Review: X-Mini Happy

Remember X-Mini 2 Capsule Speaker? It’s the winner for my 2009 Best Local Gadget. And you can imagine how excited I was when I went to their office to collect a review unit their latest creation, the X-Mini Happy.

The X-Mini Happy, in short, is a X-Mini 2 Capsule Speaker with a SD card slot that converts it into a MP3 player. Or rather, the world’s smallest Boombox. The sound quality, to the non-audiophile me, is the same as the X-Mini 2 Capsule Speaker. The controls are fairly easy and straight forward. The jog dial basically does all the controlling. Press and hold the jog dial for On/Off. Press the jog dial for Play/Pause. Scroll the jog dial left/right for previous/next track. Scroll and hold the jog dial left/right to decrease/increase the volume. It’s a pity that the X-Mini doesn’t comes with a shuffle mode.

Since there is only 1 speaker, music coming out from the X-Mini Happy speaker is in mono. Like the X-Mini 2, the X-Mini Happy also comes with a Buddy Jack for you to add more speakers. Or if you want to enjoy the music alone, you can plug in a headphone and press the mute button. This sorts of convert your boombox into a personal stereo MP3 player. Earphones are provided in the retail package. What is lacking from the retail package is a lanyard for you to hang the X-Mini Happy on your neck and use it as a MP3 player. But no worries, there is a hole for you to hook your own lanyard.

The X-Mini Happy can also function as a normal Capsule Speaker when you remove the SD Card. Like the X-Mini 2, I like the way the cables coils around the speakers nicely. The X-Mini Happy has a non-removable build in battery that can be charged using the MiniUSB port. Battery life is pretty decent with 5 to 6 hours of MP3 playback or 11 hours of speaker usage.

As a whole, I love the X-Mini Happy. My only complaint is that it always revert to the default volume after you turn off the power. This can be quite a problem because the default volume is pretty high. I find myself having to quickly reduce the volume whenever I turn on the power. The X-Mini Happy also doesn’t remember the exact spot where you stop your MP3. Instead, it always start from the beginning of the song that you stopped previously.

The X-Mini Happy will make it’s debut at the coming IT Show (11 – 14 March 2010). Original retail price is S$119. First 100 units at the IT Show will be sold at a special price of S$99.

In short:
Same good X-mini 2 Capsule Speaker, now with built-in MP3 player

Likes:
Amazing sound quality
Easy to use
Portable

Dislikes:
Doesn’t remember previous volume setting
No Shuffle mode