Aliph
Jawbone 2 Bluetooth Headset review
Average sound quality, average
feature set,
high price
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The Jawbone 2 is
slimmer and trimmer than Aliph's original Jawbone headset,
and is available in black, gold and silver.
Part
of our series on Bluetooth - more articles listed on
the right.
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This headset - variously known
as the 'New Jawbone' or 'Jawbone 2' is generally an improvement on
the original Jawbone headset, and keeps all the good features of
the original while improving on some of its limitations.
The comfort issue remains its
biggest weakness, but this is subjective and not all users
report comfort problems, besides which, there's no real need to
wear the headset in your ear when not actually on a phone call.
With a list price of $120, and a
street price of about $56 - $75 on
Amazon , this is a
premium priced headset. Its most distinctive feature is
its noise cancelling. If this is something you
need, you'll probably pay the extra cost to get this headset,
but if that is not an essential feature, you'll be happier with
something like the fine performing and extraordinarily bargain
priced Cardo S-800.
What you Get
Aliph's Jawbone 2 is
attractively packaged in a clear plastic box, suspended in the
middle, seemingly in mid-air, on a clear plastic post.
Inside the easy to open
packet is the headset itself, a power charger brick and
connecting cable (which doubles as a connection between a
computer's USB port and the headset, a sheet with a lengthy set
of safety information warnings in English and French, a
Quickstart guide, also in both English and French, and a small
box with three extra earloops and two extra earbuds (in addition
to one of each already on the headset), giving you a variety of
size options to make it possible to customize the fit of the
headset to your ear.
There is no information on
any warranty offered with the unit, but a visit to the
manufacturer's website suggests the headset has a one year
non-transferable warranty.
The unit can be found for
prices ranging from $56 up to about $75 on
Amazon
(depending on it you want a retail or a bulk package and which
color you choose) and doubtless elsewhere too.
Feature Chart
Use this information to
quickly understand the capabilities of the unit and to compare
with other units.
Feature Comment |
Cost |
List price
~ $120
Purchased from
Amazon for $82,
April 09
Available for sale on Amazon at prices from $56
- $75, May 09. |
Ergonomics |
Easy to put
on and take off |
More
difficult than some, but better than the
original Jawbone.
The Jawbone
2 needs to press lightly against the
side of your face for the noise cancelling to work properly, and so there
is a moderately tight fit between your ear and
the ear loop, and not much space to fit your ear
into the ear loop.
|
Easy to use
the control buttons |
Yet again, a
headset that suffers from an unnecessarily
difficult set of user controls and commands -
made even more obtuse in this case because the
two buttons are 'hidden' in the design of the
headset - you don't even have any sort of visual
clue as to where the buttons are or what they
are for.
As such,
perhaps this design deserves not just zero marks
but actually minus marks. |
Comfortable
to wear |
Not as
comfortable as some, due to the need for a
slight amount of tension/pressure that keeps the
headset pressed against the side of your cheek.
It is
probable that some experimentation with the different
sizes of ear pieces and ear loops
is needed to fully optimize the comfort. |
Can you use
with glasses |
Yes, but the
stitched leather ear loops are thicker than the
wire ones and so make for a more crowded 'behind
the ear' space when sharing that space with
glasses. |
Can use with
either ear |
Yes. |
Securely
mounted on ear |
With the
correct combination of ear piece and ear loop,
yes. |
How to carry |
Another
headset that has been designed with no thought
as to how it can be carried when not on one's
ear, and with a relatively fragile ear loop
assembly.
Compatible with Nectar
retractable and
necklace style headset holders. |
Weight |
The unit
weighs 0.3 ounces - this is a light weight and
is less than half the weight of the original
Jawbone. |
Ease of Use |
Commands
intuitive and easy to remember |
No.
The key
thing to remember is how to turn the headset on
and off - not as easy as it might sound with
hidden buttons beneath the skin of the headset.
With a more
restricted set of features than some other
headsets, it is perhaps easy enough to remember
only how to turn the headset on and off, and how
to answer and end calls, doing everything else
from the phone rather than from the headset. |
Volume
adjustable |
Yes.
The unit will cycle through six different volume
levels by repeated pushes of the button at the
end of the unit. |
How fast
does it turn on |
It takes
about four seconds to turn on and about another
second to synch with the phone. |
Manual |
Other
than a Quick Start guide, there is no additional
manual, either with the headset or available on
Jawbone's website.
This is a surprising omission. |
Support |
There are
some FAQs on
Aliph's site, but this doesn't compensate
for the lack of a more comprehensive manual.
