JBL Flip Essential Review

Whenever you go out to buy accessories, say, a cool-looking speaker set. You visit the mall and there you see a range of choices and there is no one to guide you through with it. It is simple, you open up the internet and search for the best speakers on Google. So let us save you a little time and tell you which one you should get. Isn’t it obvious, the JBL has got some bang on the speaker that you might like. Read this JBL flip Essential review completely to get a proper idea of it, if not you could always check out another article about the JBL pulse 3 review

You are going to see this name pop up on every website that you see on the internet. Do you have to be sure about their products? JBL has had a history of producing gems. They have given us the pulse series, the flip series, and many other speakers that are the go-to speakers for people. However, how did they get to this? Where did JBL come from? This is what we are trying to answer in this JBL flip Essential review.

JBL Flip Essential Review: Origins

To answer this question will be going down the history lane of this incredible company. We will also get to know what are some of the other series that this brand has to offer. JBL has been in the audio industry for so long that it has specialized in each section of the industry. Be it the headphones section or the Bluetooth section. We have reviewed the Pulse 4 by JBL, if you are wondering how is it, go ahead and check it out. 

In this article, we are going to focus on the qualities of the flip series by JBL. We will delve into each product of the series and get on with the JBL flip essential review.

What is the JBL Flip Essential?

January 9th, 2021 was the launch date of the JBL flip Essential. Amid the rising demand for affordable Bluetooth speakers, there have been several companies that have tried to get the best results from their products. However, there were no success rates. Most of the companies had one or the other features unbalanced. Either the price was a bit much or the features were not efficient enough. JBL came slamming in with their flip series to give the problem rest. They came up with this series that was affordable and cost-effective. People were saving money on their deals, and they were all happy after using the speakers. This success made an impact and they gained popularity. Just as the name suggests, they became an essential part of everyone’s life.

JBL Pulse is, essentially, a compact tablet audio speakers series that are small. If you compare them with its predecessor Flip 4 or Flip 5, this one is the smallest of them both. This affordable essential series was launched earlier this year in the first month of the new year. According to the price sheet, pulse 5, which is still unreleased, is the costliest of them all. The price of pulse 4 and essential remains the same, while pulse 5 is up.

All the major specifications remain the same, while the size and some other features are changed in JBL flip essential Bluetooth speakers. The power retaining ability of the battery also remains the same. Then what are the differences between the Flip 5 and essential? To understand that, we recommend that you go through this JBL flip Essential review entirely. 

JBL Flip Essential vs Flip 5

After all the elements that we discussed, it is not very clear as to why there are a variety of products in this line of speakers by JBL when they serve the same purpose with almost the same specification? We are going to try to find the answer to this query right now, in this JBL flip Essential review. The specifications of Flip 5 as well as the Flip essential

Size 

The first major difference between these two is size. The Flip 5 is somewhat bigger than the essential. The dimensions of Flip 5 is 18.1 x 6.9 x 7.4 cm. Whereas, Essential stands at 6.4 x 16.9 x 6.4 cm. This is the length, width, and height of them both. Flip 5 is significantly a bigger speaker than the latter. It can be seen, you’d be blind as a bat to not see that. However, this does not mean that it(Flip 5) is a better option.

Essential has its share of positive attributes as well. Being smaller puts it on the front foot and because of which it is less bulky. The overall weight of essential is around 470 g whereas, Flip 5 is at least 100 g heavier. This advantage comes in handy while taking it out somewhere. Trips are a good idea as they require music, and camping or even trekking without music just feels incomplete. So this compact device is going to fit right into your small bag. 

Bluetooth

Both these players are indeed equipped with Bluetooth connectivity, but the Flip 5 has a newer version of Bluetooth, i.e 4.2. As compared to the essential, which has the 4.1 version. To be clear, there is no crucial alteration like any changed Bluetooth version. The only difference between these two versions is that 4.2 allows direct internet access using the chips. It also has slightly better speed and privacy settings.

These were the main differences between these two speakers. Let’s get down to the detailed JBL flip essential review.

Design

The major thing that you’d be surprised to know from this JBL flip Essential review is that the design of Flip Essential is copied from the Flip 3 model of the same series. It does not stand out, it looks old school and not in a good way. In addition to that, there is no light show on the external skin of the speaker. If you buy this, you are going to miss out on that. It has become a beautiful part of the JBL culture. You can lose sight of it in a dark room.

The body of the speaker is made of fabric material, and it stands durable. It can take a couple of falls, although we won’t recommend you to try that. The corners are covered with rubber to increase their endurance power. To take the speaker along with you anywhere, you can just tighten it with a wire loop, the loop does not let go of the player. Wherever you go, take the music with you.

It sports 40 mm dual flex speakers that are probably adopted from its predecessor Flip 4. It also has rounded corners to facilitate it standing vertically. That feature was copied from Flip 3. The Essential is nothing but a hybrid mix of some previous models.

