Customer Reviews

Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth Headset (Silver/Grey)

5 star:		(73)
4 star:		(64)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Ok, for those of you that have the Jawbone or are looking to purchase it, let's face it - it's the best on the market period! The noise cancelling it can do is simply phenomenal! I know since I have had them all from Jabra, Motorolla, Plantronics, etc. We have all been there, if you are in your car, airport, or outside the background noise makes it very difficult for the other person to hear you. If you want to solve that, get the Jawbone!

Now for the problem. The biggest complaint is that it is hard to get the Jawbone to stay in your ear, get on your ear, or feel comfortable in your ear.

Now for the fix. Buy some spare Jabra EarGels from the Jabra website under "Accessories" at $7 for a packet of 6! Jabra EarGels are designed to channel sound directly into the ear for perfect reception, so conversations sound clear and natural at both ends of the call. They are made of a translucent soft material shaped to sit snugly in your ear for a comfortable and secure fit. Jabra EarGels are hygienic and washable and come six in a pack - three sizes for left and right ears.

**The Jabra EarGels are molded to fit an ear perfectly and they will fit over the current round rubber earbud from Jawbone! That's right, keep the round black rubber earbud from Jawbone on the earpiece and then slide the Jabra EarGel over it. Both earbud and EarGel fit snug together and the holes line up perfect! Now you can take off the metal Jawbone earloop. Now place it in your ear. Ah ha, notice it stays solid in your ear and the sound is louder for you to hear. Also with a more secure fit, the Jawbone's voice activation sensor stays snug against your cheek. You can now even take off the Jawbone's tricky earloop since the Jabra EarGel makes the Jawbone stay put in your ear. Without having to use the earloop, you can take the Jawbone on and off your ear fast.

I hope this has helped everyone.

The Good - The Jawbone headset has a lot to like. The noise canceling technology really works. In a car with the radio turned up and the person at the other end could hear me fine, with the radio noise being low muffled background sounds. The Jawbone is loud enough to that you can hear in a semi noisy environment (i.e. car with the radio on, etc...) The unit comes with 4 ear hooks and 4 inserts that fit into the ear, making a comfortable fit an easy find for most. The Jawbone comes with a USB cable, so when traveling with a PC you don't need the extra power supply (but see below).

The not so good - First the Jawbone while wonderful at damping other nosie sources doesn't handle wind. In a windy situation the other person simply can't hear you. So while excellent with most background issues, it is only average with wind. Next, there are only two buttons, one "main" on/off/answer/hangup button. And one volume button. The jawbone attempts to auto set the volume based on the background noise, and this mostly works. But if you want to manually adjust the volume you have one button that turns the volume up then cycles back to the softest settings after reaching the top. This is not a big problem for me, and I almost never need to turn the volume down, but could be an issue for some. Next, The power cord end that plugs into the headset is not a standard USB plug (like the Moto), so you will need the jawbone cable to charge the unit. (Don't loose it!) Finally, the jawbone is designed for your face, not your pocket. It looks like it could be easily damaged in a jeans pocket or other potential crushing situation. So you will need to hold on to the unit in hand or find a safe way to carry it.

Overall the Jawbone is an excellent unit with some amazing noise canceling qualities. If pocket-ability is not a requirement, the Jawbone is a very good option.

I have to say I was a somewhat skeptical about this product based on the reviews; however, since receiving it I have been extremely pleased. The range and clarity of this headset are phenominal. It's crystal clear with the calls I've received and has been the same for the person on the other end. Everyone has asked me if I got a new phone. I've had no dropped calls and am able to pick up my phone, without having it physically on me, from any where in my house. I have a 3-level townhome. I found this out strictly by accident. I forgot I had the headset on and went to the basement. My cell phone rang and the headset jingled as it should. To my surprise when I picked up the call it was as clear as if I was right in front of the cell phone, on both ends. Here are my thoughts (pros and cons) on this headset:

1. Comfort--PRO: This is by FAR the most comfortable headset I've ever used.

CON: It took a bit of time to figure out which of the pieces made the set most comfortable for me.

PRO: There aren't that many to weed through.

2. Aesthetics--PRO: It comes in several colors and is light-weight and interesting looking.

CON: It is a little bigger than most other headsets, and due to the ear piece design is probably not something you'll want to shove down in your pants pocket...'specially if you wear "bun-hugger" blue jeans. ;o)

3. Ease of Use--PRO: It was very easy to pair with my phone. It was very easy to figure out where the on/off and volume buttons were and to use them by feel alone.

CON: If you have heavily calloused fingers, such as a guitar player, you may have difficulty finding the specific pressure point to answer the phone as the little raised dash to push on is very small.

CON: It's a bit akward to quickly get on your ear with one hand, especially if you have really long hair. The rubber end of the ear hook gets caught in my hair and doesn't slide around the ear easily.

