The Huawei Sound Joy is a mobile speaker that is very similar to that of other brands, especially JBL: round, sturdy and yet handy. It was developed in collaboration with Devialet, an audio company from France. The buttons are easy to see on the outside, can be found by touch and you can choose from three colors. The question is, of course, what does it sound like?
Huawei Sound Joy
Recommended retail price € 129.99 (temporarily with a 30 euro discount for 99.99)
Colors Black, Green, Red
Battery 8800 mAh
Connection Bluetooth 5.2 (AAC and SBC), USB-c for audio and charging
Dimensions 202 x 73mm
Weight 680 grams
Website www.huawei.com 6 Score 60 
- Pros
- Good sound
- battery life
- Waterproof up to 1 meter
- Negatives
- Privacy-unfriendly app
- High tones not around
- Only supports AAC and SBC
Buy the Huawei Sound Joy at Bol.com
I didn’t think it sounded great out of the box. Very shrill and with a lot of low tones. The middle area seemed to have disappeared. Not bad, and a lot of people wouldn’t even mind the shrill thing. But it could be better, just not via the buttons on the device itself. If you didn’t read the manual, the website or this review, you wouldn’t even know that you can do all kinds of settings via an app.
According to the website there is no app for iOS, but I was able to find it in the Apple app store. It’s the Huawei AI Life app and there’s quite a bit wrong with that.
Dramatic App
Android users in particular are the loser because when you install the app, another app has to be sideloaded via Huawei. That is exactly what everyone (including Google itself) warns against doing. When that second app is on it, you come to the next nasty surprise.
To use the AI ​​Life app, you must provide your email address and phone number. That cannot be a fake number because you will receive a code via SMS to complete the installation. That is not necessary for anything and certainly not to set up a bluetooth speaker or to provide it with new firmware. This is only necessary to satisfy the manufacturer’s data hunger.
Precisely Huawei who is wrongly or not accused of privacy and security vulnerabilities in network and communication equipment, should be more sensible if they want to appear serious as a reliable party.
Still a good sound
Once you have the app up and running, you can update the firmware. That process goes very smoothly and you are kept well informed of the progress. During the test period, I’ve seen new firmware three times, so there is active development.
You can also adjust the bass level. That is nice for some music to get a balanced sound. The most important setting is the ‘Devialet’ mode. This makes the Sound Joy sound much more balanced and a good sound comes out of the small speaker. With this setting, the Sound Joy should have left the factory, the other two are unnecessary in my opinion.
The disadvantage of the sound image is the directivity: only right in front of the speaker is the high audible. You will hear a fairly dull sound on the side or back. That takes some getting used to compared to the comparable models from JBL and Sony.
Conclusion
We have nothing to complain about with regard to the sound quality, battery life and reliability of the Sound Joy. It’s the app that gets in the way and that’s a shame. With a normal app, so without sideloading and/or unnecessary account with email address and phone number, the Huawei Sound Joy would certainly deserve four stars.
There may be a new app coming that doesn’t need private data. As long as it isn’t there yet, I can’t give it more than a maximum of 3 stars and then I’ll be generous.
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