Email
support promises a 24 hr response time, and
there is phone support - (877)254-7426 -
available seven days a week, 15 hrs a day
weekdays and 12 hrs a day weekends.
A test email support request got a response in
20 hrs, but it was a stupid and unhelpful
response suggesting the person sending it either
didn't read my problem or doesn't understand the
product she supports. |
Pairing
password printed on device |
No. But like almost every other headset, it is 0000
so in an emergency you have a good chance of
guessing what it is! |
Features |
Battery life |
Over 4
hours of talk or 8 days (192 hours) of standby time
claimed.
These timings are comparable to the earlier
model Jawbone and are neither remarkably good
nor bad compared to 'state of the art' in April
2009.
Talk time is a bit lower than some other
units.
I always carry any Bluetooth headset switched
off and only turn it on when I need to place or
receive a call, so the long standby battery life
is less relevant to me than the talk time
battery life. |
Low battery
indicator/signal |
The unit
will flash red when the
battery is getting low. |
Battery type |
Not
specified, but some type of rechargeable lithium
battery. |
Replaceable
battery? |
No.
As with other headsets, the chances are by the time the battery has died,
you'll probably have bought a new headset. |
Battery
charging method/time |
Yet another
headset with a nonstandard socket. This
headset has a very over-engineered connector
that magnetically attaches to the charging cord.
The only
mitigating point here is that at least the other
end of the charge cable ends in a standard USB
connector, so you do have the option of charging
from a USB hub or computer.
A red
light on the headset goes on while charging and
changes to white when
fully charged.
It takes about 35 minutes to charge the unit to
an 80% charge, and 50 minutes for a full 100%
charge. |
Multi-voltage charger |
Yes. |
Charger
weight/size |
A small brick charger.
2.4 oz total
for the charger and removable cable. |
Other
charging methods |
None
provided, but because the cable that has the
charger-to-phone connection at one end
terminates in a regular USB plug at the other
end, you can connect the unit up to any regular
5V USB port or power supply. |
How many
pairings can be stored |
Not stated,
but apparently only one based on testing.
|
Headset and
hands-free profiles? |
Not stated
but probably yes. |
Audio
profile for computers |
No. |
Bluetooth
compatibility |
Version 2.0,
1.1, 1.0 |
Power/range |
33'/10m. |
Effective
range |
The Jawbone2
had poorer range performance than other
headsets. It was good to 15', not so good
to 20', and beyond 25' or with light
obstructions failed.
The person at the other end of the conversation
had better quality hearing me than I did hearing
them in these tests.
The signal was also dependent on if the headset
was on the side of my face pointing towards my
phone or the other side.
All in all, not quite as good as other Bluetooth
headsets, but okay if all you need is a 5' or so
range between the phone on your desk and the
headset in your ear. |
Warranty |
The warranty
is a generous one year warranty, but offered to
the original purchaser only. |
Free return |
Retailer
policies will vary. |
Noise
cancelling/DSP |
The Jawbone
offers a sophisticated multi-layer approach to
minimizing background noises and doing the best
it can to ensure your voice is clearly heard at the other
end, using both analog (multi-microphone) and
digital signal processing techniques.
It also has another feature - it not only
controls the sound signal that is sent to the
person you're talking with, but it makes some
modifications to the incoming side of the
conversation to help that cut through any
background noise too.
I can't provide a recording of how the incoming
sound is changed, but here is a sample showing
how the headset manages to send out a clear
voice signal in a noisy environment.
As you listen to this
sample,
notice a couple of things. Until the
headset first heard my voice, it didn't know
what to do with the background noise, so it was
feeding through at a high level. But when it heard my voice, it
learned what to
filter out and did so, and continued to do it
any time I briefly paused.
Notice also how the tone
of my voice changes. This is because the
Jawbone is modifying my voice as well as the
background noise to get maximum clarity.
We had to do this test twice - the first time
the Jawbone 2 didn't function well, perhaps due
to not being firmly mounted on my cheek, and the soundclip
above is the better of the two results. |
Sound
quality |
Sound
quality was disappointing, especially in view of
it being such a large part of the Jawbone 2's
claim to fame. Sound level was low and
muffled, and not as good as other
units such as the Cardo S-800.
Here is a
sample recording
so
you can hear the difference between talking
through the Jawbone 2 and directly through an
iPhone, in a quiet environment, and draw your
own conclusions.
|
Capabilities |
Turning on
and off |
This is not
easy.
The
instructions say to press the hidden main
('talk') control button for two seconds to turn
the phone on or off, but several times I must
have misjudged the duration of the 2 second
press because the phone failed to turn on (or
off - something that is harder to detect). |
Auto connect |
Yes. |
Voice tag
support |
Supported
(if also supported on the phone, of course).