PRO: It becomes easier to get the ear hook over the ear with one hand with practice.

Over all I think this is a great product and I made the right choice. If I could do one thing to make a change, I would figure out how to make the ear hook turn and fold flat against the boom so it could be easily pocketed...even in "bun-hugger" blue jeans!

I purchased this at the local AT&T store as I needed a headset immediately when my two year old Motorola finally died. After purchasing two replacement Motorola H700s that worked for 3 weeks each and died, I was up for a change. A friend had recently purchased a Jawbone and told me her friends picked up her call from an airport, and they said it sounded great. That was appealing to me, so off I went.

The 1st Jawbone was dead on arrival out of the box. It wouldn't light up to charge. AT&T cheerfully replaced it a few hours later the same day. 2 weeks later, the wire earloop, about the diameter of a paperclip, snapped where it goes through the main body of the Jawbone. They ship 6 in total, which are either right or left ear only. The second failed about two weeks later. The issue seems to be that the loop material is either too brittle, or to small in diameter in the name of fashion. The shape of the Jawbone is a little awkward to carry with you when it's not being worn. In a computer case, it can't really be flat, so the pressure from the side of the bag snaps it. The same thing happened when I put it in my jacket pocket. When I put on the seat belt in the car, it gently rubbed against the coat and number two was toast. The third one snapped in half when I was putting it on.

One more thing - bring a friend or a mirror when you go to look at one. It pulls my ear funny, so it sticks out, which never happened with the Motorola. I am going to try the Blue Ant next, and see how that one fairs. For now, the Jawbone looks like a future good product, once they re-engineer the ear loops so they aren't so fragile.

Jawbone works better than any other bluetooth headset I've tried before. Volume of calls was high, and I had to make sure not to talk too loud ( normal speech only ), or the caller said I was yelling ( which you tend to do with other headsets so they can hear you ). Found the best way to handle the "buttons" on the Jawbone was to not use them ( except to turn on and off ). I use my handset to answer and end calls ( nice to LOOK at the number Calling any way ). I find the Jawbone very comfortable to wear for hours. I quickly became addicted to using it. If it got lost or broken, I'd immediately have to buy another one!

I've been searching for a Bluetooth headset for quite a while now. I've bought and returned many for both poor fit and performance.

I LOVE the Jawbone!

FIT
I have small ears, and it fits quite nicely. Though it rests on the face, I don't feel as if I have an extra appendage hanging off of my cheek. Also, I don't feel as if I'm going to lose the thing if I move one way or the other too quickly.

It's light and comfortable--and pretty darned attractive. As a matter of fact, the thing is really quite sexy!

PERFORMANCE
On average, in my studio I only get two out of Cingular's five reception bars. Most of the headsets I've had in the past seemed to bring out the worst of this. --Not to mention picking up other annoying interference. I've always had to stay within five feet of my Siemens SX66 phone. None of that with the Jawbone! I've had none of the annoying interference, my conversations are crystal clear both ways, and I can move from one side of my studio to the other without lugging my beloved phone! I LOVE this! I haven't even been outdoors with it yet, but I can only imagine that with better reception, the performance of the piece is that much improved.

So, I very much recommend this to all who have wasted time and money continuously being disappointed about finding THE best BT headpiece. --Sad thing is, I researched every BT headpiece I bought, and many had good reviews. I was so desperate that at one point I even temporarily went back to being corded--and even the corded piece sucked as it had major interference/noise issues. --Actually, the corded headset was the worst of everything I'd tried, despite ITS great reviews! [I'll let the company remain nameless...]

Oh--and I really like the design functionality of the thing. Aside from being aesthetically pleasing as mentioned above, I like the way the buttons are hidden into the piece itself--you press the "area" where the button is hidden to activate/deactivate a given feature. I hate having visible buttons on my head (i.e., on/off, volume, etc.). You might as well label your eyes, nose, etc. None of that here.

UPDATE_March 30th, 2007
Well, less than 30 days later I am having to send the darned thing back. It worked just fine for several days, and then out of the blue I started having major sporadic connectivity issues. Then, it just stopped connecting to my phone altogether. It pairs just fine, but now won't connect. I am SO not happy because that means that this all begins again. I don't even want a replacement at this point (which was recommended by Jawbone, of course) because I don't want to have to deal with possibly having the same issues. Not a happy camper at all...and I take back my five-star rating. I knew it was to good to be true, but was just hoping so much to find a product that worked and worked well. Bummer.

I really want to like this headset. The battery life is excellent, the Bluetooth performance is outstandingly good, with excellent range and good performance no matter where I put my phone on my person. The main feature -- the noise cancelation -- works as advertised. Callers say I come through very clearly, even if there's significant background noise.

