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Believe the Hype. Jawbone IS the Best Bluetooth Headset

Posted August 8, 2007 5:00 AM by Gregory Ng
Categories: reviews 

imageI heard the hype. Things like, “You gotta get the Jawbone, man, it’s the best.” and “I heard it is made of military grade materials.” But I still needed to see and hear it for myself.

I’m here to tell you. The Jawbone definitely lives up to its hype. Let me summarize my findings before I get into specifics: The Jawbone offers the best sound quality, the best comfort, and the best styling of any Bluetooth headset that I have ever tested. It is worth every penny. Now for some details.

The Packaging
When you see the packaging of the Jawbone, you know right away that there was the same type of care in the overall aesthetic to this product that you come to expect from products from…err…Apple. So what product could be better to compliment your iPhone? The Jawbone comes in a tall, clear plastic case displaying the headset as if it was a work of art in a museum. Open up the case and you discover a user manual and 2 clearly marked boxes: one that houses other earbud shapes and earloop sizes and the other housing cables and recharging plugs.

The Comfort
The Jawbone is very light and when you choose the correct earloop and earbud for your head, it fits snug and secure without feeling uncomfortable. I was very impressed with how easy it was to figure out how to place it on your ear quickly. The first time I needed to use a mirror just to see how the loop fit around my ear. Every time afterwards, I could do it by feel.

The Buttons
One of the cool things about the Jawbone, is the buttons to turn on the headset, to talk, or to engage the Noise Shield are all hidden behind the grill of the main Jawbone body. This provides a clean look that doesn’t feel like you are wearing a Nintendo controller on your ear. But most importantly, the buttons were easy to engage while on your ear.

The Look
The sample I received was the red Jawbone. It also comes in Silver and Black. The Jawbone is designed to hug the contour of your face and I appreciated the fact I didn’t look like a member of the Borg wearing it. Not that I endorse the use of your headset everywhere you go, but sometimes a brotha needs to chat on the go. Still, although the form factor is small, the design is so unique, someone would be able to recognize it from afar. It really is striking.

The Goods
Ok. Now for the most important thing: the sound. The sound coming out of the Jawbone is great. Turn on the Noise Shield, and it is truly amazing. I wish there was a way to install this type of technology on every phone let alone bluetooth headsets. The Jawbone tagline is “Noise is Nothing” and they definitely back it up. Be sure to check out the demo videos on the Jawbone website. It is as good as the video shows.

The Jawbone retails for $119.99 and can be purchased at the Apple STore, the AT&T Store, and online here.

5 out of 5 Stars

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Comments

  1. i agree. the jawbone rocks. i’ve been very happy with mine.

    Posted by franko on August 8, 2007 7:31 AM

  2. Jawbone has excellent sound quality. otherwise, it is a piece of c**p! It clicketty-clicks while worn, it falls of your ear easily, too easily, the buttons are HARD to press and it lacks several important audio warnings, mainly the one telling you you HAVE disconnected the call. I returned mine and haven’t regretted the decision (just, sound WAS good).

    Posted by Name on August 8, 2007 8:16 AM

  3. Great call quality, amazing noise-cancelling, but I have to agree about the lack of audible feedback. I never know when it has answered my iPhone, as far as I know, there’s no way to tell if the noise-cancelling feature is activated or not, and I have yet to get a good fit with all of the switchable earpieces.

    Posted by Tbone on August 8, 2007 11:05 AM

  4. Ah, documentation.  Such a brilliant thing it is.  It tells you thinks like, “Here’s what the beeps mean”, and “Noise cancellation is always activated when the headphone picks up a call.”

    Wind noise, however, is a weakness of this headset.

    And if yours is going CLICKITY CLICK, maybe you should RETURNITY RETURN it!  Woohoo!

    Posted by Captain Cabbage on August 8, 2007 11:33 AM

  5. Noise cancellation isn’t activated when you pick up a call if you have previously deactivated it, hence the problem.

    Posted by Tbone on August 8, 2007 12:05 PM

  6. I am about to purchase a Jawbone Silver but I was disappointed to read about the problems people are having above. Finding a good fit would seem to be fairly easy (in theory) based on the fact that they send you a variety of earbud and earclip sizes.  Certainly it seems like some patience and practice might be needed in order to master the features of this unique device.  QUESTIONS: (1) How long is the return warranty, and (2) does it fully support USB 2.0, or is it a 1.1 or 1.2.  The demo on the home page was so incredible that it is hard to resist at least trying it with my HTC-MOGUL (Sprint PPC-6800).  Am I right or wrong?  Thank you for your feedback!  Dale at DalePatterson@aol.com

    Posted by Dale Patterson on August 23, 2007 10:54 PM

  7. Someone on CNet recommended the following fix for fitting.  I ordered the accessory from Amazon, should have them this week.

