Anker - PowerConf Bluetooth Speakerphone Conference Speaker - Black

I now am a permanent work from home employee and needed a way to participate in Zoom calls on my MacBook Pro that was better than the built ins on the computer and was not a headset. I am very happy with this speakerphone. I do not use it on BlueTooth - I do have it plugged into a docking station. I can get the sound plenty loud enough to hear over my air conditioner and fan. If I'm not speaking, the mic will cancel out the sound from my AC, but the AC can be heard - a bit - in in the background if I am speaking. Not any worse than a standard set of headphones though. The mute button does actually mute the Zoom app, which is nice and since I wear glasses - not having to wear headphones anymore is delightful.

SUMMARY: If you judge it on the merits of being a compact, wireless speakerphone (where you supply the phone) you will be happy with the value and voice quality. But if you are a 'road warrior' buying for the add-ons, a bluetooth speaker to play music, or an external battery charger, that is 'also' a speakerphone, you should read carefully. PROS: - Decent voice quality for listening/hearing, bordering on great. Clearly better than my iPhone speakers (for voice). - Great voice quality microphones. Noticeable improvement over standard headsets or a phone placed down on a table. - Digital signal processing that enhances voices and takes away some background noise (yours, not theirs). - Great job with it's 6 microphones in a 360 degree circle for picking up people talking all around it. The ring light even indicates which microphone(s) it is using. - Decent volume. Easily fills a 10x10 foot room at about 70%. If it's just for me, I have it at 50%. - Does not come with a charger. Most of us have enough chargers already (keeps clutter and cost down). It charges by USB-C. - Decent battery life (24 hours) - Quality Build. Can take a little jostling when traveling. - Good status lights. There are 3 which sounds simple, but each one has multiple colors/meaning. The main light is a 'ring' around the function buttons. Sorta cool looking, but recessed so slightly hard to see / interpret. Be ready to keep consulting the manual. - Easy to pair with bluetooth. Not as seamless as IOS devices (AirPods) to switch between devices, but can be done by pressing the bluetooth button and reconnecting. - Easily connected to my MacBook Pro via USB-C cable. I did have to go into sound preferences the first time. - Comes with a decent carrying case for traveling. Would be nice if it had a pocket for a charge cord. CONS: - Minimal instructions. The ones they have are clear, but light. No description of the App (required), just says download it. - No tactile or audio feedback on the top control buttons. They work, you just don't know it. The visual feedback is via the light ring which seemed to lag and didn't persist long (i.e. I had to be looking right at it at the time of operation). ON THE FENCE / NITPICKS: - NOT a good choice for playing music (admittedly not designed for it). No base. - NOT a huge fan of the App (IOS). For one, I don't even like the idea of needing one for a speakerphone. But it's simplistic to the point of not being as useful as it could be, while unfortunately absolutely necessary to get the full benefit out of the device (to get updates and select between single and multiple user). I REALLY don't like that it makes me sign in to an account to use it the first time. Why? What am I creating an account for? Don't know. - Power/weight ratio is not the best as an external device charger. - The mute button on the top of the device DOES work for phone calls, does NOT seem to work right with Zoom. - When plugged into your computer or a power source it stays on, when wireless you need to set the 'auto off' time in the App. In practice I turned off 'auto off', and turned the device on and off manually (shudder) when I needed it. EXPANDED REVIEW. I am not going to repeat every point in my pros/cons section, but go into more detail here on the points I think could use it. I am a gadget person, and have long been a fan of Anker's power supplies and battery packs. They work as advertised, are a quality build, and are a good value. Anker has become a name I trust with my expensive devices. So I was eager to see how their foray into the world of sound was going. I travel a lot for work (or did before COVID) and I am always looking for ways to 1) be more efficient (lighter, smaller) and 2) have back up in case of problems. I have gone though a lot of chargers, battery packs, and even speakers in the quest for the ultimate road warrior's pack. Anker is great for that. And build wise etc, Anker's speakerphone follows their usual quality. Traditionally when I travel I no longer carry a speakerphone. I did a few times, but ultimately it was difficult to use, only so-so quality, and just not worth the hassle. Now, when I need one I just put my iPhone out on the table. It is okay, but not the best sound (coming or going). And these days with COVID I have a lot more conference calls at home and office with multiple people spaced out, so have need for a real speakerphone