The speakers are simply too close together. Doing this aligns the speakers in relation to your ears so that you can actually hear some stereo separation-something the Charge 3, along with nearly every similar product, lacks. I’m not kidding another person shares that opinion, though it took the better part of five minutes to convince them to try it. Okay, this sounds crazy, but the Charge 3 sounds best sitting sideways on your head with the speakers facing forward. More on that in the third installment of my leapfrogging discussion of that feature below. Should they be hanging around and sporting this same linkable feature. An inside JBL-joke about the run time? No, it’s for linking to other JBL speakers. There’s also a button with an odd symbol that I first thought indicated “almost infinite,” as pressing it lights up the charge meter. The back of a red Charge 3 with the cover for the micro-USB, USB, and analog audio ports in place. Pressing and holding the Bluetooth symbol sets the Charge 3 looking for a Bluetooth media playback device to pair with the plus sign increases volume and you can press and hold for continuous increase the minus sign decreases volume with the same deal on continuous the play/pause button plays and continues playback, but also answers and hangs up the phone. I’d find it hilarious if I wasn’t imagining so many people’s consternation. Anyone who’s used a Bluetoooth speaker before should be able to figure out the controls, but the only explanation in the user’s guide is a row of the same symbols used by the buttons themselves in a slightly larger size below their picture (plus a phone icon). If I have any real complaint about the Charge 3, it’s the truly weak documentation supplied by JBL, or whomever is manufacturing it for them. The controls are on the top and the ports on the back in this orientation. JBLĪ front profile of the Charge 3 styled in ominous black. That’s a guaranteed two minutes of amusement right there. Or you can watch the patterns ripple across the water as it floats. More importantly, you can put liquid on the sound-radiating diaphragms on either end, and then watch it spray. I get floating it about, or diving to the bottom of the pool for five seconds, but half an hour? Why you’d want to do such a thing is beyond me, but I haven’t been a teenager in a while. The unit’s IP (International Protection Marking) waterproof rating is IPX7, which means you can submerge it under one meter of water for 30 minutes. The controls are on top: volume up and down, Bluetooth pair, power, play/pause, and almost infinite (I’ll explain that later). These are covered by a snug-fitting plug to keep water out. On the back are a micro-USB jack for charging the Charge 3, a standard USB port for charging other devices using the speaker’s battery, and an 1/8-inch jack for analog audio input. Along the front edge of said flat area is a five-LED battery charge indicator, which you can see best in the next image. There’s a slightly extended flat area on the “bottom” of the Charge 3, so that the unit doesn’t roll about. The front of the Charge 3 with its highly recognizable logo. Excuse me “modern materials”, not rubber. The actual dimensions are 8.3 inches long, and about 3.5 inches in diameter, but I was thinking of a slightly fat, rubber-covered thermos when I stood it on end. It weighs in at around 1.76 pounds, and it ships with a USB charger and micro-USB cable. The Charge 3 I kicked the tires on was red, but it’s also available in attractive shades of aqua, dark blue, black, and light gray.
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