JBL Flip Bluetooth Speaker Review

I recently just purchased the JBL Flip Bluetooth speaker, and am very surprised by it's size, and it's sound. The JBL Flip is a portable Bluetooth speaker with outstanding sound for it's size. I will first try and describe the speaker, and how it looks. First off, the speaker is more cylindrical than anything else, with the back pinched, to make room for the base that lets you set the speaker horizontally. This thing is probably as big as an energy drink can. Probably a little wider, but not much taller, if you stand the speaker the same way as you would a 16 ounce Monster or Rockstar can. The ends of the speaker are both flat. On the back of the speaker, there are 2 jacks, if the back is facing you, the AC-Plug is on the left, and the Aux input is on the right. They are pretty close to each other on the farthest left of the back of the speaker. Facing the speaker with the front to you again, the jbl logo is in the middle of the tube. The left end of the speaker, there are 3 buttons. When i mean left, the buttons are not facing you, they are actually on the left flat part of the speaker. The right side of the speaker doesn't have anything, accept for a rubber round ring, that will let you flip the speaker vertically. That's why this speaker is called the Flip, because you can flip the speaker in either orientation. After rotating the speaker 90degrese, the 3 buttons are facing me. These 3 buttons are as follows. Power/pair on/off, volume up/down, and, speakerphone. The buttons are very easy to find, and they are easy to figure out. The power/pair button is an indented button, and it is on the top right side. you use this button to turn on the unit, and pair the Bluetooth device with the speaker. The speakerphone is a regular feeling button, that is located on the bottom left. You can use siri by holding this button down. You can also talk on the phone, make a Skype call, or make facetime calls from this speaker as well. The volume button is a longer oval shaped button located between the power button. This controls the volume of the speaker. The speaker has its own volume, so, beware of that. What's In the Box. When opening the box, the speaker was well packaged in 2 things, well, 3 including the box. The box was very easy to open, no sharp tools needed at all. After removing a thicker plastic casing around the speaker, the speaker was also packaged in a thinner ceramic-like plastic. Removing the thicker plastic case was very easy. Under the speaker, there is this compartment, which has the AC wall adapter, a carrying case, and a booklet. You will have to supply your own 3.5MM to 3.5Mm cable if you want to use this speaker with a nonBluetooth device. Pairing the speaker When you first turn on the speaker, it makes a sound, telling you that it has been turned on. When it's powered on, there are 2 beeps, a low one, quickly followed by a higher one. When the speaker powers down, the same beeps will be heard, but opposite, so you will hear a high beep, and then a low beep. After turning on the speaker, it will automatically be in pairing mode. It only took me one try to pair my iPhone to the speaker. There were no pairing codes or anything to mess with, while pairing. When your device is paired to the speaker, it makes a 3beep sound. 2quick low beeps, quickly followed by a high beep. If the speaker is off, and you turn it back on, it will automatically pair to the last Bluetooth device it was paired with, so you will not have to always pair your phone. Pairing was very easy to do, I had no problems at all when it came to searching for the speaker. Sound The sound that this speaker puts out is amazing, and very outstanding for it's size. Remember, it is a portable speaker, so you shouldn't expect full room booming bass. What you will get though, is great and clear sound that will fill a pretty large room. This speaker does not distort at all. Even at it's max volume, the speaker goes strong, delivering crisp sounds, and pretty good bass. I tested the speaker with various types of music, and for me, it passes in all categories. Even when the volume of the speaker and my iPhone were both maxed out, no distortion at all. This unit has 2 speakers in it, so it's considered a stereo speaker. Although the stereo separation isn't that great, the overall quality of the sound it puts out is awesome. Little More Information About the Flip The flip has an estimated 5 hour battery life for usage, depending on how loud you listen to your music. it does not use a standard USB charger, so if you don't want another wall plug being used, then the speaker isn't for you. My thoughts and opinions The reason why I purchased this speaker was for the sound quality. I mean, I have heard a lot about the Jambox, and it's features, but that unit is out of my budget. I haven't heard a Jambox in real life, other than those demos at the stores, but the overall sound of the speaker is tinni and lacks great clarity. Because the jambox is so small, the sound gets muffled when turned up too loud. I also didn't want my speaker moving around too much when I listen to bass-heavy music. I also heard about the BeatBox BT speaker, but was already hooked on the Flip because of it's speakerphone feature. If you want to read a great review on this speaker, go here and check this one out. I guess that's another reason why I got this speaker. Because of the awesome reviews. http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/jbl-flip-portable-wireless-loudspeaker/ Thanks for reading, and I will try to answer questions about the speaker.