The Jawbone Mini is the de facto small Bluetooth speaker. It sounds good, is compact enough, and thanks to Jawbone’s dominance in the market, is widely available at multiple retailers. And it just got better.
Jawbone just released a free update to the speaker which allows the speaker to pair with two phones and another Jambox Mini. This not only allows the Jambox Mini to pair with another Mini to produce stereo sound, but also gives two users access to the speakers for a bit of social jamming.
Logitech’s Ultimate Ears Mini Boom recently hit the market with a similar wireless stereo feature. At just $99, rather than the Mini Jambox’s $129 promotional price, the Mini Boom could be a better buy if you don’t need the ability to have two phones connected to the speakers.
Jawbone’s stereo implementation is unique as well. The pairing is done through the hardware, rather than the companion app. The speakers essentially talk to each other to pair, à la Furby communication. After updating the Jambox app, on both speakers, press and hold all three of the Jambox Mini’s buttons to connect them together. The speakers will beep, search for each other and connect, all without interrupting the audio playback.
The update also serves up the ability to pair two Bluetooth devices so two people can take turns controlling the music.
This latest update comes as the portable boombox market continues to expand. It seems a day barely passes without a new Jambox competitor hitting the market. Yet, as Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman talked about on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt last week, in the past, Jawbone leaned heavily on the software behind its hardware — and this update clearly shows that the company has not strayed far from that original mission.