Jabra Solemate Mini wired/wireless Bluetooth/NFC speaker review
The Jabra Solemate Mini is a wired or wireless Bluetooth-enabled NFC-capable speaker that packs some big sound in a small package.
What the Solemate Mini got right
The Solemate Mini features an NFC hot spot that allows you to tap your NFC-enabled phone to the device for Bluetooth pairing. (Of course, you can always pair your device through traditional Bluetooth methods, if you prefer.) Should you not care for the whole wireless aspect of the thing, you can just plug it into a 1/8-inch speaker wire, which is included and tucked away in the base of the unit.
It also doubles as a speakerphone.
What you probably can’t tell by the pictures is that the Solemate Mini has speaker grates on both sides of the unit and blasts sound out of each to really fill whatever space you’ve got it in. It actually surprises me with how well it reproduces sound and makes me want to break out my old favorite speaker the HMDX Jam and put them in a deathmatch to see which comes out on top, but I left that at work.
The wireless range on the Solemate Mini is good; the wired range is about six inches with the included cable or you can get a longer one pretty easily.
Specs & features
- NFC pairing options
- Bluetooth 3.0
- Digital signal processing
- Omni-directional/noise filtering microphone
- Eight hour talk/music time
- 125mm x 53mm x 60mm
- 295 grams
- Charges via USB
What’s in the Solemate Mini box
- USB charging cable
- Manuals
- 3.5mm audio cable (on bottom of speaker)
- Jabra Solemate Mini
Solemate Mini shortcomings
While the Solemate Mini pretty much rocks, the designers decided to have a constantly blinking blue Bluetooth light, so if you’ve set up that perfect candlelit evening outdoors, you’ll also be treated to a spastic blinking blue light. This can be solved by black tape.
The on/off switch is also recessed a bit making it both perfectly portable and annoying to turn on unless you’ve got fingernails. There’s plenty of space up top and there are no AVRCP controls, so you can’t do anything from the speaker except turn the volume up or down and answer or end a phone call.
While the Solemate Mini gets loud, you notice when cranked all the way up it just sounds like a muffled loud speaker at a distance. Still sounds like it’s loud though.
Solemate Mini conclusions
I dig the thing, AND the sound is great for the size. I still don’t consider it ultra-portable, which is what it’s advertised as, but pretty much everything with this little speaker seems ideal for bringing the tunes wherever you might want to. The grooved feet allow you to prop the thing on most surfaces and dig in if you need to.
However, coming in at around $99 it feels like it’s a little bit overpriced at the moment. It is still pretty neat, though.
The Jabra Solemate Mini is available from Amazon for $99.99.
