Talking about Bluetooth speakers, we've seen many in the past and trust me, I've like a dozen of them in my cupboard, but none of them was as cool as Divoom Timebox. You must be wondering what Divoom Timebox is? unless you're already familiar with it, but assuming you don't, it is basically a piece of tech, a small box with a LED panel in front & a speaker on the back. It works as a Bluetooth speaker, an alarm device, a table clock, a notification display and what not, we'll talk more on that later, but for now, let me break it down to you, Divoom Timebox is the coolest thing on my desk right now, and also the coolest portable speaker I've ever owned.
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| Divoom Timebox | Pic credit: www.divoom.com |
Divoom is a very popular speaker brand, known for its AuraBox LED Bluetooth speaker, and now for the Timebox. The Timebox is actually the successor of the AuraBox and comes with all of its features plus some new additions. The Timebox first came out in 2016, a year after the AuraBox. This year, at CES 2017 in Las Vegas, Divoom launched a new Bluetooth speaker, the Timebox Mini, which is a mini version of the Timebox. The Timebox mini comes with almost same features as the Timebox, except for the FM radio.
I've been using the Divoom Timebox Mini for more than three weeks now and today I'm going to share my experience through this detailed write-up. Let's begin with the review.
What is Divoom Timebox?
As mentioned earlier, Divoom Timebox is a smart Bluetooth speaker & a table clock which consists of a LED pixel display and can be controlled via a smartphone app. The Timebox can be used as a table clock, smart alarm clock, hands-free calling, music playback, sleep-aid, notification display, pixel art display, games etc. There's a whole lot of things you can do with Divoom Timebox and we'll take a look at each one of them.
Unboxing
The Divoom Timebox mini comes in a nice compact box, the packaging by Divoom is really good and shouts quality. The box contains the picture of the product in the color of your choice. The one I had was black, but the Timebox mini comes in a variety of colors, such as; White, Black, Teal, Jade Green, Blue, Hot Pink & Red. Below is the Unboxing video of Divoom Timebox Mini, you can take a look at it.
The packaging is really very good, the box in which the Timebox comes in, is well-protected and made up of quality materials. Inside the box, you'll find the Timebox mini unit and a smaller box, which further contains an Aux cable, a microUSB cable for charging and a user manual.
Design & Build Quality
The Timebox mini looks similar to the Timebox and the AuraBox, it's a square 3.5" inch by 3.5" inch unit, with LED pixel display on the front and a full range speaker on the back. The front LED panel consists of 121 pixels full-RGB 16M vivid color display, which is programmable and the most attractive thing on the Timebox mini. The display looks amazing and is very bright, however you can control the brightness as required. The back consists of a 5W speaker with a full range driver, Class D amplifier, professionally tuned with a DSP processor. The speaker is covered with an Anti-dust metal grill, which will prevent dust particles from entering it. The back also contains Aux In, Aux Out and microUSB ports.
The top of the Timebox mini contains the Volume up, Volume down and Play/Pause keys, along with the microphone. The keys can be used for various other actions like snoozing alarms, recording voice messages, skipping tracks next/previous etc.
The right side of the Timebox mini contains Power/Battery status key and a key for switching between lighting modes. The power key on single tap, shows the battery status of the Timebox mini, however on a long press for few seconds, shuts down the device. The lighting mode switching key switches between different modes like clock, weather, animations, flashlight, countdown animation and pixel art. On long pressing the lighting mode key, you can change the pixel art and animations.
The right side of the Timebox mini contains Power/Battery status key and a key for switching between lighting modes. The power key on single tap, shows the battery status of the Timebox mini, however on a long press for few seconds, shuts down the device. The lighting mode switching key switches between different modes like clock, weather, animations, flashlight, countdown animation and pixel art. On long pressing the lighting mode key, you can change the pixel art and animations.
Overall the Timebox mini is quite handy and easy to carry, it is made up of high-quality materials and gives out a premium feel. The unit is covered with some kind of rubberized material and is anti-slippery & anti-wobble.
Features
LED Lights & Pixel Art
The Timebox mini comes with a 121 pixel LED display with full RGB 16M color lights. The LED is used for displaying pixel art, animations and a whole lot of other stuff. The LED display is bright and according to Divoom, can provide same luminosity as a 3W night lamp. You can adjust the brightness of the LED display and can change the colors as per your choice. You can even browse through thousands of pixel arts & animations and display it on the LED display of the Timebox mini.
Pixel Clock
The Timebox mini can be used as a desk clock, it can display time in 12-hour & 24-hour format, in different colors and brightness. The numbers of the clock are made up of pixels and look cool on your desk. The Timebox is a perfect desk companion and a night stand.
