This speaker can be used with or without the App. However, the App will give you options like sound modes (e.g., Chill and Vocal), firmware updates and pairing a second Flare for dual stereo.
Size: It quite portable @ 6" in height and flipping it upside down makes it fit perfectly into my car’s cup holder
Looks: The fabric sheath adds a bit of class and protects the speaker from finger prints. The controls and ports are on opposite sides of the speaker. The LED light adds flair to the speaker, it reacts to music and it can be customized (color schemes) by using the App. The foot is made out of an anti-slip material.
Sound: Very loud and clear with good bass. Activate the bass up mode for a bit of boost to the bass. It has 2 6W drivers and 2 passive radiators. Supports A2DP, AVRCP, HFP profile, and SBC decoding. At max volume, it still sounds pretty good.
Bluetooth: 4.2, which limits its range to about 66ft.
Pairing: Look for Soundcore Flare Bluetooth ID. Pairing was easy and quick. If you have 2 Flares, you can use the App to set up stereo mode. Supposedly without any delays between them. I don’t have two, but I do have a different Soundcore Bluetooth speaker. Using Android’s ability to pair multiple Bluetooth devices, I was able to get music to play from the two speakers, but one has a slight delay (1s?). I’m seriously considering jumping on a 2nd one as soons as I see a good discount on it
Notable features:
Flare will automatically turn off if it is not connected to a device within 30 minutes.
About 12 hrs of playtime @ 60% volume
Nitpicks: Micro USB port for charging. USB Type-C would have been great, provided that Anker includes a USB Type-C cable :D.
Tip: If you have trouble pairing the Flare with your device again, try deleting the Flare Bluetooth profile from your device and try pairing again.
PS: I didn’t have any issue removing the aux/usb port cover and no, I do not have long fingernails