Now for the reasons I'm returning it:

1) The headset is *extremely* sensitive to wind. In conditions where other headsets I've used (Treo, B&O EarSet 2) would pick up a little wind but remain usable, the Jawbone is unusable. People on the other end ask me to call them back or hang up because the wind noise is so loud and they can't understand what I'm saying. I don't know for certain, but I suspect that the fancy enclosure with all its holes is at fault, since it can pick up wind from almost any direction.

2) Incoming voice quality is poor. People to whom I'm speaking sound to me like pale renditions of their natural voices. Somewhat tinny and one-dimensional. And, the only time I've ever noticed the Jawbone's supposed automatic boost in incoming volume happen is when there's so much wind noise that the other person can't hear me.

3) Fit is extremely difficult. The ear loop mechanism includes a clever little spring system that is intended, I suppose, to ensure that the contact microphone stays against your cheek. However, I found that it tended to act to lever the earpiece out of my ear, so that the already-tinny sound quality became even worse. This is in stark contrast to the B&O, whose adjustability and fit are spectacular.

4) Non-standard charging cable is annoying and inconvenient. I wish they had just used a mini-USB cable like a number of other headsets are using. I already carry such a cable with me in my bag, so I would always be equipped for a charge.

Long story short: what I really need is a headset that will work in normal conditions. Military noise cancelation technology that will allow me to stand right in front of a boom box and have the person on the other end hear almost nothing but my own voice is very neat. However, if that same person can't stand to speak to me while I walk from my car into a store in a breeze, then the headset is useless.

I hope that Aliph will make a new generation product that addresses my issues above.

I got my Jawbone Bluetooth Headset on May 30, 2007. All parts and accessories come in a very nice, rugged plastic case with the headset nicely displayed at the top. It took a few minutes to carefully remove the headset from the display case....it felt like I was going to break it a few times. I would just carefully cut all of the retaining rubber bands if I had to do it all over again.

It took 2 hrs 15 min to fully charge the headset the very first time (it seemed like too long of a wait before I could play with this new toy). I charged the headset via my laptop computer using the provided USB cable. I assume it would have taken just as long if I had used the AC to USB wall charger instead. Pairing up with my Nokia N80 mobile phone was simple and quick. Just follow the provided instructions.

Next came time to customize the fit of the headset to my ear. The headset comes with 2-left & 2-right earloops, and 4 earbuds. After about 30 minutes of trying every different combination of earloop and earbuds I was able to find one that sort of works. I consider myself as having pretty normal shaped ears, and the combination that I found really is not that great. The headset has to fit pretty much perfectly (with the voice activity sensor touching your cheek), otherwise the person on the other end of you call will not hear you properly. And this is why I only give this headset 3 stars. The fit is an issue, and it feels like the headset wants to fall off of my ear every few minutes. I have it installed properly on my ear, but it still happens. A co-worker bought the same headset and is having similar fit problems also.

When the headset is fitting properly to my cheek, the audio is great, and the noise cancelling ability lets your caller actually hear you better and louder. There are many other bells and whistles that make this headset a fun little toy.....6 hrs talk time, 120 hrs standby, last number redial, volume control, rejecting calls, and voice dialing.

In conclusion, this headset is good, but there could be more improvement in the fit aspects.....and that to me is extremely important.

I'm still undecided on if I'll return this headset or not for a Plantronics headset, I have a few more days to decide.
-David

Noise cancelling. I called my voicemail at work while I was driving into the office, and then later I listened to the playback of my experiment. At first in my recording, I could hear some road noise while I talked as it trained itself to recognize what sounds were my voice and which were noise. After about five seconds the road noise disappeared for the rest of what I said. Then next section of my recorded call I turned off the noise cancelling and on playback I could hear lots of road noise during playback. The last part of my recorded call I turned noise cancelling back on and in the playback it immediately removed all the road noise without the training delay.

Listener volume: The headset seems to choose a reasonable volume for the conditions when I answer a call or move in or out of noisy environments. That's a help.

Audio quality: My voice sounds a little more tinny/digital to others with this headset than with the cheap wired earbud/mic headset that came with my Treo 680, but quite understandable nonetheless.

Added 04 Jun 2007: Some disappointment so if I could I'd reduce my rating to 3 stars. I am getting about 3-4 hours talk time out of the headset before it needs a recharge, this is less than advertised. Also, the charger connection seems to be intermittent (not seating/connecting properly), and the black endpiece it plugs into comes loose from the headset. I'm considering a warranty return.

Well I work in a truck all day long. I leave the doors open and also the trucks I work with are loud. So after using this Jawbone for a week I can say it lives up to its name. I did notice that it does an excellent job in blocking out ambient noise but not wind blowing through the cab area. So I have to close one of the doors to get near perfect sound, but even with both doors open the listener can't even tell I'm in my truck. So this product makes the grade with flying colors.