JBL - LINK 10 Smart Portable Bluetooth Speaker with Google Assistant - Black

Love how easy this speaker was to set up! I have it connected on my phone with my Spotify and Pandora accounts, through my Google home network and have them linked so when I walk into a new room, my music is still playing through the group speakers I set up. Nice bass, no shaking, waterproof so far, easy and lightweight to move.

The setup of the JBL Link 10 was simple but could be somewhat confusing for some. On my iPhone, I already had the Google Home App for my existing Chromrcast devices, so I just opened the app and paired the speaker. The app found the speaker immediately and I was able to stream things within the Google Home App like Google Music or Pandora but not anything else that produced sound outside of the app. For that, you also need to pair your phone using bluetooth to the speaker. Essentially, you need to pair the speaker to your phone twice (once to your bluetooth devices and once to your WiFi network) to take full advantage of what it can do. The key feature of this speaker is that it is a Google Assistant. Think of it as Siri (for iPhone), Cortana (for Microsoft), or Alexa (for Amazon). When the speaker is on, you can say, “Hey Google,” or, “Ok, Google,” and then you speak what you want. You can ask it questions and it will find the answers for you on the internet, you can have it call an Uber for you, you can have it tell you traffic information from your home address to your workplace, and you can even ask it to order food for you. I asked for the most recent news and it began to play live audio feed of an NPR program with the news. The performance of this speaker is excellent. When watching content, the speaker’s power shines in its loudness. You are fully immersed if that is your only audio source for phones or tablets. Through its loudness, you can say, “Hey Google,” and it will stop the audio to listen for your command. It’s a great way to ask for the weather without looking for your phone when waking up or when you have a quick question that can be answered via a search. It even works as an oral calculator and will give you the answer to math questions you ask out loud. The only downside I found for this speaker was that, though you can use it as an alarm, the speaker has to be on for the alarm to go off. Since the battery only lasts 5 hours, if may not make it through the night on battery alone. You can leave it on and plugged in, but most people aren’t comfortable doing that to rechargeable speakers. The speaker exceeds my expectations. I have a Philips Hue system and the Google Assistant on the speaker can be used to turn on and off my light fixture. I was amazed at the loudness of the speaker and the accuracy of the things I wanted Google to do. You can use it to wirelessly control Netflix or other apps available through the Chromecast devices. The price for the JBL Link 10 in terms of value is just right. Other speakers that are equally powerful are priced similarly, but this one has the added benefit of having a Google Assistant. I highly recommend this product for people who get most of their content through the Google Store and rely heavily on Google Suite Apps, like Google Calendar or Google Hangouts. If you enjoy talking to your tech to do things for you, this is a great speaker to buy. In the mornings, while getting ready, you can have it schedule appointments for you, read your itinerary for the day, and announced traffic or order you an Uber all with your voice.

======= Summary ======= The JBL Link 10 is a great-sounding portable Wifi & Bluetooth speaker. The well-integrated Google Assistant makes the JBL Link 10 - when compared to non-Google Assistant models - more flexible, useful, and powerful. ======= Design ======= The JBL Link 10 is a hefty (for its size) speaker that feels well-built and sturdy. It feels solid and good in the hands. Its height is a bit shorter than a regular 16 oz (500 ml) water bottle and as fat as one of those extra big beer cans. The fabric main body offers good grip and is easy to quickly pick up and carry around. I found the layout of all the buttons to be very intuitive and easy to figure out. When the Link 10 is facing toward you with its JBL Logo visible, one can see at a quick glance its power status. If the speaker is On and connected to your home Wifi, you'll see a Wifi logo underneath the JBL badge lit up with white LED lighting. On the top of the speaker are 5 buttons - a Google Assitant button, Volume Down, Volume Up, Play/Pause, and Bluetooth. On the backside of the speaker, you'll find 2 more buttons - Power On/Off and Mute. The Mute button also acts as a Factory Reset button if you hold it down for about 15 seconds. All the way on the bottom on the backside is the microUSB charging port hidden behind a rubber flap. All in all, I found the JBL Link 10 to be well-designed, intuitive to figure out and use, and with no ergonomic issues. The IPX7 waterproof addition is a delightful bonus. ======= Connectivity ======= The Link 10 was VERY easy to setup and get started. Power on the speaker, open the Google Home app on your phone, and follow the onscreen instructions. That's really it, it is that simple. It is also great that the Link 10 supports both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wifi connection speeds. If you want to connect the Link 10 to your phone via Bluetooth, all you need to do is press the Bluetooth button on top of the speaker and pair to it from your phone. You just have to do this once. There is one thing to note about connection priority. If the speaker was turned off and turned back on later, the Link 10 will automatically connect to your home Wifi but it will not automatically reconnect to your phone via Bluetooth. To connect to the Link 10 via BT, you have to do it manually from your phone's BT setting screen (on my Samsung Galaxy S8+). If there is one thing connection-wise that I wish the Link 10 offered, it is for Bluetooth calling. The Link 10 will play your phone's media and music content but it will not allow you to make phone calls on it. With that said, I give the Link 10 a Ten out of Ten for ease of setup and reliability of the connection options. ======= Sound Performance ======= Before I began to play any music on the speaker, I had lower expectations due to the Link 10's small size and its two 8W power output. I was pleasantly surprised. JBL did an excellent job tuning the speaker for clear sound, fidelity, coverage, and bass. All the music I played - alternative, pop, hip hop, vocals - sounded great and to my personal satisfaction. Of course I heard better sound and bass from other portable speakers but they were all more expensive than the $150 JBL Link 10. At its price point, the Link 10 offers great sound and I sincerely believe most people will be happy and content. Besides the great music playback quality, the Link 10 also offers crisp and clear verbal audio communications when using the Google Assistant function. I chose the Female Google Assistant voice and she sounds very clear and articulate. I never had any problems understanding her or having to have her repeat herself. JBL's far-field voice recognition feature also worked very well. With the speaker playing some music very loudly, I thought for sure that it wouldn't be able to hear me say "Hey, Google" from across the room. But it did and executed upon my command seamlessly. I was truly impressed. As for battery endurance, I'm content with its 4000 mah battery size and the ~5 hours of playback. ======= So, is it any good? ======= Yes, the JBL Link 10 is a great speaker~! Even without the Google Assistant, I'd still recommend it for its great sound quality and fidelity. With Google Assistant built-in, it is even a better buy and a more compelling choice. The smarts offered by Google is very convenient and truly useful. I wish the "assistant" in my car was as smart and useful as the Google Assistant in the JBL Link 10.

Love how easy this speaker was to set up! I have it connected on my phone with my Spotify and Pandora accounts, through my Google home network and have them linked so when I walk into a new room, my music is still playing through the group speakers I set up. Nice bass, no shaking, waterproof so far, easy and lightweight to move.

I love my new speaker. I bought an smart bulb and I love it too.

I like I use together my chromecast in my house the best

Love the way it works and sound easy to use conects easy

So this has google assistant built in. Was super easy to set up and connect to my home network right out of the box. It uses audio prompts to tell you what to do. Very cool. My kids love saying “hey google”. “Tell me a joke” and other phrases. It picks up all their voices. I was super impressed. Hey we’re half way across the kitchen and it still Recognized them even my 3 year old. Has pretty good sound when linked to my phone. Seems like the kind of thing you might leave plugged in to take advantage of google assistant. But it is portable and waterproof. Love that I can take it to the pool and not worry a put it getting wet.