Jam Voice review: Price
See also our best budget Bluetooth speakers chart.
Jam Voice review: Features and design
Compared to the Echo Dot, though, the Jam Voice has one big advantage: it’s battery powered and portable. This makes it much more like the Echo Tap, a product that never went on sale in the UK. However, the Tap is a bigger, more expensive device. The point here is that – as with the Tap – you can’t just say “Alexa, what’s the weather going to be like tomorrow”, but have to first push the button on top of the Voice speaker.
For some this will be a deal-breaker as one of the most convenient things about the Echo Dot is that you can use it completely hands-free. But with the Jam Voice, you can take Alexa around the house (even in the garden) without having to plug in a mains power supply. The Voice itself is a dinky little thing, just three inches across and just as tall. It’ll fit in your palm – and your handbag. It’s well made and has rubber membrane-type buttons underneath and on the side. It isn’t waterproof, though.
Setting it up is a little complicated, because to use Alexa and certain music streaming services it needs a Wi-Fi connection. So after pairing it via Bluetooth, you have to install the Jam Wi-Fi app and make sure your phone is connected to your router’s Wi-Fi (and only the 2.4GHz band) and then enter the password. The Voice has a few other tricks, too. One is that you can sync multiple units for multi-room use and – somewhat oddly – you can record a short voice message via the app which will play back on all your speakers. The app can hook into your phone’s music library, but also lets you sign into your Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn and more. Don’t forget, too, that this is a Bluetooth speaker, so you can also use it on the move to play music from your phone when there’s no Wi-Fi connection.
Jam Voice review: Performance
Audio quality is good considering the diminutive size. There’s a port at the rear which helps give a little bass, and there’s little distortion even at high volumes: there’s enough power to listen outdoors as well as indoors.
And if you’re choosing between this and the Echo Dot, we’d say audio quality for music is better on the Jam Voice. Battery life could be better: it will run for roughly four hours before a female voice tells you the battery is low. You can, however, use it while it charges, and since it will charge via microUSB, you could hook it up to a power bank for longer sessions away from the mains. Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.
