Review on Antec 73001 Bluetooth Speaker (Pink) by Monica Moore

After a difficult start, this speaker really packs a punch. I mainly use it to listen to internet radio from my phone when I work out in my basement gym at home. My Samsung GS4's speaker isn't bad by phone speaker standards, but it's nowhere near the sound quality or volume you'd want to listen to for too long. For the small size of this speaker, the sound quality and volume are impressive. Of course, it shouldn't be deafeningly loud, but it's enough for normal use. The controls are simple, with a multifunctional pair of power buttons and volume buttons to increase and decrease the volume. I got off to a "rough start" when I first figured out how to pair with it. You have to hold down the power button for some time to pair it and I didn't hold it down long enough. When it's ready to pair it will let you know, and once I pressed the button long enough pairing was easy. During calls, it has the option to use it as a microphone for use during calls. This worked well for me when the speaker was sitting next to me, but it doesn't work so well when it's far away from you. And what's even more annoying is that every sound my phone made when I received a text message or an email was annoyingly played through the speaker. Changing some notification settings and changing Bluetooth sound settings will take care of that. I see a new price for it and compared to others it's worth it. I would never pay the 100+ that some of these go for, but at $50 it's worth what I use it for. When the weather gets better and there is something to do outside, there are many more ways to take it with you and use it outdoors. I also don't have anything to compare and I'm sure there are better ones out there but this will do all I need.