Anker Soundcore customer service was kind enough to provide me a Soundcore Icon Mini bluetooth speaker.
These are my initial observations about this product.
Amazon Product Link
Packaging: It comes in not so classic white/blue box. This time its a plastic box instead of classic paper box.
Contents: Inside the box there is the speaker itself (with already installed lanyard), a micro-usb cable, a quick start guide, warranty card and a happy/unhappy card. Surprisingly there is no user manual in this product.
About Speaker: Not much information is available about the speaker in terms of specs. I guess this has a 3 Watt output (Although it sounds much much louder - more like at least 6 Watt).
Input is 5V, 1A
Bluetooth Version: 4.2
Speaker has a nice heft on it and oozes quality. On top of speaker there are 5 buttons which controls volume, play/pause, forward/reverse etc. There is a bluetooth button as well that is used for pairing with new devices or with another Icon mini speaker for stereo pairing.
On the left side there is a port cover (which seems waterproof) underneath which there are micro-usb charging port and a 3.5mm aux port. Under the port cover is the unit’s serial number.
On the left side of the unit is a small microphone port.
When the unit is turned on it makes a long turning on tune and a blue led turns on under the speaker grill.
Sound Quality: This speaker has a great quality sound. It has thumping bass response as well. I checked with my mac and it connects via SBC codec (due to lack of specs, I’m not sure what other codecs this is capable of). Bluetooth chip manufacture is also unknown at this time (FCC teardown pictures are still not open to public).
I’ll update once the teardown information is available. It does stream at 327 kb/s which is higher than many other bluetooth speakers/headphones.
Call Quality is also top notch…
Other Features: This speaker is capable to connect with another Icon mini to form a stereo connection. It is also water (IP67) proof and dust proof. I don’t want to do a water proof test 
but there is another review that has done that Other Review Link
Battery Life: This speaker is rated for 8 hr playtime.
Based on the size, features and most importantly Excellent Sound Quality, I highly recommend this speaker. It is very portable and you can just grab and go. Take it for vacations, hiking, biking or other activities. Even swimming or outdoor activities are great with this speaker 
Wifey loved it…YAY!!! She’s not easy to impress
