Bluetooth speakers have become some of the most common peripherals used by Millenials and Xennials alike. Most smartphones have mediocre speakers, and prolonged use drains the battery much faster than any of us would like. This has resulted in a slew of Bluetooth speakers and headphones from every company specializing in the audio segment. In this particular post, we have a look at the Poly Sync 20, a “smart” portable speakerphone.
While Bluetooth speakers are a dime a dozen, a few things set the Poly Sync apart from the competition. By acting as a central hub of your communication devices, it helps keep track of all your calls, avoiding conflicts and redirecting you to the right one. It’s especially useful if you work from home and spend a lot of time communicating with your colleagues and/or team members remotely.
While on the surface, it may look like a simple speaker with a few extra buttons, the Sync 20 has quite a few features that you won’t find on a standard speakerphone. There are a total of five buttons on the deck, one for receiving calls (and hanging up), two for volume control, one for muting the microphone, and a programmable button. The latter can be modified to play music, to active the voice assistant on your phone, redialing a call, etc.
The thing that I liked the most about this particular device was the ability to connect your PC, multiple smartphones, as well as a third USB-compatible device, all at once. On the right side, the Poly Sync 20 comes with a standard USB Type-A port via which you can charge your headset. Imagine a situation where you’re talking to your team members on Zoom/Microsoft Teams, and you get a phone call. The meeting will be automatically muted, giving you the chance to take the call without disrupting your colleagues. Similarly, if you’re watching a sitcom, or listing to music on your PC or phone, and there’s an incoming call, the Sync 20 will pause the former as soon as you tap the receive button.
Another advantage of the Poly Sync 20 is the universal compatibility across a wide range of platforms. Regardless of the application used by your company, you can be sure that it’ll work. Poly is certified for Microsoft Teams, Skype, Zoom, Cisco, Google Cloud, Mitel, Ribbon, Avaya, Lucent, AWS, etc.
As for the speaker itself, it features a Bass Reflex System which is essentially marketing talk for a dual-radiator design, amplifying the bass for improved sound quality if you’re an audiophile. They won’t satisfy the hardcore audience, but for most folks, they’ll get the job done.
The microphone (rather x3 microphones) is also specialized for professionals, with a steerable array that reduces echo and ensures background noises stay out of your calls, and conferences.
Here are some other features of the Poly Sync 20 at a glance:
- Microphone pickup range – up to 7 ft / 2 m.
- Microphone Frequency Response – 100 Hz to 6.7 kHz.
- Full duplex audio.
- Loudspeaker frequency response – 80 Hz to 20 kHz.
- Battery capacity – 3200 mAH.
- Talk time – up to 20 hours.
- Charge time – 4 Hours.
- Highly visible RGB light bar that indicates the call status.
- Bluetooth v5.1
- Supported Bluetooth profiles – A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP, and BLE
- IP64 dust– and water-resistant
Overall, I found the Poly Sync 20 to be rather useful. For people in the white-collar job space, it’s akin to using a filing cabinet to sort out all your different meetings, and calls, instead of hastily scrambling to figure out who or where the call is from. All the additional features are nice to have, but the ability to connect all your devices to a central speakerphone is easily the most useful.