    Pick up a set of Jabra eargels (google it or search amazon.com).  You ditch the earhoop completely and get a seal in your ear canal for better sound.

    I’m hoping it works because I never did find a earhoop in the set that worked well for me.

    Posted by Matt on September 10, 2007 3:10 PM

  8. Would someone mind telling me what the point is of having a bluetooth headset if you don’t have voice dialing capabilities?  As far as I’m concerned the headset would only be able to live up to 1/2 of its potential - which is sad

    Posted by Jhuck on September 18, 2007 8:03 PM

  9. Regarding the voice dial feature, do all of the Jawbone owners agree that the unit does NOT have this feature?  If so, then would you kindly describe how you go about making consecutive calls when you are driving?  Here in Florida, it is now illegal to be doing anything that could affect your attentiveness to the road. Even if speaking to parties is hands free, dialing phone numbers or even attempting to use the PHONE’S voice dial feature, may just qualify you for a $150 ticket.  I had a Motorola H700 that specifically had its own voice dialing feature, but the sound was not very good.

    Posted by Dale Patterson on September 19, 2007 12:40 AM

  10. Whoa—good news!  I just went to the official Jawbone site and printed out the Owner’s Manual.  On pages 10, 11, and especially 12, there are specific instructions for setting up VOICE DIALING using the Jawbone.

    There is also a lot of useful information in the Owner’s Manual.

    That did it… I’m now ready to buy it!

    Posted by Dale Patterson on September 19, 2007 1:29 AM

  11. amazing how many of the complaints are solved if you just bother to RTFM.

    Frankly have yet to find a reason to turn the noice cancellation OFF other than to demo how good it is (by subjecting someone to uncancelled sound).. after which you’d want to turn it back on and leave it that way..

    Fit is obviousely subjective, but for me it’s very good after I changed to the larger ear-loop.  The only hassle there is that unless you want to carry around a spare ear-loop you pretty much need to decide on which side you are going to wear it on, and stick to that.. no trading off..

    I’ve seem some complaints that it’s hard to get on or off, but I think personally that’s a matter of technique.. I know I don’t have a problem..  I just pick it up, ‘unfold’ the earloop if I’ve folded it against the body of the thing, , I hold it with the ‘front’ (what would face my mouth) facing me, then put the tip of the earloop at the top of my ear and rotate about 90 degrees, sliding the earloop along the back of my ear as I do so and slip the ‘ear-bud’ part into my ear.  bingo done, takes about a second total.  (ok perhaps sounds cumbersome but it’s one smooth motion, trust me)

    Posted by Chuck vdl on September 21, 2007 2:22 PM

  12. I guess I am one of the lucky ones, as the Jawbone fit my ear perfectly right out of the box.  However, I did have to swap the larger ear plug with the smaller, flatter one.  I can now put the jawbone on securely and comfortably in 1-1.5 seconds (whether I have my glasses on or not!).  In fact, it fits so comfortably that on a few occasions I actually went to bed with it on!!!!!!!  On the other hand, occasionally people call me and leave messages and my phone doesn’t ring.  That has happened 3-4 times.  But that’s very minor compared to the exceptional fit, sound and noise shield. I put on my old Motorola H700 and it felt loose and uncomfortable. VIVA THE JAWBONE!!

    Posted by Dale Patterson on November 14, 2007 9:46 PM

  13. Cheap Chinese made crap.  It’s very well designed and the packing is very Apple, but you can tell the item was made as cheaply as possible by migrant workers in China.  They expect you to pay a super premium price on this, but they didn’t go for a premium manufacturing process. 

    Thumbs down to me.  I wish I had known before.

    Posted by New User on February 28, 2008 6:04 PM

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    Posted by kraloyun on May 22, 2008 2:38 AM

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    Posted by kraloyun on May 24, 2008 10:50 AM

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