Jawbone Jambox: Brains and beauty

Aliph has ventured out into the big bad world beyond headsets (it makes those super-stylish noise-reducing Jawbone hedsets) and into the field of speakers.

It may look like an oversized Lego brick, but take a second look. The Jawbone Jambox is, according to its makers, the first intelligent wireless speaker and speakerphone in the world.

How intelligent? Well, I’m not sure it’s planning to take A-levels any time soon, but it does sound like a smart cookie. It certainly looks smart – in a choice of colours – red, blue, black and grey, and a couple of designs, both of which look rather like those architectural novelties much loved of architects in the 70s or possibly something with a 50s retro vibe – take your pick. The Jambox can connect to mobile phones, tablets, iPods and computers – as well as any other Bluetooth device you may have knocking about.

Its mission? To allow you to easily stream and share movies, music, games – even phone and conference calls – wherever you are.

The speaker itself has two acoustic drivers and an ultra-small dome, which apparently can produce an audio spectrum that is almost as wide as that which can be heard by the human ear. These work together with a moving wall passive bass radiator and airtight enclosure – the makers say it’s the only one of its kind in an airtight speaker – that really deliver on the high and low ranges of your music.

It’s nice to know it comes with all the trimmings at this time of year – a travel adapter and USB cables for charging, a flat stereo cable should you need it, and a stylish fabric case.

The Jawbone Jambox comes in at £159.99 and is available from Jawbone from the end of November 2010.