Waterproof JBL Charge 4 speaker doubles up as a portable battery

It’s hard to stand out in the Bluetooth speaker market at IFA 2018. With so many smart models on display, simple sonics just won't cut it. So the new JBL Charge 4, announced at the Berlin show, is a bit of a jack of all trades.

For starters, it’s a Bluetooth speaker, capable of connecting to two devices at once. That means you can share your tunes with a buddy without both having to keep swapping connectivity to the speaker first.

It can also play as part of a giant, 100 speaker soundsystem, with JBL Connect+ tech letting the Charge 4 hook up to dozens of other speakers of the same kind for simultaneous playback.

And, it’s also a portable battery pack, too. With 20 hours of audio playback per full charge of the Charge 4, you can hook up a smartphone to give it a bit of juice when on the go.

Wet and wild

Designed for pool parties, the JBL Charge 4 also has IPX7 waterproofing, letting it take a dunking without doing any damage to the electronics inside.

There are plenty of color options to choose from too, with “Desert Sand, Mustard Yellow, Dusty Pink, Grey Stone, River Teal, Fiesta Red, Ocean Blue, Midnight Black, Steel White, and Forest Green” shades all set to be available. 

Launching in October, it’ll cost £159.99, which is around $205 or AU$280 when directly converted.

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced.

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