like a mouse, the Pebble is solidly built and seems like it can survive a few falls. It weighs about as much as a wireless mouse with a couple of AA batteries. There is a power button on one side and this also serves as a lock button during playback. The ports a 3.5 mm auxiliary input (to connect a source that can provide audio via 3.5 mm cable), microSD slot (to play music stored on the card up to 32 GB), a 3.5 mm audio-out, and a mini-USB port for charging the device's battery. A reset buttons allows you to bring all settings to default if the device hangs or if you think you need to configure afresh.

A couple of speakers with 1" drivers are present on the underside of the device behind a strong grill, facing downwards. The grill has two C-shaped rubber legs on the farthest sides to keep the device grounded as this is essential when it vibrates during music playback.

When you switch on the device, the otherwise bland roof lights up with various capacitive touch-sensitive control buttons glowing red against the black backdrop. These include buttons to control the volume, playback, and mode change (aux, microSD, Bluetooth). There is also a Bluetooth indicator for speakerphone that animates when there is an incoming call.

 

The Pebble's product page mentions that you can even make voice calls and that it supports voice commands in "Indian languages". However, when we were not able to find any such feature, we contacted the company for a clarification. We were informed that the information on the product page had errors. Thus, you can only receive voice calls and not make them. Also, the Pebble only announces the name of the mode in English, which was incorrectly mentioned as "voice commands".

Performance

The speaker can easily be paired with any Bluetooth-capable smartphone. The speaker announces the mode in a loud voice every time it is changed. Once paired, you can also use it to play music from your smartphone. The audio quality in the speakerphone mode is loud and clear for a medium-sized room. The microphone picks up audio from anyone who is sitting within a couple of meters, thus making it an excellent speakerphone.

Playback controls work in the Bluetooth mode, thus allowing you to play, pause, rewind, forward, etc using the controls present on the Pebble. Bluetooth works up to a distance of 7 meters when line-of-sight contact is present between the Pebble and the smartphone. This distance reduces to 4 meters when a single wall obstruction is present.

The microSD mode is not visible until you plug in a card with music. Once this is done, the mode button allows access to this mode and you can play, pause, previous, fast-forward, and fast-rewind MP3 and WMA songs on the microSD. There are 40 volume levels and distortion starts appearing after level 30 (75% volume). The speakers produce bass, but it is not powerful enough to be heard at a distance of over 30 cm, which practically means that it will be inaudible for most of the times. The audio is muffled because there isn't enough clearance for the down-firing speaker. Give it an inch of clearance above the surface on which it is placed and it sounds a lot better. With the current rubber feet that are around a millimetre tall, a lot of the output audio just never makes it out. Having said that, the output is still louder and better than most laptops and speakers on smartphones.

The touch controls were found to be not responding at quite some times.

The battery lasts for a little over 5 hours of music playback, while charging it takes around a couple of hours.

Our Verdict

The Pebble sounds loud and clear as a speakerphone, but it falters when it comes to music playback quality. The good thing about it is that it works with a variety of sources such as Bluetooth devices, microSD card, and even auxiliary 3.5 mm input. It is very handy with its wrist strap, looks good, and is small enough to be carried around. Thanks to the in-built battery, you can simply charge it up and take it along without worrying about finding an electric point to power it up. Even with the sometimes erratic touch controls, we think that the Portronics Pebble is priced rather well at Rs 3500.

Features: 4.5/5
Performance: 3/5
Ease Of Use: 3/5
Value For Money: 4/5
Mojo: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

TAGS: Speakers, Portronics