You may have already gathered that we’re fans of the Jawbone Jambox — seeing as how it seems in our Holiday Gift Guide — but does a miniature portable speaker, even one that pumps out 85 decibels, deserve a $200 worth? How about that battery life? We’ve spent weeks now with the little Bluetooth speaker that would, throwing it at each situation in sight, and after the break you’ll discover a full evaluate with all the upsides and downsides.%Gallery-106618%
Jawbone
zeroScore
Engadget
N/A
Critics7 evaluations
80
Users40 opinions
88
View All Ratings & Reviews
Powerful sound belies tiny sizeGood battery lifeStylish, durable design
Mild distortionIffy as speakerphonePricey
Design
Shortly after we posted our original fingers-on, we were informed that the Jambox concept is not remotely new — it’s fairly literally an evolution of the Soundmatters foxL v2 with a Jawbone cherry on prime. (Update: Read how the 2 stack up proper here.) A part of that’s Aliph’s trademark noise cancellation technology, but another part is pure industrial design, as the Jambox joins its Jawbone brethren in springing from the mind of Yves Behar. It’s a espresso table conversation piece if we have ever seen one, as the six-inch-lengthy Jambox will not be clearly a speaker at first sight — merely a small rectangular field utterly enveloped by a delightfully textured one-piece mesh grille, with strong chunks of rubber at top and bottom. When mild hits it from just the appropriate angles, nonetheless, you’ll be able to simply make out a pair of drivers inside. At about the size of two Nintendo Wii Remotes stacked collectively, it isn’t one thing you’d fit in a mean purse, but you would undoubtedly pop it right into a shoulder bag, backpack, or a large jeans pocket.
The top plays host to a few tactile buttons fabricated from solid rubber, two of which are simplistic sufficient to leave little question about what they control — the minus symbol lowers quantity, the plus symbol raises it, and the circle is the usual multifunction key you will discover on many a Bluetooth headset. Holding down the plus key raises the volume one step at a time, whereas holding down the minus instantly mutes. If you cherished this article and you would like to obtain more info about screen printing mesh (Instapaper.Com) i implore you to visit the web page. Tapping the circle connects the Jambox to a pre-paired phone or studies the unit’s present battery life if already paired; holding it down activates any additional MyTALK software you have installed, corresponding to voice dialing. (Read extra about MyTALK right here.) On the left, you have acquired a three-means power change, which (when held in the top place) activates pairing mode, a 3.5mm auxiliary stereo minijack to attach directly to different audio inputs, and a micro-USB port for charging and software updates.
See extra video at our hub!Jawbone made much out of the rigidity of its glass-infused polycarbonate structure and stainless steel grille during an early briefing, and positive sufficient they make for a rock-stable product here, pleasantly weighty and nicely-protected from unintended injury. We dropped it twice from four feet onto hard linoleum and observed neither ding nor audible difference, and pressing flippantly on the grille (as a curious little one would possibly) did not dent it in. The Jambox also managed to vibrate itself off a shelf. Onto our MacBook Pro’s finicky trackpad. Not solely did the rubberized Jambox survive unscathed, it also “fixed” the sometimes unresponsive trackpad without inflicting any cosmetic harm to the MBP’s unibody construction. The rubber edges protrude sufficient for protection and allowed us to set the unit on its again to generate a contact extra bass, and also add plenty of grip if you are feeling like pumping a Jambox-stuffed fist.
Performance… as a speaker
Once you switch on the Jambox for the first time, it leaves a first impression like nothing else: the system roars to life with a deep, guttural rumble that you may feel in your bones. (While you turn it off, it fades away like life in a video sport.) The booming intro is not necessarily consultant of the speaker’s overall performance — extra on that in a sec — but it surely by no means ceased to surprise how much sheer sound the Jambox produces at max quantity.
We ran the Jambox by means of a gauntlet of assessments, starting from smartphone Pandora periods all the way by motion pictures, games and thoroughly ripped lossless audio pulled direct from a discrete Pc sound card, and the verdict was clear: the Jambox is not a magical treasure chest of audiophile bliss, however it’s a pretty potent portable speaker that sounds nice. Clear mids made our favorite singer-songwriters sound implausible, whereas booming lows introduced out the best within the artificial squawks and explosions in our video games, and the highs… effectively, at lower volumes, they have been fairly good too, but you will also hear plenty of distortion with the box cranked up.
The problem — but additionally a part of the cool factor, do not get us wrong — is that the Jambox’s audio is a very localized, directional phenomenon. Even a stiff, airtight enclosure and moving-wall radiator won’t help it override the laws of physics. Even at its greatest, it seems like your favorite band is trapped in a tiny field, their sound attempting to flee. The bass has improbable oomph and the audio loads of readability and depth when you are holding the Jambox in your hand, pointed at your face, nevertheless it won’t fill a large occasion room (or perform terribly well outdoors, as we discovered camping out for Black Friday) and still sound like one thing value listening to — and the close-set audio system do not provide much stereo separation to speak of, both. If your social get-collectively is a bit smaller and fewer audiophile-centric, although, the battery life could final you all the way in which by way of. From a full charge, we have been in a position to stream Pandora over Bluetooth at maximum volume (a worst-case scenario) for 5 full hours before the box gave up the ghost, and managed properly over sixteen hours in combined testing with a variety of sources and settings.
…as a speakerphone
We wish that we might say the Jambox was a Jawbone Icon that you may share, screen printing mesh however that’s sadly not the case. It’s positively bought some serious noise canceling algorithms in there — we placed it subsequent to a working faucet without a caller realizing — however we should marvel if they filter out a lot, as even with little to no noise within the background folks stored asking us to talk up. They complained our quantity was too low and our words usually acquired cut off with the unit sitting on a nearby table, and solely volume improved after we brought the unit up to our face. (Things have been worse nonetheless with the Jambox going through away from us — don’t expect to use it in your workplace conference room.) After we switched to a Jawbone Icon below the very same circumstances, callers had no bother in any respect, so we need to chalk this one up as a Jambox fault.
Wrap-up
So if the Jambox isn’t going to change a very good pair of headphones, loudspeakers or speakerphone, what good is it for you? Why, it’s the proper way to enhance anything you’d share that doesn’t have first rate speakers of its personal. Plugged into a bedroom Tv, linked to an iPad or typical laptop computer — or screen printing mesh any telephone you’d care to call — there is absolutely no comparability between the Jambox and the drivers these units ship with. And if someone doubts the potency of your purchase, you won’t need to belabor the point — just casually hand them the Jambox and allow them to feel for themselves.
Thomas Ricker contributed to this overview.
All products really helpful by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, unbiased of our mother or father company. Some of our stories embrace affiliate hyperlinks. If you buy something by way of one of those links, we might earn an affiliate commission.
Popular on Engadget
Ukraine says Russian hackers tried and didn’t assault an power supplier
The Lectric XP Lite is a folding e-bike with a low worth
What we purchased: A microdermabrasion machine to scrape off my pores and skin
SteelSeries’ latest lightweight Aerox mice are designed for MMOs and MOBAs
The post Jawbone Jambox Review first appeared on skip to enonline.
