Fridae

The good: Good sound from most types of music; one of the most affordable portable Bluetooth speakers available; clear, detailed bass despite small enclosure.

The bad: Chassis is prone to scratches; no carry case or external charger provided.

The bottom line: The Logitech Mini Boombox sounds great and can be considered a steal among portable Bluetooth speakers. However, its build quality isn't the best and sound does get distorted on bassy tracks.

Review:

Large-screen mobile phones and tablets have made the consumption of music and videos on the go quite common, even if most of us try to be content with stock headphones or the typically tinny speakers built into those devices. That's where portable Bluetooth speakers such as the new Mini Boombox by Logitech come in, throwing that much-needed amplification (and some bass) into the mix. Logitech isn't really a pioneer in this category though and has to compete with the likes of Jawbone and its pricey Jambox speaker as well as the X-mini KAI speaker (from Singapore-based company XMI) we looked at last year.

While it appears that Logitech is in for a tough fight, the company's littlest portable speaker to date also has the littlest price tag, retailing for just S$109 (US$88) in Singapore, which is cheaper than its official US$99 price in the US.

Design

The Mini Boombox can't exactly be described as a looker, but its oval-ish shape does strike us as somewhat "cutesy", especially if you choose the white model or the one with red accents. The front has a solid dotted mesh grille while the rear consists of a power switch, USB input (for charging) and 3.5mm stereo minijack for auxiliary sources. The top panel is made of glossy plastic, which is a nice touch, but it's very prone to scratches--don't expect this thing to look pristine after a month of use.

The top panel is touch-enabled, with controls to skip through tracks, play/pause as well as adjust the volume. There're also two small touch controls in the middle, used to answer a call or enter Bluetooth pairing mode. These "keys" are separated by a tiny plastic nub that's just barely visible. Pressing the right one shouldn't be a problem though, unless you happen to have huge fingertips.