We were going to begin this review by asking how your summer was going and if you were looking for a mobile speaker to add tuneful exuberance to outdoor evening shindigs. But what's the point? If like us at The Test Pit you call the British Isles your home, we might just as well ask how you're enjoying the rain.
And so this review - of a portable bluetooth speaker - will pay no heed to the outside world of sun and grass and barbecues and bikinis. We are realists. And very pale.
The Jambox itself is a
delight to behold. A combination of rubberised plastic and gold
coloured metal grill, it looks great, is to not to heavy (whilst
remaining reassuring weighted) and seems perfectly designed. On top
you get three simple physical push buttons; a plus (for volume up) a
minus (for volume down) and a round button which when pressed will
speak – yes, speak – the current level of the battery. The other
indicators of human intervention are on the side set into the grill;
the power switch (which doubles as charging indicator), a phono port
and a micro USB port – both of which can be used to connect your
audio device.
But you don't want to
do that – you want to establish musical connection via the built-in
bluetooth. Pairing the speaker to your phone/mp3 player is by far the
easiest we've ever encountered, as when the Jambox is first switched
on that disembodied female voice will announce that “the speaker is
in pairing mode”. Simply scan for the Jambox on your phone and
select. Its that simple – all thanks to the lovely American lady
that lives inside.
Before we mention sound
quality lets linger on that battery. At a full charge we managed to
get over 5 hours of continuous playback at pretty high volume. That
impressed us quite a bit, so if you are planning on having a garden
part... (NO WE'RE NOT GOING OUTSIDE, REMEMBER?) So if you are planning
on washing all the dishes in yours and your neighbour's houses and
you need something to distract you, then you can rely on the Jambox.
Right, sound. We tested
a number of different kinds of music and file types, at several
different volume levels and environments. Overall we were pleased –
not amazed – but certainly impressed that the quality of music it
was producing via bluetooth. We found that the speaker worked best on
tracks with heavy bass to show off the Jambox's great booming depth,
but only when keeping the volume at mid level. Anything to loud and
fuzzing interference began to register. Basically, the higher rate
the music file, the better the sound quality and tolerances at high
volumes.
The Jambox doesn't
necessarily fill a room with deep sound, but localised in small
groups of people with not too much background sound to complete with,
the speaker worked well. It also doubles as a speaker phone (as you
might expect) with the quality of voice being acceptable but not
brilliant. Also the person on the other end of both mobile calls and
Skype chats said they found it hard to hear us clearly, even with the
Jambox directly in front of us. So don't use this for that all
important interview.
Overall we really like
the Jawbone Jambox Hex. It performed a heck of a lot better than the
similarly sized - but far less expensive - I Luv Mobi Tour. However,
we're not convinced the price is worth it – not right now anyway.
If it was cheaper, which hopefully soon it will be, then the Jambox
could your next mobile companion should you be hanging out in the
park (NOT OUTSIDE). Erm, in the library.
By the way, the subhead
at the top is a Churchill quote. We're high class.
Around £150