You press the Noise Assassin button (the one
hidden on the end of the phone) for two seconds
to initiate this mode. |
Last number
redial |
Yes.
Press the Noise Assassin button three times. |
Transfer
call to/from phone |
Not known. |
Call
waiting/Three way calling |
You can
answer a waiting call while on a call by briefly
pressing the Talk button. |
Call reject |
Yes.
Press the 'other' button (the 'Noise Assassin' one on the end of
the headset). |
Call
answer/end |
Yes.
If the
unit is already on, a short press of the main button
will answer an incoming call.
To end a call, a short press of the control button is
again needed.
The unit signals incoming calls with a
quiet tune which
you'd only hear if the unit was in your ear, so
you probably need to rely on hearing the phone
handset's ring. |
Mute |
No. |
Other Features |
You can turn
the Jawbone's noise cancelling feature on and
off by pressing the Noise Assassin button for
two
seconds while in a call, but you'll probably never want to do
this.
No other
special features. |
Subjective |
Attractive
design |
Yes, at
least to my taste. Subdued and discreet,
not too flashy. Available in three colors
(black, silver and gold). |
Flashing
indicators on standby |
Yes,
a white light flashes once every
six or seven or so seconds
while the unit is on standby.
This
can be switched off.
There is no flashing indicator however for when
you are on a call. |
Size |
The unit
measures about 2.3" x 0.5" and is 0.5" thick,
with the earpiece protruding out another 0.5".
The earloop
increases its size to about 2.9" x 1.6", with the
same thickness.
The fragile
earloop makes it difficult to carry in a pocket,
although you can rotate the earloop in to sit
against the body of the headset when not in use,
which reduces its size and protects it somewhat. |
Summary |
This is a good headset,
but not as excellent as we'd hoped it to be.
Visually and physically
it is an improvement on the original Jawbone,
but in terms of sound quality and noise
filtering, it doesn't seem to perform any better
at all.
With a list price of
$120 and currently available
on
Amazon
for a price ranging
from between about
$56 - 75, it is more expensive than other headsets tested to
date, and so unless you have a special need for
its noise cancelling, you might want to consider
a lower priced headset. |
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Using the Aliph Jawbone 2 Headset
Like its predecessor, the
original Jawbone, this headset requires to be firmly mounted on
your ear and pressing against your cheek for it to correctly
sense when you are speaking and to learn how to separate your
voice from other background noises. But if you try and
help the process by pressing on the headset, this actually makes
things worse not better.
It is therefore important to
choose the right combination of earpiece and ear loop so as to
get a firm natural fit for best functionality, while hopefully
not making the headset too uncomfortable to wear.
This makes it a little less
'idiot proof' in operation than other headsets, but when
properly warn, it does a very good job of noise reduction.
On the other hand, a regular iPhone does almost as good a job of
noise reduction.
I regularly found myself
failing to turn the headset on or off, and 'got lost' a couple
of times, having no idea what I'd done or what the headset was
doing in response to my accidental button pushes. It is
not a user friendly headset at all.
It is considerably smaller
than the earlier original Jawbone model, and discreetly stylish
without being too gaudy or flashy.
Connecting with phones
Everything worked fine with
no problems encountered.
Summary
The Jawbone 2 updates the
design of the original Jawbone. But what a shame that
instead of updating the outward design of the phone, the
manufacturer did not also reconsider their very hard to follow
user interface, and make it easier for us to use the headset.
In terms of actual sound
quality and noise cancelling, there's very little difference
between the Jawbone and the Jawbone 2.
The Jawbone has a current (May 08)
street price of about $56 - $75 through
Amazon .
This puts it in the higher price bracket and is appreciably more
expensive than other units that perform almost as well.
So - bottom line - the
Jawbone 2 is twice the price of the other current best recommended
high end headset (the Cardo S-800)
and comparable to the BlueAnt Q1 (our current favorite).
Should you spend $60 for a Jawbone, choose the similarly priced
BlueAnt Q1, or settle for the S-800 for
$40 less?
To find out the answer to
that question, we've provided a comparison page highlighting the
differences between the Jawbone,
Jawbone 2, the BlueAnt Q1
and the Cardo S-800.
Chances are you'll be happy
with either choice, and if your work or life-style requires you
to be able to carry out phone conversations in unusually noisy
environments, you would probably find the extra cost of the
Jawbone to be money well spent.
Recommended as a high end
unit, but not as a good value unit.
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Originally published
8 May 2009, last update
21 Jul 2020
You may freely reproduce or distribute this article for noncommercial purposes as long as you give credit to me as original writer.
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