Today is shaping up to be the hottest day of 2014 so far, so what better time to get our first look at a new solar powered Bluetooth speaker? Soulra's Rugged Rukus is an all-terrain, rugged wireless speaker that can keep the music going all day, with a backup battery capable of 8 hours playback when the lights go down.
Surrounded by a tough rubberised outer shell, the Rugged Rukus is able to withstand one meter drops and is IPX4 water-resistant, so you'll be able to take it out by the pool or bring it along to festivals without worrying about the rain. It also has two carabiner loops, letting you fix it to a backpack when hiking to keep the solar panel facing the sun. The solar panel is roughly twice the surface area as the average smartphone, so when placed in direct sunlight should be up to the task of keeping the speaker topped up with juice.
The two full-range speaker drivers can play back stereo audio from any Bluetooth device, although it's standard A2DP audio rather than aptX Bluetooth. There's also a 3.5mm audio jack at the back for connecting older devices, and a USB port for recharging your smartphone using the built-in battery. Unfortunately we weren't able to put the speaker to the test at the reveal event, as it was too noisy to judge audio quality, but considering you don't have to worry about running out of battery we can definitely see it going down well with festival goers, campers and holidaymakers.
The Rugged Rukus should be going on sale in the UK soon, available directly from Soulra's Amazon store .
