INTRODUCTION

   Summer is almost upon us people so i expect that it won’t be long now before most of you storm the beaches around the world (like some friends of ours I’m guessing some of you already have) so just like pretty much everyone we know you're probably looking for ways to make your time there more pleasant and carefree. Now there are plenty of things one can bring along while at the beach but there are only two devices which happen to be at the top of the list especially amongst teenagers (not including smartphones obviously). So according to what we hear from friends and family, even from some of you via emails and FB messages the number one gadget people consider bringing along is a portable battery pack (PowerBank) followed very closely by a compact wireless speaker. A couple of our readers even mentioned large Boombox stereo speakers which is somewhat funny since back in the day that was our number one to bring toy when at the beach and why not even a guitar if someone knew how to play (smartphones were in their infancy back then). Times however change and now with the help of smartphones tiny portable speakers have effectively all but replaced the many times larger Boombox stereo speakers and so today we'll be taking a thorough look at the latest Solemate Mini Portable Wireless Speaker by Jabra.

   GN Netcom, led by the Jabra brand, continues to build on its standing as one of the world’s leading and fastest growing suppliers of hands-free communications solutions. With approximately 875 employees and sales offices around the world, GN Netcom develops manufactures and markets a broad range of wireless headsets for mobile users and both wireless and corded headsets for contact center and office-based users. GN Netcom’s business activities also include its original equipment manufacturing (OEM) business to a wide range of global customers including mobile phone, PC and PDA manufacturers.

   A while back Jabra released the 172mm long, 64mm wide and 70mm tall Solemate Portable Wireless Speaker which featured not one but two soft dome tweeters, one mid/woofer and a bass radiator to produce a very good amount of volume (for its size always) for up to 8 hours. So since the original was quite compact we never expected for Jabra to design and manufacture an even smaller version (if any we expected a larger) but to our surprise they did and named it the Solemate Mini. Well the new Solemate Mini is indeed smaller (roughly 48% smaller to be exact) and measures 125mm in length, 53mm in width and 61mm in height with a weight of just 295g (as opposed to the 610g of the original). Of course certain sacrifices had to be made because of its size and so it wears just two full range speakers and a bass radiator. However because of that (and also thanks to EDR mode which was not supported in the original Solemate) its battery although smaller compared to that of the original Solemate still gives it up to 8 hours of music playback. The rest of the features are roughly the same so the Solemate Mini has a wireless range of 10m, can be paired with up to 9 devices (only connects with one at a time), has an Omni-directional microphone for calls, is NFC compatible and comes with support for the usual A2DP (v1.2), hands free (v1.6) and headset (v1.2) profiles. Well the time has come for us to move forward with this review and see how well it does compared to its larger brother.