It's come down to this: a mouse of a speaker that roars like a lion
Jawbone's Mini Jambox is petite and colourfully cute. Careful with that volume knob, though
Audio technology has advanced so much that speakers in small boxes can produce astonishingly good sound. The Mini Jambox is one such gadget that uses advanced tech to create impressive sound despite its tiny body.
The Bluetooth speaker is only 58mm tall, 154mm wide and 24.5mm deep. Yet somehow this petite, 255-gram unit manages to fill a living room with loud and undistorted music.
The "somehow" comes down to the single piece of extruded aluminium that forms both the frame and the face of the speaker. The case is a rigid, airtight enclosure that ensures maximum efficiency in reproducing sound.
"The unibody aluminium chassis is a complete redesign of our iconic Jambox," says Yves Behar, chief creative officer at Jawbone, the manufacturer. "This is our most avant-garde speaker design yet, allowing us to pack even more sound and technology into a significantly smaller and more portable package."
That airtight enclosure features two neodymium drivers and a passive bass radiator to produce the highest-quality sound for its size. Because it's so small and lightweight, the Mini Jambox is readily portable – stick it in your pocket or purse.
The speaker is quite cute as well in a choice of six colours – Red Dot, Silver Dot, Graphite Facet, Blue Diamond, Aqua Scales and Purple Snowflake. The one I got to test was a lovely Purple Snowflake.
The unit comes with LiveAudio technology to eliminate the crosstalk effect that stereo speakers can suffer. You get a bigger, more detailed experience. It works best with LiveAudio recordings, but can also improve any stereo recording, especially on movies and games.
LiveAudio is activated by simultaneously pressing the volume up and down button on top. To get the maximum effect, sit directly in front of the Jambox.
Connecting to a smartphone with a Bluetooth connection is easy, or you can install a Jawbone app for iOS or Android to facilitate the connection.
The Jawbone app lets you customise your Mini Jambox (by personalising the name) and the Talk button so that it will activate the Siri app on your iPhone.
Mini Jambox can also be used as a loudspeaker with its Type-1 compliant microphone. With the iOS app you can add your iTune and Dezeer playlists for fast access to your favourite songs. Jawbone says it's developing these same functions for the Android app as well.
There is no LCD panel, so the Mini Jambox uses a vocal interface. It tells you when it's ready to be paired with a smartphone, for example, or that it's already been linked up.
The design keeps the buttons to a minimum – you have play and volume on top and power and pairing on one side.
Apart from Bluetooth, a 3.5mm stereo input to connect to a portable music player is included. The built-in, rechargeable Lithium-ion battery lasts about 10 hours of continuous playback.
I tested the Jambox with various types of music played from my Motorola RAZR MAXX smartphone using a Bluetooth connection and was impressed by the sonic clarity and loudness. Sitting right in front of it, I could feel the thunder of the bass.
The Mini Jambox retails for Bt7,490 at iStudio, .life (dotlife), MungKongGadget, Jaymart and Powerbuy.
Key specs
_ Connections: Bluetooth 4.0 (w/ BTLE), 3.5mm Stereo Input
_ Audio: Proprietary acoustic drivers (stereo pair), Proprietary passive bass radiator, Type 1-compliant microphone
_ Battery: 10 hours playback built-in Lithium-ion battery
_ Dimension: 154 x 58 x 24.5mm
_ Weight: 255g
