Huawei just unveiled its first portable Bluetooth speaker to rival the Sonos Roam
Though its name is silly
Huawei's press conference at annual tech event MWC 2022 brought us quite a few new gadgets, including a new E-Ink tablet to rival the Kindle, and the all-new audio device you see above.
The Huawei Sound Joy is the company's first portable Bluetooth speaker - sure, it's worked on audio products before, but those were earbuds or stationary devices.
This is the company's attempt to break onto our list of the best Bluetooth speakers, a list dominated by Sonos products like the Sonos Roam.
There are some interesting specs on offer here - the device's 8,800mAh battery is one, which is pretty big - Huawei promises that this will last for 26 hours between charges. You'll literally be able to party all night long on a single charge if that's accurate.
The speaker is IP67 rated - that means it's totally dustproof, and resistant to water at up to a meter of submersion for 30 minutes. There are two versions, a green one and a black one, and both look pretty familiar to anyone who's seen a portable speaker like this before.
Acoustic credentials
French audio company Devialet helped with the speakers - we've seen the company work with Huawei in the past on the Sound X smart speaker - and there are four speakers on the body of the Sound Joy. So it could sound good, but we'll have to test them out to know for sure.
The Sound Joy price is €149 whenever it launches - that converts to about $170, £130 or AU$230, though we don't know whether it'll launch in the US, UK or Australia just yet.
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We're still waiting for the name 'Huawei Sound Joy' to roll off the tongue, but it sounds a little odd to us.
Anyway, we'll try to test this product whenever we can to see if Huawei's debut portable speaker is good or not, and to work out whether it'll tell Sonos to Son-off or not.
- MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world's largest showcase for the mobile industry, stuffed full of the newest phones, tablets, wearables and more. TechRadar is reporting on the show all week. Follow our MWC 2022 live blog for the very latest news as it happens and visit our dedicated MWC 2022 hub for a round-up of the biggest announcements.
Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.
He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist.