Review: Nokia MD-6 Mini Speakers
Score:
62%
Small, light and packing a reasonable sound, are Nokia's MD-6 Mini Speakers worth making a noise over?
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Picking up the MD-6 and you think you've got some retro-styled 70's lighter. In fact, flipping the top open reveals two small speakers atop a battery compartment. This is the sort of Transformer effect I like in a travel unit, especially one that's not much bigger than a big chunky marker pen.
At the opposite side is a red plastic section that slides out, with around two and a half feet of cable ending in a jack plug. Coil out just as much as you need, guide it through the gap, and slot the plastic back in. Voila, a nice tidy cable tidy as well. Smart thinking, Nokia. Perhaps I'll overlook the need for four (four!) AAA batteries to power the unit with no option for recharging in situ, or even a non-amplified pass through option for the audio signal.
The good news is that the speakers are louder than the phone with full volume, but given the design there's almost no stereo separation. More worryingly, there's a break up at higher volumes so yes, it is loud, but don't expect any fidelity when listening to the more delicate movements in Swan Lake (AC/DC is fine though).
One thing to point out is that, while carrying a 3.5mm jack plug, it is the jack with an extra contact ring – fine on Nokia devices when this is used for the hands free microphone, but try to put this into a SanDisk Clip MP3 player and you're not going to hear much thanks to the wiring. The flexibility that I like when travelling (multiple uses over multiple devices) is lost in the MD-6.
And in my gadget bag, that's enough to have a unit relegated back to the bench at home... even if it does provide a slightly louder Rolf Harris alarm clock in the morning.
I think these have been designed to be kept at the bottom of a bag, just in case you need it. Which is a nice idea but it means it's got to be cheap and cheerful, and that shows in the plastic construction and not perfect hinge. And, to be honest if you want cheap and cheerful, then you can use the speaker on your phone and just be a bit quieter. Nice idea, shame about the implementation.
-- Ewan Spence, Nov 2009.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at