JBL Link 10

“OK, GOOGLE, YOU’RE WATERPROOF NOW.”

WITH GOOGLE ASSISTANT now available to third-party speaker manufacturers, it was only a matter of time before those third-party manufacturers decided to integrate the digital assistant into their speakers. The problem is — and this includes both Google Home and Home Mini — the voice-activated smart speakers need to be tethered to the mains. That means you can’t take them to your mates’ place for a BBQ in their backyard, or to the beach to get the latest updates on tides and surf conditions. Enter JBL, the first big-name brand to launch a third-party Google Assistant-powered smart speaker that isn’t just portable, but also waterproof.

In fact, JBL has launched two voice-enabled Bluetooth speakers in Australia — the Link 10 and Link 20. The two speakers are functionally identical, the only difference being the Link 20 comes with a bigger battery — and, hence, is physically larger — and promises up to 10 hours of playback. This review focuses on the smaller brother, which is about the size of the JBL Charge 3. Although the selling point for the Link series of speakers is their portability, it does call for a rethink of the definition of ‘portable’.

A PORTABLE GOOGLE HOME?

JBL calls the Link 10 a “hands-free voiceactivated portable speaker with Google Voice Assistant built-in”, and although it is all of the above, the voice assistant is only available when there’s a strong Wi-Fi connection. So, yes, you can move it from one room to another seamlessly at home and have access to Assistant, but given that Google Home can remember only one Wi-Fi network at a time, the speaker’s Wi-Fi connectivity needs to be reconfigured every time you move to another location, like your workplace for example. You could tether it to your smartphone’s Wi-Fi hotspot, but if there’s no Wi-Fi at all, you’ve got no Google Assistant, making the portability aspect of this speaker a bit of a misnomer — at least when it comes to using Assistant.

IF YOU HAVE A GOOGLE HOME (OR HOME MINI), YOU CAN ADD THE LINK 10 TO THE GOOGLE SPEAKER VIA THE HOME APP AND HAVE A MULTI-ROOM SETUP.

SLOW STARTER

Unlike the Google Home smart speaker or the Home Mini which must be kept plugged into mains power, the Link 10 will need to be switched off or it will run out of juice, which happens in about five hours of continuous playback — less if you have it playing loudly or constantly keep adjusting volume (lesser still if you’re asking Assistant to help you with a lot of little itty-bitties). And every time you switch the speaker on again, it does take an exceptionally long time to boot up.

That said, the speaker’s initial setup is easy. Switch on the Link 10, open the Google Home app and follow the prompts. It barely takes any time to get the speaker up and running and, if you’re a regular Home app user, all your voice training promptly gets transferred to the new speaker. That means you can immediately start controlling your smart lighting system or any other voice-controlled gizmos you’ve got working through the Google Home app.

But you’ll need to get used to using the “OK, Google” or “Hey, Google” voice command an awful lot. Unlike the conversational personality of the Google Assistant on the Home speakers, Link 10 requires each command to be issued separately. For example, if you’re turning on your Philips Hue lights, then decide you want them dimmed, you will need to say, “OK, Google, switch on lights,” followed by “Hey, Google, dim lights to 75%”. Annoying as that might be, we found Google Assistant on the Link 10 to be as responsive as that on any of the Google Home speakers. Within moments of setting up, we were able to stream music from Spotify, switch on our Hue lights and watch Netflix via Chromecast.

BRINGING THE HOUSE DOWN

The Link series speakers have Chromecast built-in, so you can stream music from Spotify or YouTube Red in the highest quality possible. For those who have subscriptions to other streaming services, like Apple Music, you can stream easily from your phone via Bluetooth.

The Link 10 can get exceptionally loud, but sound quality suffers at the speaker’s highest output levels. At full bore, the sound quality diminished with higher treble tones, lacking JBL’s characteristic heart-thumping bass, like that of the Flip 4. That’s because the Link 10 only comes with two 45mm drivers and lacks the Flip 4’s dual passive radiators. Despite this shortcoming, the sound is clean and has decent bass at low to medium volume levels.

MULTIROOM SMARTS

If you have a Google Home (or Home Mini), you can add the Link 10 to the Google speaker via the Home app and have a multi-room setup, but there’s no way to tweak sound settings. If you don’t own a Google smart speaker but have the latest iteration of the Flip, Charge or Pulse speakers from JBL, you can set them up in different rooms and use the ‘Connect’ button at the back of the three aforementioned speakers to seamlessly shift sound from one room to another as you walk through your home. The drawback is that you can’t have them all playing at once in a multi-room setup, even via the Connect app. For now, the Link 10 isn’t even supported on the app.

RUGGED GOOD LOOKS

The Link 10 comes covered in JBL’s signature fabric speaker grill wrapped around tough plastic. The control setup is quite minimalistic — on the top are the controls for play/pause and the volume, along with a dedicated Bluetooth button and the colourful Google Assistant button. On the front are four LED lights which blink when Google Assistant is activated, and at the bottom is a Wi-Fi indicator. On the back, you’ll find the power button, a battery life indicator and a mute button for the microphone. Below them is the flap that covers the Micro USB slot to charge the speaker, which also makes the Link 10 waterproof. What is oddly lacks is an auxiliary input which is available on other JBL Bluetooth speakers.

We did pop the speaker into a sinkful of water for a few minutes, with music playing on it via Bluetooth, although Google Assistant didn’t work while the Link 10 was submerged. That could be because sound waves don’t carry through water particularly well.

Despite its shortcomings, the Link 10 is a fine option if you’re looking for a Bluetooth speaker that can do more, but it’s a pity the Google Home aspect isn’t as portable as it could be — and that’s mainly due to the fact it can only remember the details of one Wi-Fi network at a time.