In the gadget world there are a few things that ever smartphone user can use and usually loves. A portable back up battery, a Bluetooth speaker phone of some sorts and an external speaker unit. The latter of the three could be directly plugged in or operate via Bluetooth. Either way, if you spend a great deal of time out and about have all three of these types of accessories can greatly enhance you life. All to often though, you find yourself buying multiple products to fulfill all of your needs. This isn’t always cost effective and leaves you with extra items to carry around or pack. Making the use of all three more of a hassle than a benefit at times. We have seen our fair share of portable battery backups and Bluetooth speaker units. What we haven’t seen was a company that took the idea and combined them into one easy to use, sleek looking unit. Uniden has don just that.
Meet the Uniden Trio. It gets its Trio name because it the device has 3 primary functions.
First, it connects to your device via Bluetooth and acts as a Bluetooth speakerphone. You have all the controls you would need before, during and after your call right on the Trio. On the top left you will find a button with a mic icon ‘X’ed out. This button will let you mute the mic during a call. If you press and hold this same button and the + button found on the front, it will reject the incoming call. On the top right is a green phone button, obviously this is so you can answer an incoming call. With various other button combinations you can dial the last niumber that called you and utilize your call waiting.
Secondly, the Trio also acts as a Bluetooth speaker for listening to music or the audio while watching a movie. Again, the control on the device allows you to do various operations such as play, pause, change tracks and adjust the volume.
Last, but not least, is the addition of the 2,950mAh battery pack. This battery is a separate unit that attaches under the device. It is what provides the power to the Trio. This means that you are going to have a speakerphone/music speaker that lasts a very long time on a single charge. While that might be pretty cool, the battery has another function that makes it worth having. On the side of the battery is a USB plug. This plug lets you connect your device directly to it and charge it up. Even better yet, they battery is fully detachable, so if you just need some extra power at hand but not the speak its self, you can just take the battery along.
 
- Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR
- Speaker : 50mm full range driver
- SRS WOW HD for rich and full sound
- 360 sound
- Frequency response : 27Hz – 19,200Hz
- Li-Polymer 2950mAh battery extender with USB out
- Full Duplex LIVEtalk speakerphone for natural conversations
- Built in Mic
- Mute key (mic mute)
- Audio in jack (3.5mm)
Lets talk about a one of those things. At the bottom, they mention a 3.5mm audio in Jack. We feel it is rather important to highlight this addition for one primary reason. If you have portable gaming units, MP3 players or any other type of device that might not have Bluetooth built in, the addition of this audio in jack will allow you to use those products with the Trio for external sound. It works extremely well off our laptop and provides ample audio for watching movies and YouTube videos. It really adds a lot to your experience.
As for the sound quality. The Trio packs a punch. It easily fills a room with enough sound for everyone to enjoy it. The inclusion of the srs WOW HD audio adds some really rich and full sound to your music. With the speaker located at the top of the unit and a bass output port on the rear, the Trio can easily deliver multi-directional audio. This means that the sound travels in a full 360 degrees rather than pointed in one direction like a normal stereo speaker does.
What we like most about the Uniden Trio
The device is fairly small and compact and weighs just over a pound when fully assembled. The dual 50mm full range speakers provide a lot of sound through the soft to the touch grill located on the top of the Trio. The 2,950mAh battery provides ample battery power for the Trio to last an extremely long time, while also providing a simple solution to keep your phone charged up as well. The extra benefit of the battery being removable and still charge your device is just a nice touch. The amount of ‘on’ time depends on volume levels and if you charge your device at the same time or not. The box stated a full 7 hours of play back on a single charge via Bluetooth or audio in jack. It seems like we were getting more like 10 to 12 most of the time. We didn’t really time it though. The battery also has a nice little button on the side of it that you can press to check the battery levels. When pressed a series of three green LED lights light up to give you a visual read out of what is left.  The Trio provides easy controls for most functions you could need for enjoying your music and speaker phone calls. With the exception of having to learn a few key combinations, it is laid out pretty well. It doesn’t look cheap and is stylish enough to have on your desk at work or to carry into a meeting with out people judging you. We would have liked the silver rim to be more silver plated or coated, like the Galaxy line of devices.
 
What we didn’t like about the Uniden Trio
After spending a few weeks with it we only ran into a few short comings of the Trio. First, the battery. While 2,950mAh is a substantial amount of power, it can only be charged via the DC plug they provide and the battery must be connected to the speaker to do so. This makes taking just the battery on a trip with you useless if you don’t bring the charging cord and the speaker along to charge it back up. The battery is not capable of being charged from a USB plug on a PC or you regular phone charger that you take with you anyways. This is a negative, but not something that would prevent us from recommending it. The only other issue we experienced was using the speaker phone function of it. While the audio for music and movies was wonderful, the audio quality from a person on a call wasn’t nearly as incredible. It still provided a much needed boost as compared to our phones speaker phone, but it definitely wasn’t impressive.  On numerous occasions the people I was speaking with had a tough time hearing me. This could be due to the mic placement and its proximity to the speakers, or just the use of a poorly constructed mic.  Lowering the volume level of the call and being with-in about 8 to 10 feet of the front of the Trio seemed to produce the best possible experience.
What Uniden can do to make the Trio Better
As we said in the previous section, there were only two main things that need changing to make this a top notch product. Either move the mic placement or use a better mic in general and make the battery charge independently via a micro USB cable. This is a standard cable now that most all manufacturers use and so do all of our Android devices. We know it is possible because we have a Schoche 5,000 mAh portable battery pack sitting right here that charges via a micro USB cord.
Overall Thoughts
With all the positives that the Uniden Trio offers, combined with the current price tag for the device, it is easily something you should have. Even though the speaker phone wasn’t as amazing as we would have liked, the addition of the removable battery and the sheer amount of sound this thing can pump out is worth the money. You can always find separate units to accomplish what this single unit can, but you will most likely spend more money and end up with additional cords and power supply chargers than it is worth.
You can find these little guys in a multitude of online locations. You can buy directly from Uniden for $99.99Â or save yourself a few bucks and pick it up via Amazon
for  $90.98. Either way we are sure you will be equally impressed with the sound, style, design and functionality of the Trio.
