Gadget of the week: The stylish Big Jambox Bluetooth speakers pack a punch and are a joy to use

By Rik Sharma

Published: 21:36 EST, 12 June 2013 | Updated: 21:37 EST, 12 June 2013

Rating:

It’s summer, allegedly. But put the cynicism to one side and you’ll find yourself with a handful of sunny days that are just perfect for a garden party.

We’re not going to recommend which barbeque you buy, but we can help with your sound system.

What we’re looking for is something portable, something wireless and something you would be happy to take to a party, a park or a picnic.

Having tested a few models, we’re convinced the one for this ‘summer’ is the Big Jambox, by Jawbone. Here’s why. But scroll down for two others worth checking out...

Jawbone Big Jambox (RRP £259.99)

Well built: The Jambox feels weighty but not heavy, with a nice diamond wave pattern grill on the faces

The Big Jambox, at 254mm long, 93mm high and 80mm wide is easy to hold with one hand and transport from place to place – whether that be from one room to another or the house to the garden. It weighs 1.2kg which is just heavy enough to feel pleasantly weighty, but easily light enough to carry.

It is available in red, white and black – we had the latter to test. It looks modern, but with only one small ring that lights up to indicate different things (charging, ready for Bluetooth pairing, on, etc) it blends into its surroundings nicely.

On the bottom are small, virtually flat rubber feet, which help keep it sturdy on your surface of choice. The buttons on the top are made from a comfortable-to-push rubber, with the top, front and back a metal mesh. This feels sturdy to touch, but if dropped from a moderate height may dent.

You can run the Big Jambox off the mains but the huge battery life means it's perfect to have away from a power source.

The rechargeable battery is claimed to play for 15 hours and – a rarity in these days when you seem to be charging your phone twice a day – actually achieves that.

Unless you’re having a particularly depraved party, this should be long enough for you to charge fully (about 2.5 hours) and not have to worry about until it’s time to go to bed.

It has a 3.5mm jack and USB port which you can connect to your computer to and a microphone so you can take and make calls from your phone but hear/speak through the Big Jambox – good for group chats. The only shame is that you cannot connect to WiFi with it.

Portable: It's easy to move the Big Jambox from room to room, or take it to the garden or a park

The controls on top let you play, pause, skip (forward or back) tracks and tells you – in a sat-nav-esque way an indication of how much battery is left. By pressing the volume up and down buttons at the same time, you enable LiveAudio.

This is, according to Jawbone’s website, ‘a technological breakthrough that lets you experience your music as if you’re on stage, in the action, hearing it live’. And, depending on what you’re listening to, it actually seems to work.

LiveAudio seems to separate the sources of each sound and boosts the detail – we found ourselves just leaving that mode on all the time. It helps the speakers escape the problem of a block/mono sound which seems to plague other models. The only problem with it is that the volume is reduced, but, unless you really need to crank it up, this shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.

The volume in general is good, easily enough to supply music for a large house party. The sound is strong in all areas, although seems to work best with music that isn’t too bass driven.

For a speaker of its size, the sound quality and volume is impressive – but it will not pass for a real audiophile’s dream set of speakers – though you won’t find any both better and more portable than this.

Available for around £200 now, the Big Jambox does not exactly come cheap but it is reliable.

Alternatively...

Philips Shoqbox SB7200 (RRP £180)

Sturdy: The Philips Shoqbox looks and feels like it could withstand a battering

If you want portable, go for the Big Jambox. But if you want to go beyond portable and buy something genuinely ready to be taken on road-trips, up mountains, and into all sorts of scrapes, the Shoqbox would be a far more sensible choice.

Coated in rubber, it doesn’t look great – actually rather aggressive – but that’s what you should be expecting from something labelled a ‘rugged road warrior’. You can even attach the thing to your belt.

The Shoqbox, again a Bluetooth speaker, is splash-proof (note, not waterproof) which is welcome – if you’re planning to use this outside then you should be prepared for all kinds of weather.

Its battery is rechargeable, and is said to last eight hours. Our test saw it come in slightly under that – but not by too much.

The sound quality is reasonable until you start listening at higher volumes, when it delivers a mono style sound – although if you get ANOTHER Shoqbox you can sync them to provide proper audio separation.

You can take and make calls on the Shoqbox, which has quite a few interesting features. The most notable is the ability to skip tracks or pause the music with hand gestures – after a few goes it becomes pretty easy.

A sensor on one side of the box – or tube, rather – reacts to movement. One disadvantage is that it’s possible to skip tracks by accident, although this didn’t happen too much. 

It also has a voice prompt to provide feedback – i.e. the battery level or confirmation that it has been paired.

What it lacks in style and finesse, it makes up for in earnest usability. I wouldn’t want to put this on my kitchen table, but I’d definitely take it to a festival.

Geneva World Radio DAB+ (RRP £269)

Delightful: The Geneva World Radio looks beautiful and has the sound quality to match

This differs from the above two models because its primary focus is radio. While you can stream radio through Bluetooth onto the Jambox and the Shoqbox, this is designed as a stylish twist on the old classic.

Looks-wise it is as stylish as you’d expect for its price tag, although not quite as weighty. This, though, is a benefit if you want to take it outside. 

Bigger than the other two, it’s not really something designed to be carried a long way by hand, although it does have a convenient handle which means you can if you want to.

It’s a gorgeous piece of equipment, and its appearance is even, with a dial on both sides. The screen itself is clear and smart. You’ll be happy to have this in your lounge, kitchen or bedroom.

The Geneva World Radio is no technical breakthrough, or even innovative at all, it’s just something that works as it’s supposed to, flawlessly. 

That it has an aerial is initially surprising – in this modern world it’s rare to see something like that.

It has Bluetooth connectivity, so you can listen to your own music too. There’s also a built in alarm clock which makes it a trusty bedside companion.

Sound quality is strong and the volume is impressive. Even turned up, the World Radio does not distort and its bass is better than many of its competitors’.

The battery life is as quoted when using the radio, although this is a mere six hours. It came in a bit shorter when streaming via Bluetooth. Of course, it can run off the mains.

If you are prepared to pay for it, you will get the sound and build quality you seek.

Follow Rik on Twitter @rbsfeatures and let him know what you think

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