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Pricing a Bluetooth speaker at $299.99 is risky business, even for Jawbone — a company notorious for selling its original Jambox speaker for $199.99. At this price, Jawbone has a brief window in which to make that emotional connection so critical to the premium end of the buying spectrum. And boy does it deliver.

The Yves Behar wave, hex, and dot relief textures carried over from the original Jawbone are even more stunning at this new size. The Big Jambox is now completely wrapped in a perforated steel mesh. The elastomer rubber used on the top and bottom of its smaller sibling now only covers the end-caps and should provides Big with a bit of protection against falls. Our white review unit looks absolutely fantastic, so striking that Jawbone should have exposed it with the same transparent retail packaging it uses for its Up fitness band. A real missed opportunity in my opinion — the opaque cardboard covering Big Jambox simply can't invoke the same passionate response as the real deal.

"Big" says more about its size relative to the original Jambox than the competition

Out of the box the Big Jawbone speaker measures 10.25 x 3.25 x 3.75 inches and weighs in at 2.7 pounds making it an absolute beast next to the 5.94 x 1.57 x 2.24 inch / 0.77 pound original. Having said that, Big Jambox is still small — compact enough to be grasped with a single hand. The "Big" in its name says more about its size relative to the original Jambox than the competition. At launch, Jawbone will also sell a small travel case with a handle and slots for the AC block, cables, and Big Jambox.

Big shares the 3.5-mm analog input, Micro USB jack, built-in 360-degree echo-canceling microphone, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR radio, and the big spongy buttons of its sibling. It also carries over the ability to download apps, a variety of customizable voice alerts, and a programmable DSP that enables a switch to Jawbone's binaural LiveView listening mode at the push of a button (more on that later). What's new is a push-button power switch replacing the up-down toggle, a dedicated charging port and pairing button, and a series of eight rubber feet along the bottom to help reduce vibration. Jawbone includes an AC wall charger, 60-inch Micro USB Cable, and 36-inch 3.5mm cable in the box.

Along the top you'll find the same volume up, down, and multi-function Talk (now labeled with a "J") push-buttons, in addition to three very handy new controls for Play / Pause, Previous / Rewind, and Next / Fast-forward. Each button is distinctly shaped to match its function making them quick to decipher.

Of course, things have changed on the inside as well. Big's acoustics originate from a pair of 2.25-inch neodymium drivers of proprietary design, and two opposing passive bass radiators centrally located in the front and back of Big's 10-inch airtight enclosure. Big also packs a much larger 2,600mAH rechargeable lithium ion battery that bumps the 10-hour rating on Jambox to 15 hours for Big (or 12 hours according to the packing materials) — less if you prefer your music, games, or films loud and thumpy (more on that later).

What's missing from Big Jambox is notable: Wi-Fi and AirPlay.

The obvious challenger at this price and size is the $299 Sonos Play:3, a proprietary Wi-Fi speaker that lacks a battery or Bluetooth in its 10.6 x 6.3 x 5.2 / 5.71 pound chassis. That makes Big about half the weight and a third the size of the entry-level Sonos. On the AirPlay front, Big will compete directly with the $299 rechargeable iHome iW1 speaker. The iW1 is about 50 percent larger by volume and twice as heavy.