Xiaomi Mi Bluetooth Speaker Review: Minimalistic speaker with average sound

Mi is a brand from Xiaomi (world’s 5th largest smartphone maker), known for developing smartphones which are cost effective and stylishly designed. Today we have a Bluetooth speaker on the similar lines of Xiaomi’s principles, which was announced at the launch of the the Redmi Note 3 . Let’s see how Xiaomi’s Mi Bluetooth speaker performs. Build and Design: 8/10 Mi Bluetooth speaker is beautiful. It is elegantly crafted with a monolithic design reminiscent of Apple’s minimalistic product designs.  Though I like the Gold version the most, there are several funky colours available. On the right of the speaker are the main controls, power on/pause button with LED light, volume keys/next song keys (long press), and battery level/bluetooth search.  On the left you have an aux-in, microUSB charging port and…well what ought to have been a microSD port has been mysteriously cut out of the Indian version. Xiaomi found it unnecessary or perhaps wanted to save costs? Who knows? In comparison though, not many Bluetooth speakers around the same price bracket and performance come with microSD card support.  The speaker itself weighs 270gms and is as wide as a pencil box though slimmer. It is easy enough to carry, however not a pocketable device.  Interestingly the speaker doesn’t come with any accessories like microUSB cable, aux cable or the like. What you get is a portable carry pouch and the manual. Xiaomi really went minimalistic even in their packaging.  Performance: 5.5/10 Mi Bluetooth speaker is a decent speaker. It isn’t impressive (which budget bluetooth speaker is?), but isn’t bad either. The first impression that the speaker will give is “bassy, muffled”. The speaker, unlike many bluetooth speakers, does have more bass but unfortunately the bass invariably fumbles in such small boxes. Therefore many manufacturers tend to make such tiny boxes more “mids and highs” oriented. Creative Woof 3 comes to mind that does this well. The Mi Bluetooth speaker sounds similar to Creative’s SoundBlaster Free but mellower in output. Unfortunately this isn’t saying much. It basically means that just like SoundBlaster Free the speaker fumbles and gasps at higher volumes.  The interesting internals of the speaker and Marketing spiel The speaker also sounds like a mess when you play high energy tracks with a lot of different instruments playing simultaneously. Give techno, trance, hip-pop bass, heavy metal tracks a complete miss as the speaker certainly cannot keep up with the sound, everything will sound noisy and mixed. What works? What particularly works well with this speaker are tracks that are slow to even-paced music which aren’t low-bass heavy e.g. The Beatles, The Doors, Boney M, Fleetwood Mac as well as Disco, Classical music, and the like. So basically the speaker is perfect for background music and easy listening. These are definitely a step up from laptop speakers but not for those who are looking for serious listening of music. The speaker has only one orientation with rubber feet provided for it. In any other orientation, the speaker will start to jar and jump around on the desk. Call Quality: 6/10 The call quality is good. The incoming voice is clear and loud, the speaker’s good for two or three-man conference call. However the placement of the mic on the side is a bit awkward unlike Woof 3 that has the mic bang in the front, so you might see yourself turning the speaker to the left just to speak into the mic if something isn’t clear to the opposite side. That being said, the voice does sound hollow to the opposite person which is true of most of the Bluetooth speakers. Battery: 7/10 The battery lasts about 8 hours. You can charge the speakers with your Micro-USB phone cable. Simple red and blue lights indicate on the right hand side regarding battery level. Verdict and Price in India Would I recommend the speakers? Yes and No. Yes for a minimalistic elegant design with lovely funky colour options, and decent sound for the price of Rs 2,000 makes this good buy. No, as the Creative Woof 3 has microSD card support and clearer sound albeit less bass for just a little bit higher on-road price of Rs 2,500. Though the difference isn’t much, it typically depends on your taste and features you’d like to go for.