Weather Display
The Timebox mini can be used to display weather using the mobile app. According to Divoom, The Timebox mini comes with a built-in sensor, which lets you know the temperature of your surroundings, by displaying it on your Timebox's LED display.
Creating Your Own Pixel Art
The Gallery section of the Timebox app consists of thousands of pixel art designs & animations, which gets updated frequently by Divoom. You can browse through them and save the ones you like. Using the Design section of the app, you can even draw your own pixel art designs and the Timebox will show real-time movement on the display as you draw. You can use up to 12 different pixel art designs to create an animation.
Hands-Free Calling
The Divoom Timebox mini comes with an Inbuilt microphone which can be used for hands-free calling. Once the Timebox mini is connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth, it will notify you of the incoming calls and when you answer them, you can directly speak into the Timebox and hear through the speaker. A perfect desk companion, It lets you keep doing the job in hand, while on a phone call.
Voice Messages
The Timebox mini can be used for recording voice messages. Simply long press the Play/Pause button and wait for the voice message animation, speak your message into the Timebox and when done, press the Play/Pause button once. The Timebox mini will display a Voice message pixel art and on pressing the play button once, you can listen to the message recorded earlier.
Smart Alarm Clock
The Timebox mini also works as a smart alarm clock, you can choose between 14 inbuilt animated energized alarms, including an option to play music when the alarm goes off. You can also choose between other soothing sounds like Windchime, Forest, Thunderstorm, Ocean Waves, Guitar music, Urban (city sounds), Piano, Eagle, Whale, Digital alarm tone or classic analog alarm tones. When the alarm goes off, the Timebox mini gradually increases the brightness of the LED & the volume of the alarm. You can snooze the alarm by hitting the Play/Pause button once.
The Timebox mini also works as a smart alarm clock, you can choose between 14 inbuilt animated energized alarms, including an option to play music when the alarm goes off. You can also choose between other soothing sounds like Windchime, Forest, Thunderstorm, Ocean Waves, Guitar music, Urban (city sounds), Piano, Eagle, Whale, Digital alarm tone or classic analog alarm tones. When the alarm goes off, the Timebox mini gradually increases the brightness of the LED & the volume of the alarm. You can snooze the alarm by hitting the Play/Pause button once.
Sleep Aid
The Timebox mini comes with 22 sleep-aid soundtracks preloaded, which will help you relax and fall asleep, ensuring the best sleep experience. The preloaded sleep-aid soundtrack is a mix of professional sleep-aiding tracks, which contains different sounds which can affect the alpha waves and help you relax.
The soundtrack includes sounds; Seashore, Water drop, Campfire, Thunder, Evening, Meditate, Under water, Birds, White noise, Silence and much more. Each of the sounds helps you relax and fall asleep, you can set a timer and the Timebox will automatically shut down, so you don't have to worry that. You can also adjust the brightness of the LED, display your favorite pixel art, color or turn it off.
The Timebox mini comes with 22 sleep-aid soundtracks preloaded, which will help you relax and fall asleep, ensuring the best sleep experience. The preloaded sleep-aid soundtrack is a mix of professional sleep-aiding tracks, which contains different sounds which can affect the alpha waves and help you relax.
The soundtrack includes sounds; Seashore, Water drop, Campfire, Thunder, Evening, Meditate, Under water, Birds, White noise, Silence and much more. Each of the sounds helps you relax and fall asleep, you can set a timer and the Timebox will automatically shut down, so you don't have to worry that. You can also adjust the brightness of the LED, display your favorite pixel art, color or turn it off.
Through the soft emitting light waves in a darken area, the human brain releases a hormone called ‘Melatonin’ during the sleep stages, which is science proven that help a person to fall asleep, as well as curing the sleep disorder. By using the special formulated red/orange wavelength, the TimeBox stimulates the ideal environment that helps a person to fall asleep, where such technology has also been applied by both NASA and Boeing on their aircraft.
Notifications
You can use Timebox mini for displaying notifications. When connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth, you can go to the app and enable notifications for the apps of your choice from the provided list. The Timebox can display Incoming call, SMS, Email, Social media etc. notifications with a unique pixel art for each of them. This feature comes in handy when your phone is kept in silent mode.
You can use Timebox mini for displaying notifications. When connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth, you can go to the app and enable notifications for the apps of your choice from the provided list. The Timebox can display Incoming call, SMS, Email, Social media etc. notifications with a unique pixel art for each of them. This feature comes in handy when your phone is kept in silent mode.
Games
The Timebox mini comes with four arcade mini-games which you can play when getting bored. The games include a simple dice, slot machine game, a car racing game and a game which shows random pixel arts. More games will be added in future updates.
Music Player
The Timebox mini is a smart Bluetooth speaker which can play music via Bluetooth or by Aux connection. The Timebox app comes with an inbuilt music player, using which you can play music on your Timebox mini. You can also use any other mobile music player for playing music on Timebox.
