Snazzy, easy-to-use, and portable Bluetooth speakers are a lot in demand these days. With frequent travel, and more and more people turning to their laptops and the internet for movies and TV shows, such gadgets are seeing a lot of interest.

Electronics maker Portronics, known for its speakers and power banks, recently launched its Dome Bluetooth speaker and I got my hands on one to do a soundcheck.

Dome gets the snazzy bit spot-on. Although I think ‘Spaceship’ would be a better name for it, given its look. The grey-coloured test mule I had looked a lot like a flying saucer UFO — disc shaped and as big as a medium-sized wall clock — It has an embroidered cloth finish on top with two big control buttons that can be used to toggle volume and tracks. The back of the speaker holds the power on-off and the microphone buttons and ports for charging and aux connectivity. It has two tiny LED indicators to indicate charging and power on.

The speaker has a 180-degree foldable ring that can be used to place it upright or hang it. I personally loved the way it looked when hung from my wall — it could pass off as some sort of abstract wall hanging.

Sound quality is decent, given how the price is not too high. It can be connected to your devices either with Bluetooth 4.1 or the aux cable. The two 5W speakers are clear with good enough bass and the sound carries through well even with ambient noise — say if your fan is on at full speed. However, in a crowded party, the loudness might not be enough — as I found out when I used it at one. You can even use it to make and receive calls, since it has a mic.

It has a 2,000 mAh battery under that dome and while the claimed six hours of continuous playback may be a little bit of a stretch, it lasted me a full movie at home (two hours) and about two more hours of continuous music playback on a single charge.

At the price range, it is a fair addition to your electronics stash.

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