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There’s a microphone embedded for hands-free calling, and a built-in FM radio, just to catch you off guard. Even the extra features like FM radio and SD card functionality wouldn’t save the Anker Soundcore Mini if it sounded just as tinny as terrible as most mini speakers. However, that doesn’t seem to be a problem. The carrying case is light too, and charges with the superior USB-C standard – a nice touch that we don’t always get at this price point. It houses a large battery which, with combined charging and usage on the go, enables up to 40 hours of use away from the charger. While using the buds for a standard commute across one week, we found that we never needed to recharge the case itself, having more than enough juice to top-up the buds every couple of days. I got mine at Walmart around the same price & it's definitely a winner for those looking for a good long lasting, fast charging and great sounding speaker.. There’s a powerful 5W driver to give you some extra volume output, and a 66 ft Bluetooth range. On top of all that, you also get an FM radio built-in.
Finding a connection and keeping it is notoriously difficult, to the point where we gave up and used the aux input a few times. The only problem? There’s no screen on this thing, so you have absolutely no idea which station you’re listening to. Finding the right channel if you want to listen to Radio 4 or BBC1 isn’t easy. The sound profile makes a great first impression too, which mostly bears out too across extended usage. Bass is punchy and energetic, if not exactly spacious, but on the whole there’s a decently-sized soundstage with both buds in your ears. Though it’s one of the smallest speakers we’ve ever seen, the Anker Soundcore mini blew us away with its functionality, connectivity, and volume.This baby is loud & sounds way better in a box or underneath something so the sound has barriers to bounce off of. So to speak. However, plug in a microUSB cable to act as an antenna, long-press the “play” button on the front and the Soundcore Mini starts scanning for stations. You then long-press the volume up/down buttons to change stations. The most positive praise that can be given here is that the Soundcore Life P2 buds are no worse than a typical phone speaker for calls. In some situations the sound was muffled on the receiving end of a call, but in general they work well for talking on the go, and should be subsequently better for conference calls in a quiet room. Still, for an extra feature that seems to be thrown in for good measure, the FM radio option is a nice extra touch. We just wish that Anker had thought the feature through a little more.
The sound comes out of the top, so you can put the Anker Soundcore Mini more or less anywhere. And there’s a rubber foot on the bottom to stop excessive vibration wobbling anything nearby too much. This is probably one of the smallest speakers that we’ve ever seen that still manages to be a joy to listen to. Bluetooth signal is one of the Mini’s few little weak spots. The signal is not ultra-reliable, and occasionally you’ll hear cut-outs, and then what almost sounds like a sped-up portion of audio as the speaker makes up for lost time. This speaker easily bests the old favourite Jam Classic 2.0. While that larger speaker has a solid 2-inch driver, the passive radiator here substantially lowers the bass floor so your music sounds fuller, beefier, more powerful. Anker estimates the Soundcore Mini 3’s battery life to last roughly 15 hours, but your results will vary based on your volume levels.I was flat-out surprised when comparing the Soundcore Mini to the much larger UE Roll 2. The Anker may have a smaller sound field and lower max volume, but tonally it doesn’t sound too far off. But let’s deal with the most important part first: the Anker Soundcore Mini is a Bluetooth speaker, so you can hook it up to just about any phone wirelessly. It doesn’t care whether you have an Android or iPhone.
There are a handful of products out there that have delivered surprising value for their size, like the UE Wonderboom, or the Bose Soundlink Mini. However, most of the time, downgrading size also means compromising on everything from sound quality to performance. Another thing to note is that the Anker comes with FM radio built-in. This is a nice extra connectivity touch. You plug the MicroUSB cable into the device so it can act as an antenna, then you press the play button until you start scanning for stations. The Anker Soundcore app for Android and iOS lets you update the speaker's firmware and adjust an impressive nine bands of customizable EQ (or select among the preset options). You can argue that this feature is overkill for a single-driver, 6-watt speaker and that you might not even be able to detect a major difference most of the time, but as I discuss in the next section, the customizable EQ can be useful in some cases.
On the plus side, you do get the option to play music from an SD card too – which is something you don’t find with many Bluetooth speakers of a similar price. Anker Soundcore Mini review: Performance At its heart, the Anker Soundcore Mini is the definition of a pleasant surprise. Despite a ridiculously low price tag, it comes with access to both Bluetooth connectivity and aux input, as well as the option to play your music via MicroSD. The sound comes out of the top, so you can put the Anker Soundcore Mini wherever you like, and access great volume. There’s even rubber feet on the bottom to keep it stable. You can play your own music via Bluetooth, aux cable, or an SD card, and there’s a microphone, so you can take hands-free calls too.
The Bluetooth connectivity in the Anker SoundCore mini isn’t the best. It’s the thing that let us down most when we were conducting this review. And yet, the Anker Soundcore Life P2 buds manage to stand out from the crowd. They have a comfortable, fuss-free design, good sound, decent call quality, and endurance to spare. They can’t offer the highest grade of sound reproduction, but what they do produce does bely their price point and is certainly good enough for the average listener. The mids are the other surprise. You tend to expect a speaker with a radiator and tiny driver to have bass and treble, and not much in between. But Anker has really tried to add some bulk to the mids.
The ultra-portable Anker Soundcore Mini comes with an extensive playtime of up to 15 hours on a full charge – which is more than enough for any party session. However, the Anker Soundcore Mini is still a brilliant budget buy. An FM radio is an ingenious, and unexpected, extra. It’s the sound that matters most, though, and we think most of you will be very impressed with what Anker has teased out of a speaker this small. Verdict This amplifies the bass of the main driver, to help avoid the thin, scratchy sound many older speakers this size have.
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