The Manekineko app, which is usable at eight of the chain's 11 outlets, is a fuss-free, simple app that does its job well.

Customers at its Bugis+ outlet have to use the app to choose their songs. The other seven outlets have both the app and touchscreen.

The app, named MyKara, is visually very clean and intuitive to use, with a home screen filled with large buttons for important searches, such as singers, song language and popular songs.

Several people can connect to the app in the same room, although the outlet recommends not more than two, so as to prevent overloading the system.

The app is fast and responsive, even when scrolling through a long list of singers. Pausing songs and skipping tracks are a breeze, although controlling the volume on the slider can be tricky as it sometimes jumps to being either too loud or too soft. I noticed the app sometimes lagged when searching for a singer, though.

Also, there is a limit to the list when browsing all singers. For instance, when I chose the option for all English singers, the alphabetical list stopped in the middle of names starting with "D".

I noticed the app drains batteries quite quickly as well, reducing the battery level of my year-old Nexus 6P from 60 per cent to less than 20 per cent over a 2hr period.

Better have your phone's charger with you, especially if it's going to be a karaoke marathon.

Lester Hio