Jawbone Jambox Review
I am a big fan of Jawbone. I have used the first & second generation of Jawbone and the Prime. When I heard about Jambox, I had to try it out.
Size – Very portable
From looking at the pictures and their video, it is really hard to imagine how big/small that thing is. I was expecting it to be the size of a brick. When I got to the Apple store, I was amazed how small it was. It is small enough to fit in any bag, and possibly inside a pocket of a pants(male, assuming not wearing skinny jean) Their idea was to market the product with iPhone and iPad in mind, so this made perfect sense.
Battery – Not bad
Unlike regular electronics, speakers only need juice when they are actually generating sound waves. Also this product is using bluetooth technology which is efficient at battery consumption.(although their range is short) I don’t listen to music at high volumes, but loud enough to actually feel the music. I played the music from my iPhone to Jambox all afternoon and evening. When I woke up the next day(music was off, but I left Jambox switch on), it still had enough juice to play the morning.
Design – Close to perfect
Design of Jambox is exactly what you would expect from Jawbone maker, sexy and trendy. Although I only had the opportunity to play with Black Jambox, diamond shape speaker grill converted ordinary black box to luxury looking speaker. I liked the rubber/silicon button on the top but I didn’t like the material itself. It is a matted rubber/silicon which is good for grip, but attracts dust particles. Soon after I wiped it with damped clothe, it attracted dust particles right away.(If you aren’t picky like me you won’t mind)
Quality of Sound – …
Although I am not an audiophile, I do take quality of sound seriously. I don’t know if I can consider this law of physics, but I know that size of speaker is proportional to volume of sound. For the size of speaker and it’s functionality (bluetooth, portability and battery powered), I think the sound is amazing. I had my doubts, but when I first cracked the volume up, I was surprised how powerful it was. Usually when a volume is cranked on small speakers, they loose their clarity and the sound starts to break up. Somehow Jambox managed to keep the sound quality, while generating high volume. I think this will produce decent sound for up to 400 sq feet sized room.
Price – Expensive
When I compare Jambox to regular AC powered PC speakers, this would be $40~ quality speaker w/o subwoofer. For it’s functionality and quality I think ~$140 seems to be more reasonable.
Conclusion
I own nice JBL sound system for music and Bose surround system for movies. For portable sound, I own Bowers Wilkins P5 headphones, AKG K701 headphones and couple Etymotic earphones. As you can see, I take sound quality seriously so I can’t imagine myself listening to Jambox at home. However, when I am outdoors I would definitely appreciate this product.
I highly recommend this product for people who play iPhone and/or iPad games. I tend to hold my iPhone so that I am usually covering the iPhone speaker with my palm. Since this will play all the sounds from games/music/youtube/netflix you won’t have to bother with blocking the sound with your hand.