JBL Flip 5 Review

JBL has just announced at CES that coming in summer of 2019 will be a new version of one of their most popular Bluetooth speakers, the JBL Flip 5.

We got a chance to get some hands-on time with one, and give it a full test drive. It wasn’t a final production model, but I was told that it is 98% of what the final product will be like. There was certainly enough to show what the product will be capable of doing.

Spoiler alert: we are excited…so lets dive in to the JBL Flip 5 Review!

The Sound

So first and foremost (and to us most importantly) is the sound quality. Flip 5 gets a sound boost thanks to a new larger battery which provides more power output.

In what seems to be the trend with the newer JBL portable speakers, the mid-ranges and vocal ranges really stood out and were nice and clean. There was surprisingly good bass response, which improved dramatically if the Flip was placed on a table vs. holding it in the air.

I didn’t have a Flip 4 to do a side-by-side, but once I do I will update the article to give you my impressions of the 2 in comparison. Flip 4 vs Flip 5 grudge match!

7/19/19 Update: In a side by side comparison, the Flip 5 has more punch than the previous generation. It’s not huge, but it is noticeable when you have them next to each other.

I was quite pleased overall. JBL has managed to make the Flip 5 perform to what I think is pretty close to Charge 3 levels. No small feat given the diminutive size of the Flip 5.

I tend to be a bigger fan of the Charge series, just because they play forever and have more output than Flip. But I have to say that the Flip 5 was impressive, and might win me over more than previous models did.

To summarize it; there is no doubt this will be the best sounding speaker at this size and price in the market.

OK. Lets move on to…

The Look

There are some small changes to the new Flip 5, but for the most part the design of the Flip 4 remains mostly intact.

There is a slight change in button layout, like the Charge 4, they have moved the Bluetooth button next to the power button, and swapped it with the Connect* button.

*It’s not a Connect or Connect + button. It’s something else called PartyBoost. More on that later.

The width of the speaker is slightly smaller than Flip 4. It also feel smaller in part because they trimmed the edges of the rubber surround along the sides near the passive radiators. It makes it look a little more in line with the Charge 4 look. It just feels tighter, and it’s an improvement.

Slight cosmetic change to the passive side radiators to match the style of Charge 4 and Xtreme 2.

Exciting upgrade: the Flip 5 will use USB C to charge now, instead of Micro-USB. Goodbye annoying rubber flappy door that I forgot to close before dunking the speaker so now its nerfed…hello waterproof charging USB port!

USB C, you little devil you. Very happy with this change. Do like!

Flip 5 will come in 10 colors, if you count Camo as a color.

The Features

Present in the new Flip 5 are the same features from the previous generation: Bluetooth, IPX7 waterproofing, drop-kick resistance, etc.

Speakerphone is GONE. That’s right, no more phone calls with the Flip 5 series. Not sure why they made that decision but there it is.

But there is something new. It’s good news and bad news. We’ll start with the good news: the Connect feature is still there. Well kinda, they are going to change the name and the protocol to PartyBoost.

Why the name change? Because it is a new and improved… Better Bluetooth distance range. More stable with multiple speakers. Works faster…but…

Bad news time: it won’t be compatible with Connect or Connect + at time of launch. Might not ever be. Maybe they will do an OTA (over the air) firmware update like they did with Charge 3 to take it from Connect to Connect +. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

(For those of you who don’t know what we are talking about, the Connect feature allows you to pair multiple speakers together. Look it up. It’s cool. IDK how many people really use it but it’s a neat feature nonetheless.)

The Battery

So the battery is upgraded, but the increased power handling will go to sound performance as noted before, not to playback time improvement.

So similar to Flip 4, you’ll get +/- 12 hours of playback time depending on usage: volume, music, etc.

Conclusions

So there you have it. The JBL Flip 5 is a nice upgrade from the Flip 4. I’m sure JBL will sell a bajillion of them, cos they own that $99 real-estate and no one else has been able to come close in my opinion.

And lets face it, my opinion is awesome, TYVM!

Where to get them

$99.95 Direct from JBL.com

$99.95 on Amazon.com: Prime Shipping Available.