Ultimate Ears’ UE BOOM the First ‘Social Music Player’

With its just-announced “UE BOOM”, Ultimate Ears has delivered what it calls the “World’s First Social Music Player”. To call the product a “music player” is a bit inaccurate, however, at least according to common interpretations of the term. Instead, it’s a wireless speaker – one that happens to have a lot of functionality built-in. To push your music to it, you’ll need to sync up your phone via Bluetooth or NFC – the “social” aspect comes in from the fact that multiple devices can be synced to the speaker at once.

The idea here is that with a UE BOOM, anyone at a party will be able to sync with the speaker (up to two at a time, but eight total) and do a little DJing. Two friends could take turns choosing the next epic song, for example. Further, if someone else has a UE BOOM that they’ve brought along, both of the speakers can be paired together for a stereo-to-stereo or left-and-right (typical) speaker configuration. This can all be configured via the free iOS or Android app.

Because the UE BOOM is designed for phone connectivity, you can also use it as a speakerphone (if you don’t mind everyone in the room hearing your conversation, that is).

The UE BOOM features rechargeable batteries capable of streaming 15 hours worth of music, and despite being a single small speaker, its maximum sound level is spec’d at 88dBA. On both the left and right side is a 1.5-inch 4 Ohm driver, with two 2-inch passive radiators. Oh, and let’s not ignore the fact that it’s water-resistant, so having it by the pool shouldn’t be much of a concern. This is meant to be a social speaker, after all.

Available in black, white, red, pink, blue and moss, the UE BOOM is on sale now for $199.99, through the official product site.