#JBL CHARGE 4 REVIEW FULL#
JBL claims 12 hours of playback for the 3000mAh Lithium-ion battery using the speaker at mostly full volume, we reached ten hours before it started to cut out, so this seems accurate. The Flip 4 also works seamlessly as a speakerphone, with voices coming through loud and clear. In our experience, this worked fine, but we’re not sure how useful this feature really is unless you plan on using the speaker as your home speaker of choice. The Flip 4 is also compatible with Siri and Google Now. Wireless range is impressive – even with 20 feet of distance and several walls in between, the Flip continued to play with no hiccups. It doesn’t float, though, so be wary around deeper bodies of water. The Flip thrives (and sounds great) in the shower, and we even dropped it in an above-ground pool for ten minutes with no ill effects. It’s IPX7 rated, meaning it can be submerged in three feet of water for up to half an hour. Compared to the Charge series, it’s thinner and lighter.
In fact, unless you line up the Flip 3 and Flip 4 side by side, you’re unlikely to notice any differences at all – the Flip 4 is a bit bigger, but not by much.
#JBL CHARGE 4 REVIEW BLUETOOTH#
If you’re familiar with the Flip series (or, really, with outdoor Bluetooth speakers in general), there’s not much new here as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The rest of the Flip’s buttons – play/pause, volume up/down, Bluetooth pairing - lie on its mesh skin.Ībove the power button is a tiny handle with a cord designed to hang the Flip from backpacks, canopies, and the like the cord is smartly threaded, making it a breeze to attach and detach the speaker from pretty much anything. The cap is difficult to pry open without long fingernails or some sort of tool, but that seems fair, given its purpose – namely keeping the inputs from getting wet. Here you’ll also find the charge port and the auxiliary port, protected by a sealed rubber cap. The speaker’s caps are buffered with a hard, rubbery plastic this material stretches across the back of the Flip 4, providing a home for the power button and the JBL Connect+ button, as well as the five LED battery indicators. The Flip 4 is extremely water-friendly, and thrives in the shower. JBL’s logo appears twice – once on a small aluminum plate in the center of the speaker, and once on its edge, adorning one of the Flip’s external passive radiators at the far sides. Most of the cylindrical speaker is covered in a fabric-mesh weave. Other color options include shades of grey, teal, and blue. Features and DesignĪs mentioned above, our review model is a loud crimson, though we would have preferred the more muted black version.
This is a pretty cool feature, though it can get frustrating if and when power struggles arise over music choices. The Flip is capable of connecting with two devices simultaneously, so you can repeat the above process to pair it with another device to allow either one to control music. Press the Bluetooth button once, and then simply pair to the speaker in your device’s Bluetooth menu. Press the power button once and an audio cue will let you know the Flip is alive, while the power LED glows white, indicating that the speaker is unpaired. If you’ve ever set up a Bluetooth speaker before, you shouldn’t have much trouble here. The cardboard sleeve contains warranty info and a quick-start guide, while another smaller, cleverly concealed sleeve is home to the Micro USB charge cable.