Huawei Sound Joy review

Two-minute review

A well known name in the smartphone, laptop, and tablet world, it can be easy to forget that Huawei also makes speakers and headphones. Previously, its Sound X Bluetooth speaker was quite a hit (albeit at a hefty price). Now, we come to the Huawei Sound Joy which lives up to its name – sparking plenty of joy at a good price.

It's a more portable speaker than the Huawei Sound X, coming with a strap and a rugged exterior that can survive the occasional scrape. That removable strap makes it ideal for taking out while hiking, but the Huawei Sound Joy easily doubles up as a speaker to place on a countertop in your home. 

Co-engineered with French audio company Devialet, the Huawei Sound Joy sounds pretty good. With punchy bass and some reasonably crisp mids, it covers everything the average user could need. A suitably chunky 26-hour battery life means it'll last you all day long on that outdoor hike or camping trip, and you can always leave it unplugged in a bathroom for those singalong sessions in the shower. 

We loved the design of the Huawei Sound Joy. Clearly made for a robust outdoor life, the volume buttons take up much of one side of the speaker, with bold and brash plus and minus signs – much like the UE Boom 3. On the other side are play/pause controls along with the power button, Bluetooth button and USB-C port. 

One lovely touch is that there is an LED ring on top of the speaker that reacts to your music, as well as displaying the volume and battery status. Non-essential sure, but charming nonetheless. 

Other features like the ability to shake the Huawei Sound Joy to stereo pair with another Sound Joy speaker, and being able to touch your Huawei phone to instantly transfer a track are nice too, albeit unlikely to be used by many users very often. 

So, what’s the catch? The Huawei Sound Joy offers fairly limited codec support, with just AAC and SBC. Plus, while the Huawei AI Life app can be downloaded on Android phones, iPhone users are out of luck – and that means those users can’t take full advantage of the Sound Joy’s LED light rings, as reactive lighting to your music is disabled by default and can only be adjusted in the app.

Huawei Sound Joy: price and availability

•  Available for £129.99 in the UK 
•  Available for AU$229 in Australia
•  Available in two colors – green and black 

The Huawei Sound Joy is available to buy in the UK for £129.99 – and at the time of writing, Huawei is throwing in a pair of FreeBuds 4i at no extra cost. The Sound Joy is also available to buy in Australia for AU$229.

Hoping to buy the Sound Joy in the US? Unfortunately, Huawei products are still subject to trade restrictions, so the speaker is unlikely to be released in this region.

The speaker is available in two color schemes – olive green or black. Both look fairly understated but appealing. You'll be able to buy it in either color in the UK, while Australians can only buy the Sound Joy in black.

Huawei Sound Joy: design

• Rugged design
• Includes a strap
• Bold buttons

The Huawei Sound Joy offers a rugged design that would still work in your living room. It has a strap included, which means you can carry it around with you or attach it to your backpack – and its size means you could place it in a cycle bottle cage. It's also IP67 rated so this waterproof speaker can handle being in up to one meter of water and most other weather conditions too.

Despite its outdoorsy credentials, the Sound Joy still looks rather stylish so you could place it in a living room and it wouldn't look out of place. It offers bold and brash buttons on either side (they look suspiciously similar to the UE Boom 3, we might add). One side has volume buttons that are raised and lit up for easy access, while the other side has power, Bluetooth, and voice assistant buttons. 

On the top of the speaker is an LED light ring that glows in response to your music, and displays the volume and battery levels. This feature works particularly well when you're in a darkened room (or camping under the stars), lighting up the area quite nicely. 

Huawei Sound Joy: audio performance

• Punchy bass
• Support for SBC and AAC codecs
• Clear mids

The Huawei Sound Joy sounds pretty good, but it won't attract audiophiles keen to hear every minute detail at all times. Still, for the average listener, it does the job well, offering a powerful sound thanks to its 20W full-frequency speaker, 10W silk dome tweeter, and two passive radiators.

Listening to Foo Fighters' All My Life, and the Sound Joy sounds suitably punchy and enthusiastic, while offering the clarity and soulfulness we wanted as we switched to John Legend's All Of Me.

Whack up the volume and you'll be impressed by how loud the Huawei Sound Joy can get. It has a reasonably wide soundstage too, so if you’re soundtracking a large gathering, it holds its own. When we turned up Billie Eilish's Bad Guy, it didn't lose any quality and the bass never became overwhelming. 

Classical pieces like Holst's The Planets sounded suitably clear too, capturing the different instruments nicely without any muddiness. 

Huawei Sound Joy: battery life and connectivity

• Up to 26 hours of battery life
• Fast charging support
• Bluetooth 5.2

The Huawei Sound Joy promises up to 26 hours of playback and it delivers; a mighty 8,800 mAh battery ensures that. When you do eventually run out of power, a 10-minute charge gives back an hour of playback, which is useful. 

The speaker supports the latest Bluetooth standard – 5.2 – which means you shouldn’t experience any drop outs and we didn’t notice any latency issues.

Elsewhere, the Huawei Sound Joy also has some other useful connectivity options assuming you own other Huawei devices. It's possible to instantly transfer a track from your Huawei phone by touching it to the speaker. Auto-discovery with Huawei phones, tablets, and laptops also mean it pairs up as quickly as AirPods do with Apple devices. Of course, you'll need to own a Huawei device to enjoy this. 

The speaker can be configured via the Huawei AI Life app. Unfortunately, iOS users won’t be able to download this app, which means you’ll miss out on a few features if you’re using an iPhone – including the music-reactive LED light ring, which is disabled by default.

Should I buy the Huawei Sound Joy?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

• Read our guide to the best outdoor speakers you can buy