Check out our in-depth Anker MP141 review.
Much like Anker’s affordable, capable Bluetooth keyboard that we covered last year, the company’s newly released MP141 Portable Bluetooth Speaker isn’t uber-fancy and loaded with needlessly endless features — it’s simple and functional, but not without style of its own.
The miniscule speaker — we’re serious: it’s a 3-inch cube — has a 2-inch driver driven by a 4-watt amplifier and a small port to enhance whatever bass that tiny driver can muster. The speaker boasts a claimed 15 to 20 hour battery life thanks to its built-in rechargeable (roughly five hours to charge) 2100mAh Li-ion battery. But we have trouble imagining the MP141 blasting that hard, considering the limitations imposed by its size.
This probably isn’t the loudest portable speaker on the market, but it may be one of the most practical and sleekest-looking, especially considering the $40 price tag at Amazon (along with free shipping).
Playtime and sound quality aside, Anker’s Bluetooth cube has a few other cool tricks up its sleeve. After setup, the MP141 is capable of seamless and convenient, one-step music streaming — it automatically connects to the last-connected device when you power it up. And, slightly edging its competition, Anker has imbued it with (what it claims to be) a longer-than-usual connection range of up to 33 feet. The cube can also moonlight as a speakerphone via its built-in microphone with 2-foot pickup range.
Though the MP141 is compatible with all Bluetooth-enabled devices (2.1 and over), you can still use non-Bluetooth devices with the included 3.5mm audio cable. And when your cube’s battery life finally tapers off to zero, you have the option of recharging it through your desktop’s USB port or a USB/AC wall charger.
All factors considered, we’ll temper our expectations until we get our hands on one for a proper evaluation. It looks great on paper, but the intensely small size leaves too much for the imagination. Do you think something this small could float your audiophile boat?
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