The charging port is present at the bottom of the speaker. Surprisingly, it uses the same old micro USB cable port to charge it. To connect it to any other non-compatible device, it houses a port for AUX cable. 

Controls & its Waterproof Nature

Just as we mentioned earlier, there are no other buttons than the primary ones. These buttons include the power button; through which you can turn the power On/ Off. With that, it also has a volume up /down button. A pause/play button is also present along with all these. Unlike the flip 5, it does not have a party boost button. This button connects the speakers to other devices as well. It creates a synchronized speaker on which you can play songs at a high volume. If a vibe-killing song comes on accidentally, and you want to skip it, just double-tap on the play button. It will automatically skip the song.

JBL assures that the Flip Essential is fully waterproof. They have also guaranteed that you can keep it underwater for a maximum of 30 minutes. Although, there have been cases where the speaker went bad after almost immediately being submerged underwater. The speaker is rated IPX 7. This rating implies that the speaker is fully protected from occasional drownings and even dusty conditions.

Mobile connectivity

There is a mobile app that can be used to connect your speakers to the mobile. This app does not help a lot because of the limitations of the speaker’s functions. Although, the app can be used to keep an eye on the battery levels of the speaker.

Bluetooth and Battery

Bluetooth and battery are two of the most important aspects that we need to pay attention to. Mainly because these are the two factors that can influence the final decision of a potential buyer. Now, as you know, the flip essential has a 4.1 version of Bluetooth. Not that it connects with a weaker bond, but there are updated versions of this software. This gives an impeccable transmission of frequency up to 30 ft. you might encounter some lags beyond that. You can also connect multiples phones to it. Although, the speaker can only use one source to exhibit commands given. Nevertheless, this functionality can be a good way to connect as a group and play party games. For instance, everyone can take turns playing a song that they like. It is a good way to bond strongly with a group. Because music connects everyone. 

On the other hand, the battery life remains the same as Flip 3. It can work for 10 hours straight without bailing on you, thanks to its 4800 mAh rechargeable battery. You can put it up for charging, and it is likely to be full within 3.5 hours of undisturbed charging. This battery life depends on how you choose to listen to the music. If you choose to go all out, on full volume, it will only last for about 30 % of the entire allotted time. So, the battery drainage is inversely proportional to the level of the volume. This is true for most JBL Speakers, If you don’t believe us, visit our jbl go portable Bluetooth speaker review

History 

The overview of the company shows that it has a couple of divisions in the present day. The first one is called the JBL professional. This division is responsible for the production and distribution of studio integrated products. While JBL home is a section of the company that creates consumer speakers and other goods. This company was founded by James Bullough Lansing. He is responsible for the creation of two of the largest companies that were involved in the production of audio players like home theaters, speakers, etc. One of which is JBL. JBL got their first opportunity to showcase their talent when they got their first successful assignment by MGM studios. 

This followed the incident where MGM studios rejected speakers developed by RCA and Western Electrics. With the first opportunity they got, JBL collaborated with John Hilliard, Robert Stephens, and John F. Blackburn and produced almost 300 compression speakers(generally used in open grounds) and around 15 XS woofers for the production. Later down the line, they received many awards and their iconic products were acknowledged.

Later, when the director of the company died, there was no future for the company. Although it was sold to Altec Service Corporation, to avoid any financial trouble.

Later down the Line…

Later down the line, there was a lot of buying and selling going on, with the company producing popular products like the L100. The success of that speaker was the biggest any company had ever seen in 1970. They were not only being used in studios, but homeowners use the L series monitors to get that heat going. They were excellent speakers that were made of the best ceramic magnet woofers, and the tweeters were also stunning.

The year 1969 was the one where the organization was sold to Harman International. Sidney Harman was the person who took responsibility for himself and led the JBL group. Within the next two decades, JBL became so popular that it attempted to exclusively get into the speaker industry. They came up with the Everest project during this time. The success of this incredible company started from producing small-time speaker making to becoming one of the centers of attractions of the movie as well as the music industry. All this history might be daunting to you.

At the end of it all, JBL is now known for some of the best speakers and headphones on the market right now. They have several Signature brands like the Pulse and JBL GO, Take a look at the JBL pulse 4 speaker review by tapping here.

Conclusion

To the final judgment, the Flip essential is a fine piece of compact speakers. The only thing that will haunt it is the fact that its entire concept was inspired by the Flip 3. This JBL Flip Essential Review is not meant to demean the product though, The good thing that JBL did was to eliminate every redundant feature that was holding the price up and after doing that, ultimately the prices went down. The lower price is a plus point for every interested buyer. Anyway, there is a catch to this too. The price gap between Flip 5 and Essential is not that significant, so it does not make that big of a difference. As we have already compared Flip 5 with Flip Essential, the sound quality is certainly better in the first option. We hope this JBL flip Essential review helped inform your decision into making a purchase.

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