For anyone else out there in the bluetooth speaker market looking to make the right purchase, please take the time to read my review for the JBL Flip and Jawbone Jambox.
1) SOUND - lets dive into the most important part -
For Android users:
I want to note first that if you are using an android phone like me, there is a bug on android where if you have "Voice Enabled" in the "Navigation" app, the audio ouput volume sometimes gets stuck on a lower volume. To describe exactly what I'm talking about: If you have "Navigation" running with "Voice Enabled" and you are listening to music simultaneously, whenever "Navigation" informs you to turn, the music volume will be reduced and sometimes will be stuck on this particular volume level until another turn is announced where it will just self correct. Ever since my old days with an HTC Evo 4G on Sprint (Android 2.3) all the way to my most current Samsung Galaxy S4 (Android 4.2) this issue has not been addressed or fixed. So if you have purchased this speaker, try restarting your phone if you fear the volume is not loud enough.
Back to Sound:
I bought the JBL Flip first hoping that it was worth the $100 I paid for it on Amazon and I must say I was quite impressed with how well the speaker handled unusually loud volumes coming from my Samsung Galaxy S4 over a bluetooth connetion. The S4 does warn you when you reach above safe hearing levels, but even disregarding the warning the speaker never really showed any sign of rattling or distortion even at full blast. However, the Jawbone Jambox does not get quite as loud as the JBL Flip and even if you do reach a higher volume level the music is often not very pleasant to hear. There is a lot of distortion, rattling, and scratching. I tested both speakers using the AUX output (headphone, stereo, or 3.5mm cable) as well as Bluetooth. Please continue reading however as there may be issues with audio quality over bluetooth on the JBL Flip.
The winner for sound is: JBL Flip.
2) CONNECTIVITY - in this part I will talk about the different types of connections available on both the Jambox as well as the Flip.
Bluetooth: Of course the biggest selling point of both products is their bluetooth connectivity options. Unfortunately, the JBL Flip I purchased had very poor antenna reception (even on a serial number above 0189100 which reportedly fixed the bluetooth antenna issues with this particular device). If I stood beyond 6 or 7 ft from the speaker I would notice that the speaker would experience intermittent disconnects or choppy/distorted audio. Ever since I purchased the Jawbone Jambox however, I forgot this could even be an issue with some of these bluetooth speakers. The sound may not get as loud on the Flip, however I was not ever worried about the Jambox disconnecting or distorting the sound when I walk away from it.
The winner for Bluetooth Connectivity: Jawbone Jambox
Charging: The reason I make this a separate category is because I really hate the idea of proprietary chargers. The JBL Flip only supports it's own power adapter's connection and there is no immediate substitute for this. If your JBL Flip runs out of battery and you do not have the charger handy, too bad. The Jawbone Jambox has a standard microUSB connector which is the exact same type of connection as most Android phones. I do not recommend you charge your Jambox with your Android charger, however you may at least connect the device to your laptop or other usb input and provide some source of power if needed.
The winner for Charging: Jawbone Jambox
Features:
Simultaneous Multipoint: The only reason I returned my JBL Flip is it's inability to connect to multiple devices simultaneously and serious issues with the bluetooth antenna. Where the JBL Flip falls short, I really feel the Jawbone Jambox picks up. The Jawbone Jambox will allow connections from up to 2 devices simultaneously, however do not be tricked by the marketing hype. The Jawbone Jambox will pair with 2 devices simultaneously however only 1 device will be able to output "Media Audio" on the device with no option to switch between the two other than disabling "Media Audio" connectivity on the device outputting "Media Audio" at that time. This was extremely upsetting and disappointing to me. Why even bother advertising multiple connections through bluetooth when only one device may output "Media Audio" until it disconnects from the device? I'm not sure if Jawbone was deliberately trying to mislead consumers but I certainly felt misled.
Battery Status: The JBL Flip power button will repeatedly glow red off and on until the battery dies with no real option of knowing the exact battery level. The Jawbone Jambox however does provide a downloadable app known as Jawbone Companion which will provide you a rough idea of the battery level. This battery level indication is not in a percentage but instead as a "about full", "about two-thirds full" etc. I dont imagine it would have been too difficult to at least provide an ETA before the battery dies but I'm not complaining as the JBL Flip does not really provide any information at all and this is certainly better than that.
The winner for Features: Jawbone Jambox
Again, these are just my first thoughts on the two and I am much happier with my Jawbone Jambox than with my JBL Flip even though I know that the JBL Flip sounded better. I just do not see the JBL Flip as being a practical portable speaker when it lacks key features such as a tolerable bluetooth antenna range and battery status.
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Despite being a bit pricey, the Jawbone Jambox is a pretty impressive little gadget. If you're just looking for Bluetooth speakers, the Jambox produces a good amount of sound for a unit that fits in your hand. However, it's also a very handy conference calling device: when there's more than one person in the room, a typical cellphone's speaker is pretty lousy--the Jambox works much better to reproduce a voice without harsh, tinny distortion. The Jambox has a built-in microphone for good pickup of voices in the room. The Jambox also has a 1/8" ("headphone" type) plug-in jack for you to hook up any non-Bluetooth audio device. The buttons on the top are for volume up and down, and a toggle to give the Jambox a voice command (see my product pictures for annotated details).In the box are a number of accessories: we have a `snag-free' flat ribbon cable for plugging non-Bluetooth audio sources directly into the jack. There are two USB cables--one very short, one about a foot long--and each doubles as both data cable and power cable, plugging into the wall-socket charger brick (which is the size of a matchbook). You also get a carrying bag.That would be enough to rank this as a high-class device, but then you get a bit more--details not every gadget fetishist will feel the need to have, but some will enjoy very much. Just like the Jawbone Era (Bluetooth headset), the Jambox can be programmed with multiple apps: all of them are free, and all are extremely easy to install. You can mix & match any time you like: just access the website, choose the software, connect and go: working in tandem with the downloadable Jawbone updater, the browser-based tool automatically pushes the software to your device. Jawbone offer voice dialing or recording/voice memo capability. Your Jambox talks to you: telling you when it's powered up, reading out loud the incoming call number, and providing you other details such as when the battery is low. All of this is a human voice recorded by a voice actor, and Jawbone offer you a wide variety of voices & styles to choose from (listening to the sample audio on their website is pretty entertaining).All is not perfect with the Jambox: its price is a bit high compared to other products. If you read the negative reviews here, you'll see some horror stories about defective units and customer service issues. My unit just arrived (March 2012) and I'm happy to say that it was pre-installed with the latest firmware--I'm hoping this means that the problems as recent as a month ago have been resolved because my Jambox works just fine. I also noticed that while the manual states that the Jambox is fully charged in 2.5 hours, things didn't work right for me at first--giving that very first charge a good 5 hours to complete seemed to do the trick, and pairing was a breeze after that. While I can crank my phone's volume high, I'm a bit leery of running these tiny speakers at maximum: I keep them one notch from maximum just in case.If you're looking for a pair of truly portable Bluetooth speakers, the Jawbone Jambox works well. It is easy and it produces very good sound for its size. It is a bit more expensive than similar products, but then it offers voice memo and voice calling/speakerphone capabilities, customizable software, and plenty of connectors. I'm extremely happy with mine, and I'm looking forward to many more hours of sound on the go.
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