again. I was eager to test it in the local environment, but also evaluate it for potential road use, in particular for the 'extras' like playing music or acting as a charger that might have let me leave things out of my pack. AS A SPEAKER PHONE. For all the reasons listed under 'Pros', it is unquestionably better sound (speaker and microphone array) than just a smartphone on a table. And it is good enough that I don't feel the need to buy a more expensive system for my office. It is compact enough that it doesn't take up a lot of room, so it's easy to have out. The controls take some time to master, but once done it's easy to use. Primarily you need to pay more attention to the 'ring' light system and that was new to me. And I like that when I am home, I can unplug it from my computer and carry it around my house to find more relaxing places to sit or share with my family. The 360 degree microphone array is great for picking up all the people in a moderately sized room (10x10). It works as advertised, including the enhanced voice circuity and it does seem to filter out some background noise (but not all). For me, though, there were some extra steps required to use it, the App, turning it on and off, pairing it. More to it than just plopping a phone down in the middle of the table, so the convenience was reasonable just not exceptional. BLUETOOTH SPEAKER MUSIC TEST. Feel free to skip this if you have no interest is playing music on your speakerphone. Or read and let me tell you why you shouldn't. Yes, as you do connect your phone by blue tooth you can use this to play anything your phone can play. But, and I am just going to put this out there, if you read some of the other reviews rave on sound quality you might think (and they suggest) this could double as a general purpose blue tooth speaker to use for music, etc., as well as a speakerphone. I am not an audiophile, but even the manufacturer Anker does NOT recommend it for music, and neither would I. It really has been optimized (think treble and mid range but no base) for voice. So while it feels unfair to test it for music playing, the reviews are out there that suggest it can, so here we go. When compared to my iPhone 11 Pro Max's speakers, yes it sounded marginally better for music, maybe. Definitely louder. But that's where it ends. My iPad Pro sounded noticeably better, and my MacBook Pro sounded a LOT better (especially in the base). So if I was a road warrior in a hotel, this is NOT the device I would use for music, I would use one of the other devices I already have with me. And for work or home, ditto. I guess if I was out in a Park on a picnic, and for some reason I was carrying around a speakerphone but nothing else I might use it as such. But why would I have it there? Why would I not plan ahead and bring a cheap and lighter but better optimized for music speaker? EXTERNAL DEVICE CHARGER. Taking advantage of their heritage as an external battery charger company, Anker makes this both wireless and an external battery pack by building in a 6700 mAH lithium battery. Again, I see reviews saying that's great for road warriors, cut out carrying that external battery pack. BUT, 6700 mAH is small by today's standards, while that's enough power for 24 hours of talk time (good), it can only recharge a decent sized smartphone maybe 1.5 times (not so good). That's it. Anything else, like an iPad, much less. And obviously, if you use it to recharge your smartphone, you cut into how long you can use it as a speakerphone. It's fairly hefty to carry on a flight which is when I usually want a battery charger (but not a speakerphone). For $20 I can get a much lighter battery charger (4oz versus 12) and not worry about draining my speakerphone (and pack the speakerphone away in my larger easier to carry bag). But yes, if you are back in that Park, don't need a speakerphone, but are lugging one around, and do have a phone to charge, it will do it, and quite well. So to me this is one of those things that sounds good until you think about it. BOTTOM LINE. I am struggling with how to rate this. It really excels in most things associated with being a portable speakerphone and would easily rate it as such five stars (out of five). Also, it is a quality build and a value price, so five there as well. And to be fair, because they are NOT mission critical, I am NOT going to take off points because for me the add-ons just aren't value-add, But yeah, I was disappointed that when I travel it won't replace my portable speaker (Bose) or battery pack (Anker, 20,000 mAH). So instead of eliminating things to carry, this is going to add to it (for me). I have decided, however, to take off one point (though would prefer to only take off 1/2) for the few nitpicks as a speakerphone that continue to be an irritation for me. I wish there was tactile feedback in the controls. I wish the App was not necessary at all. The ring light is a nice idea, but needs some refinement (possible with software updates). The instructions are clear, but light. So for me, this is a 4 out of 5. For you, could easily be a 5. The all important question, is the voice quality worth carrying it with me when I travel? Yes.

