For the average person, I doubt it matters much. So if you and a few friends are going to splurge on 100 of these and throw a “Project X” style party, this could be a feature that you might be interested in.
Large advent speaker manual plus#
Unfortunately, if you bought an older speaker with the regular JBL Connect (like the Charge 3), it isn’t compatible with this new plus version. If you happen to have a mansion, this would be a cool party trick. JBL Connect+ is a better version of the older JBL Connect, and lets you connect up to 100 JBL speakers together instead of one or two. It’s not really the equivalent of a Sonos system, but if you’re having a party it could definitely get the job done. If you’ve never owned a JBL speaker, JBL Connect is the feature that allows you to sync up a few speakers together in order to play the same song.
Large advent speaker manual Bluetooth#
On paper, you’ll notice that the JBL Charge 4 has Bluetooth 4.2 instead of the older 4.1 which is nice, but the real differences have to deal with JBL Connect. Protected under a waterproof flap are the inputs and outputs of the speaker. Personally, I never want a mic on my speaker and always ended up fumbling to disconnect my phone every time I got a phone call, so this is actually a positive thing for me but I can see how that can be a deal-breaker for some. The Charge 4 also doesn’t have a built-in microphone so if you tend to use your speaker for phone calls you might be annoyed. The playback controls work great and the buttons are nice and clicky, though I do wish the buttons were made of white plastic or were all lit up like the power button, as it’s hard to see which one is which when it’s dark. The Charge 4 has all of your bases covered with a strong connection up to around 30 feet just like most Bluetooth speakers. It’s an iteration on an iteration, but connectivity is where things to start to split. If you can’t tell yet, the JBL Charge 4 isn’t too different than the previous model. From there, simply locate the device in your Bluetooth settings in order to connect to it. As soon as you turn it on all you have to do is press the Bluetooth button that’s located next to the power button in order to enter pairing mode. The Charge 4 has the playback buttons up top with the power and Bluetooth pairing buttons lit up.Ĭonnecting to the speaker might not be as simple as your AirPods, but it’s still pretty easy. Considering JBL is a company whose big selling point is their waterproofing, this was disappointing. JBL customer support stated that the one year warranty had passed, and defective products out of warranty could not be replaced for free. The speaker still produced sound, but the sound was shrouded by a loud crackling. These also have the characteristic exposed dual passive radiators on either end just like most of the new JBL speakers over the last few years.Įditor’s note: Sara tested a JBL Flip 4’s IPX7 rating by submerging it in a pool for about 10 seconds, and it came out broken. It also floats for a bit if you do drop it in the water so you don’t have to worry about losing it if it falls off of a boat or a deck.
Yes, the tough waterproof fabric makes a comeback along with the IPX7 certification that lets you submerge it for up to 30 minutes in a meter of water.
Besides that, the Charge 4 still keeps most of the features that made the Charge 3 so great. JBL also upgraded the battery from 6000mAh on the Charge 3 to around 7500mAh on the Charge 4. On either end of the speaker the Charge 4 is still rocking dual exposed passive radiators.