Review: JBL GO

JBL GO
Price (MRP): Rs 2000

Portable wireless speakers are in vogue today, thanks to the soaring popularity of mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Needless to say, these mobile devices come with namesake speakers with bare-bone functionality and need portable speakers, which sound much better and which can also be carried around easily. JBL has been a big name in the audio industry and it has also got a range of wireless speakers. The JBL GO is one such speaker that is very compact, lightweight, and portable. Let’s find out if its portability comes at the cost of audio quality.

Package Contents

JBL GO
USB cable for charging
Manuals

Design and Features

The first thing you notice about JBL GO is its simplistic and minimalistic design. It is essentially a cuboid with two large sides and four elongated rectangular sides. While I received a charcoal black piece, it is also available in red. The body appears to be made of some sort of polycarbonate with a non-reflective rubberized finish for better grip in your hand while carrying, and also to help keep it firmly grounded on a flat surface while in use.

The two opposing large surfaces bear prominent white JBL branding that contrasts well with the black background. Since there is only a single speaker, it faces one of these larger sides that is covered with a perforated grill. This also houses the blue LED that indicates Bluetooth pairing and connected statuses.

There is a micro-USB port on one side to connect the USB cable to charge the speaker. A 3.5 mm audio jack is also present to connect sources that do not have Bluetooth connectivity. A small pore is also visible here, which is for the microphone to support the wireless speakerphone feature.

The GO also has an engraved loophole of sorts on the opposite side to attach a lanyard to easily carry the speaker around and not lose it.

The top surface of the speaker has all the necessary feather-touch buttons. This includes the power button, Bluetooth connect button (which also functions as play/pause), volume control buttons, and call receive/end button.

Performance

Connecting the JBL GO to a Bluetooth audio device takes place in a jiffy and it literally hassle-free. The speaker sounds surprisingly loud for its size, and certainly a lot louder than its claimed 3 W. The audio quality is good for mid and high frequency but distinctly lacks bass. This does make it suitable to watch movies where dialogues are heard clearly. Also, it shines with its excellent speakerphone functionality. It works well with Android, iOS, and Windows Phone devices.

The Bluetooth range of this speaker was found to be just a little shy of 8 metres. Walls drastically reduce the reception and hence the range, which is usually the case, but it was found to be more pronounced with the GO.

Battery Life

While JBL mentions that the battery should last 5 hours, it lasted just a little over 4 hours when playing at 70% volume. This is not surprising, however, because it contains a battery with just 600 mAh capacity to ensure that the unit remains lightweight.

My Verdict

The JBL GO looks good with its simplistic design and produces really loud sound for its size. It is highly portable and extremely lightweight. The audio quality is good for certain music genre as long as it is not bass-heavy and the speaker serves well as a speakerphone. The battery life should have been better because 4 hours at a stretch is not really much when you intend to take a portable speaker with you for a long haul. For Rs 2000 (and with more discounted prices on a few shopping portals), the JBL GO is a good buy as long as you are not an audio purist.

Pros: Very portable, Good looks, Loud sound.

Cons: Battery life, Single LED indicator.

Ratings

Features: 4/5
Aesthetics: 4.5/5
Performance: 3.5/5
Value For Money: 3/5
Overall Rating: 4/5