I use it as my primary device for all my Skype and cell calls, it does the job right, easy to connect, good sound, no complaints.

Plug and play. Easy to use. I route through my Thunderbolt monitor. Everything fires up when I turn on the monitor.

I have loved Anker since before they were cool. Seriously, I have been buying their gear since 2012 (and they were only founded in 2011 - I still have that USB/Power hub). They make great gear and I'm happy that Best Buy carries the brand. But you didn't come here to read about my love of Anker the company, but to read about my love of Anker PowerConference Speakerphone, and I do love it. My job has always been a bit of a Road Warrior one. Even before the pandemic I was doing remote work from home, presentations at conferences, and hosting remote events. Now that I haven't stepped foot in the office for about 4 months now, I have really refined my on-the-go kitbag. The last piece I needed was a good conferencing device that doesn't look like a three armed boomerang (if you've done conferencing before, you know what device I'm talking about), and doesn't take up a bag all on its own. My presentation kit now fits completely in a messenger bag (laptop, presentation remote, projector, and now conferencing speakerphone). It's not exactly light, but it's all in one bag which makes it much easier to wrangle. So what is so great about the Anker PowerConference? Let me count the ways: 1. Compact and light with a great hardcase. 2. Great sound/voice pick-up for a good sized room with people social-distancing. 3. Very good sound/voice pick-up in outdoor locations, though for a much smaller group. 4. Outstanding volume and sound from your remote side. You can easily hear everyone and understand them without having to blast the volume. 5. A cool indicator on top that shows volume level (the blue ring fills up as the volume goes up), plus it shows which of the six microphones is picking up sound. This makes it easy to arrange your speakers/guests to maximize their engagement. 6. Anker battery/charging tech so you get a ton of time using the device (I haven't even come close to using it for the 24 hours it claims). It can also charge a device attached to it. 7. Instant and easy connectivity with my iPhone. Turn the PowerConference on, select it in Bluetooth Preferences on your phone, and you are ready to go. 8. Instant connectivity with my MacBook. Plug in the USB-A to USB-C cord into your computer, set the sound input/output to the Power Conference in the Sound settings under System Preferences and you are ready to rock. 9. It's solidly built. It adds a little bit of weight but you can tell this thing can handle being used a lot. Even though it comes with such a nice/form-fitting case, you can leave that behind if you want, because this thing can handle the abuse. 10. Comes with a great 3' Anker USB-A to USB-C cord that is solid. This thing is pretty much anything I could have asked for and more. I only wish that Anker had done a USB-C to USB-C cable instead of the one included or perhaps give a USB-A to USB-C adaptor. My Mac only has USB-C ports and the PowerConference only charges from the USB-A port so it makes sense for me to use a USB-C to USB-C cable with the PowerConference and then I can use the USB-A port to keep my iPhone charged since I blast through the battery on presentation days. I mean, this is in no way a dealbreaker since I have a USB-C to USB-C cable (from Anker of course), but that would seem to be the best cable to pack in the box nowadays. I have TONS of USB-A to Lightning cables for my iPhone. If you need an outstanding voice conferencing device or need to make remote meetings a bit more user friendly at social distancing presentations, you can not go wrong with the Anker PowerConference. Every self-respecting road warrior needs one of these.