Ultimate Ears debuted its BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 portable Bluetooth speakers. These are successors to the company’s very popular BOOM and MEGABOOM speakers – it is skipping the MEGABOOM 2 to bring the two speakers in-line with each other. Ultimate Ears has redesigned these speakers, which not feature two-tones fabric, and are also waterproof. Now the BOOM 2 was waterproof, but the MEGABOOM was just water resistant. These both will also float when sitting in a pool or another body of water.
The big new feature on the BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 is the new Magic Button. While the name might be a bit gimmicky, it does work pretty well. This button will turn on the speaker and automatically start paying your favorite music playlist. You can also use this button to play, pause and skip tracks. All without needing to touch your phone. Currently, this only works with Apple Music on iOS, and Deezer Premium on Android. However, Ultimate Ears did say that it is looking at adding some more music services in the future, but would not specify which services it would add in the future. The Magic Button means that you can come home from work, press it and it’ll automatically start playing your favorite playlist, which is a pretty neat feature to say the least.
Ultimate Ears is also redesigning the BOOM and MEGABOOM app for both iOS and Android. The reason for this is to make it easier to use, and also implement the Magic Button settings, so you can set which playlist you want to play when you start it up. Of course, the Party Up feature is still here, allowing you to connect up to 150 speakers, and the custom equalizer is also still included. As mentioned already, both the BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 speakers include an IP67 rating, making them waterproof and drop-proof. This means that they can definitely take a tumble. Finally, both of these speakers are compatible with the POWER UP charging dock that it debuted with the BLAST and MEGABLAST last year. However, it isn’t needed as much as with older Ultimate Ears speakers, and that’s because the charging port is now on the back of the speaker instead of on the bottom. Allowing users to charge the speaker while still listening to music on the speaker.
The Ultimate Ears BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 are going to be available in the US, as well as select countries in Europe and Asia beginning in September from the usual group of retailers (which includes Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo and many others). The BOOM 3 will be priced at $149, with the MEGABOOM 3 priced at $199. The POWER UP charging dock is priced at $39.99. Both speakers are available in four colors – Night (black), Sunset (red), Lagoon (blue) and Ultraviolet (purple).
Ultimate Ears BOOM 3
Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 3
