Jawbone – Bluetooth Headset

Reviewed by Wayne LeFevre

Introduction

The Aliph Jawbone is not new to market. It’s been around for a while, but perhaps it has become more prevalent lately because of the iPhone. Though I have yet to see an iPhone, or even a display; if you do, you will probably notice the Jawbone next to it on the shelf. Of course, I happen to live in one of the states, Vermont, that will not see the iPhone any time soon. At least not in it’s present incarnation.

It does give you a quick idea of the quality of the Jawbone to be given such a prominent status, however. In testing, it’s done everything asked of it, as advertised and exceeding expectations.

The Jawbone technology was developed by Aliph for DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) to enhance communications the most hostile and rugged environments. Jawbone’s Noise Shield technology adjusts and optimizes both incoming and outgoing sound so you can conquer the problems in your own noisy, unpredictable world. Hopefully, you won’t need to test the headset as it was designed for, and just use it in the local war on city noise, the high volume of sound associated with yard maintenance, or even the annoying noise on your daily commute in the car or train.

Getting Started

The packaging for the Jawbone is especially nice. Though it won’t win any “green” fans, for it comes in a largish plastic box, it literally is in it’s own display case (which my son immediately took over for some of his Lego projects). The stand, which the headset rests upon, can be used as a permanent home when the Jawbone is not in use. Included with the headset is a set of four different ear clips and ear buds. The ear loops are left and right specific, with large and standard included, and can be used to optionally reset the headset if needed. The ear buds are of various shapes to fit your ear. The charger plugs into any powered USB port, but does include a switching adapter so you can plug it into a normal wall outlet. It takes about 2 hours to completely charge the headset. Advertised talk time is 6 hours, with an additional 120 hours of standby time.

Pairing to the Jawbone was quick and easy, with no problems encountered. It paired up to both a mobile phone, then was able to pair up to my iMac. The iMac was especially slick. I was able to use the Jawbone with Skype, and many mentioned how well it sounded. The real trick to the Jawbone, however, and its claim to fame is the noise reduction. It worked very well when presented with a constant noise stream. Yard tools, wind, car, all was blanked out when in use and conversations where made without much difficulty. The person on the other end did not have any problem understanding, though of course, it was a little more difficult to actually hear while in the noise stream. The noise shield is optional with the press of a small button. The only time when I ever had any trip ups with the noise shield was with random noise, which was to be expected. Sometimes sounds like fast changing music and the like will occasionally interrupt the shield.

The microphone is highly directional and does a fantastic job separating your voice so no shouting is needed, though for some reason I still find myself raising my voice unnecessarily. Old habits, I suppose. The volume is also adjustable.

Conclusion

The Jawbone works as advertised, and well at that. In over a month of use, I have never had to reset, troubleshoot, or call upon support. I have read that some have thought that the unit was not very sturdy, but I find just the opposite to be true. It has been accidentally dropped a couple of times, and has still functioned normally. You can get the Jawbone in 3 different colors, red, black and silver. I’m still a bit on the fence with headsets, as you can look a bit odd sitting there looking like your talking to yourself, or walking around like your on the set of Torchwood, but the Jawbone works well and pairs great with your new iPhone. (Or other devices. There are still other phones out there, aren’t there?)