Syska Blade review: Nothing exceptional

The modern-day world of gadgets and technology is an insanely competitive one. Be it smartphones, consumer electronics or accessories, there are literally hundreds of options available out there, at all price points. And even though products from established brands are generally the first choice of prospective buyers, relatively lesser-known domestic names often manage to entice users with their aggressively-priced products.

Boasting a portfolio encompassing everything from Powerbanks to Bluetooth headsets, homegrown Syska Accessories is one such name. The company launched a new wireless speaker called Blade, a little while back. Priced at Rs 4,999, Syska's new speaker looks like a pretty solid offering. But does the Blade have the edge (pun intended) to slice a place for itself in the market?

Time to find out, in my full review of the Syska Blade.

Design and build quality



With a slender, cuboid-shaped body made entirely out of plastic, the Syska Blade has a rather unassuming design. The facade is all about the speaker grille, which has a shiny pill-shaped thing with the Syska logo at its bottom right corner. There's also a multicolor LED, peeking from behind the grille at the top right corner, to indicate Bluetooth pairing status, current mode and things like that.
The top side has four soft touch buttons placed on the left. These are Power/Mode, Volume down, Play/Pause/Call and Volume up. All the other sides are completely bare. The Blade comes with a nifty built-in kickstand that opens out in small click-like steps, and can be used to prop the speaker up at any angle you want. What's more, since the kickstand can rotate a full 360-degree, it can also be used as a handle to carry the Blade everywhere easily.

Coming to the back (again, made of plastic) panel, it has a square-ish grille at the centre. The bottom right corner has a small rubber flap which, when opened, reveals a 3.5mm audio jack, a microUSB port and a microSD card slot.

All said, Syska Blade's overall design and build quality is functional, even if it's a little bland.

Audio performance



The Syska Blade is easy to pair up with any Bluetooth-enabled audio source such as a smartphone or a PC. When switched on for the first time, the speaker automatically powers up in pairing mode, with the LED flashing in Blue. All you have to do is go to the source device's Bluetooth settings and tap on the name 'Blade' in the list of available devices. Once paired, it's ready to do its thing.

I used the Syska Blade to listen to music of variety of genres, ranging from Dubstep to Europop. My findings? The overall audio output from the Bluetooth speaker is nicely balanced. It's not too heavy on the bass, but that's there. The vocals are easy to make out and the treble is just right as well. However, the sound tends to get a little distorted at higher volume levels. Still, for casual listening, you won't be disappointed.

Syska Blade comes with a built-in FM receiver that lets you listen to your favorite FM radio channels on the go. The FM mode can be easily activated via the Power/Mode toggle button on the top. As for the Aux-in mode, it gets triggered automatically when you plug-in an Aux cable.
An expansion slot capable of accepting microSD cards of up to 32GB in size ensures that the Syska Blade can play music even when it's not paired with a Bluetooth-equipped music source. During my testing, music playback from the memory card worked as intended.

Just like all other Bluetooth speakers, the Blade lets you answer calls handsfree. All you have to do is press the Play/Pause/Call button on the top.Lastly, the battery life. Syska claims that the 2,000mAh cell inside the Blade is good for about 6 hours of continuous music playback. During my testing, I managed to get almost 5 hours of playback on a single charge. It's not exactly the best out there, but not terrible either.

Verdict

Syska Blade is a fairly well-rounded device. It has a practical design, decent sound signature, and handy extras such as FM receiver and microSD card support. But for the same price, you can have a much better alternative in the form of JBL Clip 2, which is not only more compact, but also has a nicer design and better battery life.

If you want a capable Bluetooth speaker that can also double up as an FM radio receiver, go for the Syska Blade. But if things like audio quality and portability matter to you the most, the above mentioned JBL Clip 2 or the Creative Sound Blaster are much better options.