JBL Onbeat Awake

Hear The Truth

The JBL Onbeat Awake will beat you up till you awake!

This is a piece of crap! The fact that crap has more value, insults crap to be put in parallel to this product. Ok, I shouldn't let my emotions from overpaying for this fog my opinion. Let's see...this is still a piece of crap!

Getting fleeced aside, the promoter that sold me the speaker oversold its features. The sound quality is undeniable, and the fact that it is a JBL brainchild shouldn't go too wrong. WRONG!

The initial experience was great. And the fact that the user manual is exceptionally simplified got me a little suspicious. I smugly believed it is another of those plug and play innovation. I quickly paired the devices via bluetooth. Randomly played music (albums already stored in my iPhone) through the JBL Amp Up app (U will need to download the app...trust me...). Viola! I hear quality music. Next I decided to dock the device and have it stream my favourite internet radio while charging the batts. The nightmare begins! After 10 minutes of uninterrupted play, the speaker SNOOZED. I had to restart the speaker umpteen times to conclude it is a fault in the product firmware. After ranting out a string of choice words (PG), I tried streaming and playing stored music via bluetooth. Same results!

So for the entire day I had to confine my daily activities around the speaker just to manually turn it on every 10 minutes. I didn't want to give up on the SGD$250 (sucker!) investment, so I sieved through the manual for divine answers. I drew blank. The official webite was no help either. The only useful advise came from user product review on ebay (US); Update the JBL amp-up firmware to fix the auto shut down bug (note: Amazingly you can no longer find this product on ebay. They probably took it down after the slam fest from real users!).

Sure enough, updating the firmware worked for both bluetooth and docked playing. However, it doesn't fix the shutdown problem when your device streams music from the internet. The only way around the problem is by connecting to the AUX port in speaker via a 3.5mm audio cable. While doing so, u can't charge any device on the speaker.

Nothing I say can further damage the credibility of this product. Go Google it, you will see for yourself. I lament not doing my homework before making the hot-headed purchase. Some frustrated online user deduced the product was rushed to harness the Christmas crowd, thus the shoddy firmware development.

I have to live with the unsightly wires (mess makes the veins on my temples pop and pulsate...you get the picture). Every pore in my body reject this arrangement. I will NOT recommend the product. If u are unfortunate enough to be stranded with one, like me; Let's pray for divine intervention or for a new firmware update that will fix the problem soon!

P.S: No geeky product specs nor price recommendations cos it not worth my effort!