The Timebox mini is a smart Bluetooth speaker which can play music via Bluetooth or by Aux connection. The Timebox app comes with an inbuilt music player, using which you can play music on your Timebox mini. You can also use any other mobile music player for playing music on Timebox.
Divoom App
The Timebox mini can be controlled via the Divoom smartphone app, which is available to download at Google Play store for Android users & App store for iOS users. Once you download the app and install it on your phone, you can pair your Timebox mini via Bluetooth and log in to your account. The app is pretty much self-explanatory, all the functions are listed in a neat manner. Using the app, you can take full control over the Timebox and can perform tasks like drawing your own pixel arts, animations, setting alarms, sleep-aid, notifications, browsing pixel art gallery and much more.
The Timebox mini can be controlled via the Divoom smartphone app, which is available to download at Google Play store for Android users & App store for iOS users. Once you download the app and install it on your phone, you can pair your Timebox mini via Bluetooth and log in to your account. The app is pretty much self-explanatory, all the functions are listed in a neat manner. Using the app, you can take full control over the Timebox and can perform tasks like drawing your own pixel arts, animations, setting alarms, sleep-aid, notifications, browsing pixel art gallery and much more.
Technical Specifications
- Dimensions: 90L x 91.2H x 38W mm
- Weight: 292g
- Playback Time: up to 10 hours
- Driver size: 2" inch full range
- Frequency Response: 60 Hz to 20 kHz
- Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 78 dB
- Battery Capacity: 2500 mAh
- Battery Voltage: 3.7 V
- Charge time: 3 to 3.5 hours
- Output power: 5W
- Wireless range: up to 10 meters
- Bluetooth compliant: Bluetooth V4.0 smart
Performance, Audio Quality & Usage
The inbuilt speaker of the Divoom Timebox mini does a great job & is loud enough for casual music experience. The speaker is located at the back of the Timebox mini, is covered with an Anti-dust grill, which will prevent dust from getting inside. The Timebox mini packs a 2" Inch full range driver, which is professionally tuned with latest DSP technology (Digital Sound Processing) and supports a frequency range of 60 Hz to 20 kHz. The speaker produces great sound, enough for playing at a small gathering.
The Timebox mini supports Bluetooth v4.0 and the range is up to 10 meters from the source. We tested this and found it to be accurate only when there is no wall penetration. With Wall between the speaker & the source, the Timebox started breaking the sound at 10 meters but was quite stable at 7 meters or so. The speaker performance when played through Aux cable was again great. The Timebox mini can pair with one device at a time.
The LED pixel display is quite bright and looks amazing. The LED provide the same luminosity as a 3W night lamp, making it perfect for being a bedside companion. You can adjust the brightness using the app, by clapping or by shaking your smartphone (Go to Settings in Timebox App & enable clapping/shaking feature first). You can even set a sleep timer, and Timebox will automatically shut down. Don't worry, it will automatically turn on before your alarm goes off.
The Hands-free calling feature is just amazing, once paired with your smartphone, you can directly speak into the Timebox and hear via the inbuilt speaker. The microphone is quite decent, the person on the other end can clearly hear your voice. You can even leave Voice messages using the Timebox app or simply by long pressing the Play/Pause button and speaking into the speaker once the Voice message pixel animation appears on the display.
When not in use, you can transform the Timebox mini into a desk clock. There is simply too much, you can draw pixel arts, animations and display it on the LED display. You can play games, listen to music or doze off using the sleep-aid sounds.
The inbuilt speaker of the Divoom Timebox mini does a great job & is loud enough for casual music experience. The speaker is located at the back of the Timebox mini, is covered with an Anti-dust grill, which will prevent dust from getting inside. The Timebox mini packs a 2" Inch full range driver, which is professionally tuned with latest DSP technology (Digital Sound Processing) and supports a frequency range of 60 Hz to 20 kHz. The speaker produces great sound, enough for playing at a small gathering.
The Timebox mini supports Bluetooth v4.0 and the range is up to 10 meters from the source. We tested this and found it to be accurate only when there is no wall penetration. With Wall between the speaker & the source, the Timebox started breaking the sound at 10 meters but was quite stable at 7 meters or so. The speaker performance when played through Aux cable was again great. The Timebox mini can pair with one device at a time.
The LED pixel display is quite bright and looks amazing. The LED provide the same luminosity as a 3W night lamp, making it perfect for being a bedside companion. You can adjust the brightness using the app, by clapping or by shaking your smartphone (Go to Settings in Timebox App & enable clapping/shaking feature first). You can even set a sleep timer, and Timebox will automatically shut down. Don't worry, it will automatically turn on before your alarm goes off.
