Long gone are the days when hardwiring speakers was the only way to listen to music outdoors! These days, you have many options for wireless audio including using a bluetooth receiver and transmitter to feed audio from a wired home system.
Of course, the easiest way to listen to music outdoors is with a bluetooth speaker connected to a smartphone and there are plenty of choices available from big to palm sized bluetooth speakers like the Anker Soundcore Icon Mini.
The Soundcore Icon Mini has a small form factor (13cm long x 11cm wide x 5cm thick) and even though it has a flat shape the volume sound and audio quality isn't sacrificed.
The Icon Mini is small but not the smallest ever Soundcore speaker to date. That would be the 80-gram Soundcore Nano which also features a 3-watt speaker driver but unlike the Icon Mini it only manages 4 hours of battery life which is mainly due to the smaller internal battery in the Nano speaker and its bluetooth version (v.4.0).
The Soundcore Icon Mini is double the size of the Nano speaker but features bluetooth 4.2 which reduces power consumption to an amazing 50%; hence the Icon Mini's superb battery performance. The Soundcore Icon Mini rechargeable 900mAh battery can power the Icon Mini for a cool 8 hours which isn't far behind its bigger brother, the Soundcore Icon which can deliver 12 hours of battery life.
Sound-wise, the 3W Icon Mini might not be as powerful as the 10W Icon but it's surprisingly more powerful than the same front-facing 3W speaker driver in the Nano. The Soundcore Icon Mini manages to deliver bigger, clearer and bassier sound and the reason for this is the Icon Mini's larger body frame which allows better air flow.
The construction of the Soundcore Icon Mini is solid with a thermoplastic rubber body housing and aluminum grill mesh protecting the speaker. Total weight is 180 grams.
 The Icon Mini speaker has soft rounded edges that make gripping the speaker in the hand comfortable.
On the top right corner, you find a drawstring lanyard for hanging the speaker or carrying it around your wrist.
The built-in microphone is located on the left hand side and delivers quality call sound with good amplification.
The micro USB port and auxiliary output are located on the right hand side concealed by a rubber grommet flap to protect them from the elements.
The Icon Mini is a weatherproof bluetooth speaker with IP67 rating, meaning the Soundcore Icon Mini is resistant to dust ingress and water up to 1 meter deep.
Like many other Soundcore speakers, the Icon Mini palm sized speaker supports True wireless Stereo (TWS) which means you can wirelessly pair two Icon Mini speakers together for stereo audio.
While TWS is a neat feature, the technology only works with the same speaker model; hence you can't mix and match two different Soundcore speakers.