The Mini Jambox gets some bigger mojo thanks to a new software update rolling out today.
Owners of Jawbone's diminutive $130 speaker can download a new firmware update that lets them link two Mini Jamboxen together. Once connected to each other, the two speakers can be used as a stereo pair, or they can be used to socially share music with a new feature called "Multi Play."
To get the update, go to Jawbone.com/update, download the new software, and hook the speaker up to your computer to install it. With the new software installed, you connect two Mini Jamboxes together by placing them within a few feet of one another and pressing all three of the top buttons at once, first on one speaker, then on the other.
The ability to run two speakers as a stereo pair — so one speaker plays only the right channel while the other plays only the left — is a welcome feature. Other Bluetooth speakers (like the much-beloved UE Boom) have had this ability for around a year now, so it's about time it came to the Mini Jambox. Pair the two units to each other wirelessly and choose the stereo playback option by pressing the volume up and volume down buttons at the same time on one of the speakers. Place the Mini Jamboxes five or ten feet apart, and you get some impressive-sounding stereo separation.
The Multi-Play option is a little bit different. The idea is that two people each have their own Mini Jambox, and they can sync both units to play the same song. One person's phone send the track they're playing to both speakers at once. Then the second person plays a song on their phone, and it gets sent to both speakers, kicking the first person's song off as the new song begins. It's not unlike similar features we've seen from SOL and Logitech UE, and it's definitely meant for parties and social situations, like when you and your buddies are taking turns DJing at the pool.
Keep in mind that you can only connect two units to each other. A connected array of a dozen or more Jamboxes (as cool as that would be) can't be accomplished. Also, this update is only for the Mini Jambox, not the Big Jambox or Jambox Classic. Those products were designed around older Bluetooth chips that don't allow for these kinds of multi-device interactions. But it does bring some fresh features to a product that's been around for a bit, which is sometimes all you need to make an old thing seem new again.
