REVIEW - Mrice Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Here comes the cliches

'You get what you pay for.'
'Don't judge a book by it's cover.'
'Everybody likes surprises.'
'Good things come in small packages.'



There. I got them off my chest. Most reviews are riddled with cliches, so I thought I better get them out of the way right from the off. They are all relevant though, which you will see as my review goes on.

Let's start by the price. The Mice Bluetooth Portable Speaker is not an expensive item. There are far more expensive Bluetooth speakers on the market - some of which I own. You'd be forgiven for thinking at this price, your purchase will be poor quality and pale into insignificance when compared to the others. It is a speaker though. So while you might not expect the same array of features that you might find on a boom box costing hundreds of pounds, expectations remain that it will sound good, because after all, that's what you want a speaker for in the first place.



So, do you really get what you pay for? Let's open the box. And here's the first surprise. At this price, you would be excused for expecting the device to be nastily packaged in a plastic blister pack. But the box is the first tell-tale sign that you might have got more than you bargained for. Heavily stylised and interestingly shaped, with the yellow and black chevrons akin to a construction vehicle, the box gives the first glimmer of hope that a lot of thought and consideration has actually gone into the production of this item.

Slit the seal, raise the top and the yellow ramp lowers for your speaker to joyously roll out. OK, I admit it. That moment made me smile. It's a box. Why am I getting excited about a box. But in this case - the box is pretty cool. I've watched enough pointless unboxing videos in my time, in this case - an unboxing video would actually have a purpose.

My enjoyment of the packaging was the first surprise, now on to the main show, the speaker itself. In this case - you really can judge a book by it's cover. The delights at the packaging very quickly transfer to delight with the product itself.First up - the design. In a small Bluetooth speaker, the norm is either a rectangular box, or a strange circular, almost alien craft like design. Not here. No way. 

They wanted this speaker to look the business - and it does. Designed for outside use, and sticking with the construction vehicle theme from the box (there I go, back to the box again!) there are 2 points in the design to note. Firstly the camouflage print which is pretty self explanatory and a perfect choice for an outdoors item. Secondly, the whopping great tire design around the outside.



The speaker looks like a miniature tractor wheel. I like that. It looks good, looks interesting, and the tread on the tire gives it nice grip, both in the hand or on the ground. There's also a little stand that is subtle but effective. Looking at promo images of the speaker, attaching a clip to the stand you can then clip it to backpacks, bikes, your belt - a very well thought out and functional design element.

The tyre hints at it's ruggedness. I'd have no qualms about hanging this device off my backpack, or throwing it to a friend if need be. The boys were playing in the garden and asked for music, so I chucked it to them from the upstairs window. Maybe not advisable, but I had some confidence that even if they dropped it - the tire would give it enough protection. Let's not forget - it's splash proof and dust proof so will easily stand up to the conditions outside.

So far so good. But do good things really come in small packages?



The proof is in the pudding, and that pudding is the sound. Flick the switch to turn him on and here comes the next surprise. It may only be the welcome jingle - but it sounded good. It was loud, it was clear, maybe this speaker does pack a punch.

Pairing is easy. You've flicked the switch - the light is flashing, the speaker should appear on the list on your chosen device (for my test, it was my Asus Laptop). . It appeared, I clicked pair, and it paired successfully, very easy.

Now, I did have a few problems at this stage when I attempted playback thought. The music was cutting out. I tried un-pairing and re-pairing a few times, but it persisted. I had to do the unmanly thing of getting the instructions out. The instructions indicated that low battery is the cause of this, so I ended my test and gave the device a charge. You can find the charging socket under a rubber panel on the camouflage back (insert joke about not finding it because it's camouflaged!) There's a micro USB cable supplied so the device can be charged using any USB socket. Under the panel, there's also a micro SD card slot to use if you want to load your music directly on to the speaker.

After a while, charging compete, I went back to try again. I switched it on, it paired automatically as I had paired before, and I attempted playback. This time - playback was flawless. The sound quality? Well - just as the welcome jingle hinted at - it sounded great.



For such a small speaker, it does pack a punch and you won't be disappointed with the output - especially at this price. It was set very loud. At first, I didn't think you could adjust the volume from the speaker, so I adjusted it from my laptop - but later I discovered some volume buttons hidden in the tire (there's a + and - carved into the tire but you'd easily miss them if you didn't know they were there). Glad I found them as they do come in handy.

There's more features that I've not mentioned - just discovered it has a mic allowing you to make hands free calls if connected to your mobile. I haven't tried it - but it seems like a handy extra bonus.
All in all I'm happy with the speaker. It's a beautifully designed, well thought out piece of kit with loads of cool features that is as versatile as speakers come whether indoors or out. I wasn't disappointed and at this price, I'm certain you won't be either.



To sum up, let's re-address those cliches:

'You get way more than you pay for.'
'DO judge a book by it's cover.'
'Everybody DOES like surprises, and this device has several.'
And
'Good things DO come in small packages.'


(The views expressed in this post are entirely my own. While I received the product for free for the purpose of testing it and reviewing it, I was under no obligation to provide a positive review and my opinions are based on my own, honest assessment of the product.)