Handled Messiah

Bose’s portable powerhouse is easy to swing around the house… but does it offer serious competition to the Sonos Move?

Gadgets throw new innovations at us all the time, but few things get us as excited as a built-in handle. And it’s the fabric-wrapped grip that really gets to the crux of what Bose’s Portable Home Speaker is bringing to the crowded Bluetooth audio market: a wireless smart speaker with 360° sound that you can carry around the house.

This is, of course, a near-identical pitch to the Sonos Move, and that five-star speaker is a very difficult act to follow. But Sonos can have no more worthy rival than Bose; and we’ve enjoyed our time with the PHS, as it will now be known.

The smooth top part of the aluminium-shell contrasts nicely with the grille around the bottom. As with any smart speaker, the top is where the action happens. The buttons sit within an Echo-style light ring that illuminates when updating, responding to a voice command or changing the volume.

You can use it as a Bluetooth, AirPlay 2 or Spotify Connect speaker, but to get the full range of features you’ll need the Bose Music app. Here you can choose between Alexa and Google Assistant, at which point it works like any smart home speaker.

The PHS is a solid all-round mono performer. It does an impressive job of pinging sound in every direction, and both the bass and treble response show real finesse. It’s very Bose: accomplished, if not hugely rousing.

Tech specs

Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, USB-C, Alexa, Google Assistant

Battery life 12 hours

Water/dust-proofing IXP4