The Hands-free calling feature is just amazing, once paired with your smartphone, you can directly speak into the Timebox and hear via the inbuilt speaker. The microphone is quite decent, the person on the other end can clearly hear your voice. You can even leave Voice messages using the Timebox app or simply by long pressing the Play/Pause button and speaking into the speaker once the Voice message pixel animation appears on the display.
When not in use, you can transform the Timebox mini into a desk clock. There is simply too much, you can draw pixel arts, animations and display it on the LED display. You can play games, listen to music or doze off using the sleep-aid sounds.
Battery Performance
The Divoom Timebox mini comes with a 2500 mAh battery, which takes about 3 to 3.5 hours for charging 100% and gives out 10 hours of playback according to Divoom. In our tests, the battery charged from 0% to 100% in 3 hours and lasted around 9 hours 18 minutes with continuous music playback along with LED display turned on. It gave us around 14 hours of music playback with the display turned off. I'm pretty much satisfied with the battery performance.
Conclusion
I personally used Divoom Timebox mini for more than three weeks now and have found it one of the coolest & most useful gadgets on my desk at the moment. Since the day it arrived, I'm constantly using it for listening music, for setting alarms, as a sleep-aid device at night and as a permanent desk clock. I do love exploring the pixel art gallery on the Timebox app, new pixel arts are added daily and I also love creating my own pixel arts & animations. The voice message feature also comes handy in day to day life, I'm using it almost everyday especially when I have to leave home for some urgent work, I leave a voice message for my family about my whereabouts. I love the way it wakes me up each day, the alarm tone is soothing & energizing, the Timebox gradually increases the volume & greets me with a pixel art, each morning. And each night, it helps me sleep. So in a way, the Timebox is something which I see first every morning and last each night. A perfect companion.
Coming to my final words, The Timebox mini is really something and I find it very useful. It does attract the attention of many when it's on my desk, and I love it. The speakers are decent, if not the best, I find the performance satisfactory though I do have other Bluetooth speakers with better than the Timebox, but I love how Divoom Timebox does so many things, even though it's so small in size. It's a perfect all-rounder gadget which also happens to be a decent Bluetooth speaker.
I'll definitely recommend Divoom Timebox Mini to people who are in search of a cool desk gadget or a smart Bluetooth speaker with fancy LED lights for casual music listening. Divoom Timebox mini is an amazing product which won't disappoint you, However, if you are looking for a high-quality speaker and are interested in Audio quality only, not the other cool features of the Timebox mini, then better go for some other Bluetooth speaker. Timebox mini is not meant for very high-quality audio output, better go for Outdoor series speakers of Divoom, like the Voombox or the Onbeat series speakers, they're better when it comes to audio quality. Finally, I hope you liked this review, this was my honest take on the Divoom Timebox mini. Please do share this review on your social channels and do subscribe us for more cool reviews on tech.
I personally used Divoom Timebox mini for more than three weeks now and have found it one of the coolest & most useful gadgets on my desk at the moment. Since the day it arrived, I'm constantly using it for listening music, for setting alarms, as a sleep-aid device at night and as a permanent desk clock. I do love exploring the pixel art gallery on the Timebox app, new pixel arts are added daily and I also love creating my own pixel arts & animations. The voice message feature also comes handy in day to day life, I'm using it almost everyday especially when I have to leave home for some urgent work, I leave a voice message for my family about my whereabouts. I love the way it wakes me up each day, the alarm tone is soothing & energizing, the Timebox gradually increases the volume & greets me with a pixel art, each morning. And each night, it helps me sleep. So in a way, the Timebox is something which I see first every morning and last each night. A perfect companion.
Coming to my final words, The Timebox mini is really something and I find it very useful. It does attract the attention of many when it's on my desk, and I love it. The speakers are decent, if not the best, I find the performance satisfactory though I do have other Bluetooth speakers with better than the Timebox, but I love how Divoom Timebox does so many things, even though it's so small in size. It's a perfect all-rounder gadget which also happens to be a decent Bluetooth speaker.
My Rating: 4 out of 5
I'll definitely recommend Divoom Timebox Mini to people who are in search of a cool desk gadget or a smart Bluetooth speaker with fancy LED lights for casual music listening. Divoom Timebox mini is an amazing product which won't disappoint you, However, if you are looking for a high-quality speaker and are interested in Audio quality only, not the other cool features of the Timebox mini, then better go for some other Bluetooth speaker. Timebox mini is not meant for very high-quality audio output, better go for Outdoor series speakers of Divoom, like the Voombox or the Onbeat series speakers, they're better when it comes to audio quality. Finally, I hope you liked this review, this was my honest take on the Divoom Timebox mini. Please do share this review on your social channels and do subscribe us for more cool reviews on tech.
About Jimmie Luthra
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