Aliph Jawbone Noise Shield Bluetooth Headset (Black)

Product features

• Advanced, military-grade noise-canceling system continuously adapts adapts to your environment
• Award-winning modern industrial design by Yves Behar
• Can be worn on either ear; includes four earloops and five earbuds for custom fit
• Charges via proprietary USB cable

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Product description

These days, it seems that wireless Bluetooth headsets are a dime a dozen, but Aliph's Jawbone stands apart from the pack due to its unique look and some seriously amazing noise canceling technology. Originally developed for DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) to create a communication headset that would pick up voice in hostile environments, the Jawbone offers some of the best clarity from a Bluetooth headset we've experienced. This version comes in black, but it's also available in red and gray.

Sophisticated modern industrial style meets the next step in audio technology with the Jawbone Bluetooth headset.

It can be worn on either ear, and you can customize your fit by choosing from one of the included earloops and earbuds.

The first thing you notice about this headset is its rather chunky size and cheese grater-like texturing on the exterior. Designed by Yves Behar, an award-winning industrial designer who also contributed to the design of the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child, aka the $100 Laptop), the Jawbone certainly has that iconic modern look that will be copied for years to come. It's also a bit large on the face (due to the embedded technology and speech sensor), which reminded us of Lando Calrissian's assistant, Lobot. But then there's no easy way to disguise a Bluetooth headset, and it's probably an advantage as passersby won't think you're just muttering crazily to yourself.

The Jawbone can be worn on either ear, and it comes with four earloops of varying sizes to fit your lobe. Made of solid metal with a rubber cover, they're fairly comfortable around the ear. The trick, however, is getting it on over the ear, and this is the Jawbone's biggest disappointment. Because it's so stiff, you literally have to use both hands to try to slip it on over your ear. And since we don't wear our headset constantly, we missed a few calls while performing this dance. Also, the metal frame does bend (as we found after carrying it in our pocket), which can be viewed as an annoyance or as a feature--enabling you to form-fit the frame to your ear. It also comes with five ear pads of varying shapes and sizes, and we tried one of the teardrop shaped pads to secure the Jawbone inside our ear sans metal frame--it was comfortable and worked for awhile, but isn't a solution if you're moving around a lot.

As with Steve Jobs, Behar is not a fan of protruding buttons. Thus, the Jawbone's two controls are hidden within the headset, requiring you to press either the front or back of the unit to answer calls, adjust volume, or turn on/off the noise cancellation function. While we've read some reviews that complained about these hidden controls, we had no problem in accessing them and appreciated their tactile response. The Jawbone also comes with a custom-fit recharging cable that can either plug into a PC's USB port or into the included wall jack. We enjoyed the flexibility of the USB charging, but wished the cable could have been a more standard USB mini-jack (for those times when you forget to bring the cable along).

But the true test of the Jawbone is how its "noise shield" performed. First, a little about this technology. The Jawbone has a small piece of rubbery plastic that protrudes from the bulbous microphone and sits flush against your face, and this sensor tells the Jawbone whether or not you're speaking and can remove background noise from your ongoing speech signal. It can also dynamically adjust the volume of the incoming audio from your call.

We tried the Jawbone in a number of different situations, and for the most part it worked flawlessly. Sitting at our desk with the stereo volume cranked up while playing The Chemical Brothers, our call partner was none the wiser. She didn't hear any of the music coming through, and our voice came through strong on her end. While standing on a street corner, the undulations of traffic noise never made it through to our caller, while we noticed an uptick in volume with an increase in traffic noise.

However, the Jawbone wasn't perfect, as it doesn't do a great job in windy situations. Still, for the good majority of situations you'll find yourself in--from busy airports to talk-heavy coffeehouses to traffic-laden city streets--the Jawbone should perform very well, masking the surroundings to improve fidelity for you call partner as well adapting your ear volume to the surrounding environment. We just wish the ear frame was a bit more flexible.

Pros:

• Amazing background noise masking capabilities--even when faced with loud, thumping music
• Outstanding adaptive volume as the environment around you changes
• Options for customizing the fit

Cons:

• Metal earloop frames are hard to quickly put on
• Non-standard USB connection is a bummer if you forget the cable at home

User reviews

  Fit is Comfortable ... Sound is incredible ... , 2008-07-23
So I read most of the reviews of the Jawbone ... The biggest gripe is the comfort and fit ... turns out the Jawbone fits great on my ear and is very comfortable after experimenting with the combinations. Needless to say it is by far the best blue tooth headset out there. I can easily put it on my ear with one hand as well. With this new low price of about $60 ... it is a no brainier! Go buy it!

  too bulky,not comfortable at all,noise shield?i don't thing so.please be careraful befor you buy., 2008-07-21
I have alot of problem with this one:noise shield,echo,bulky,not fix in my ear at all,some day i will try a new jawbone,for now with this proplems not for me.

  JAWBONE, 2008-07-20
My first purchase proved to be a God Send as I am hearing impaired and the last device I had was not compatible with my hearing device. The jawbone is the best I am aware of. Considering I am asking my
left ear to carry a behind the earl hearing aid, the jawbone and also eye glasses and it all works very well.
Also considering we now have to have hands off to use a cell phone I am thankful I got all this in place well
before the law went into affect. I should mention that I have used many different headset devices with my
land line phone before taking all my calls on my cell phone so I am no newcomer to headset and have had
several. I thought plantronics waa the best till I tried the jawbone. To conclude I have tested it several times
while driving over the summit on I80 to Lake Tahoe and if you have used that highway you know how much
tire noise is generated as the road surface is really the craps. Also have called my oldest daughter while in a
car wash and made the call just before approaching the end when the drying fans came on and she said she
heard some noise but still able to hear what I was saying. I am very glad that Wayne Nelson in my ski club told me about his wifes comments on the jawbone as the name itself may have caused me not to try the device. The jawbone works for me.

  Decent. But Doesnt Live up to its hype., 2008-07-20
Bought this thing on amazon after hearing the great reviews on Noise canceling.
I found that while it does a great job at canceling noise, and the person on the other end can hear clearly, I have been having a hard time hearing at my end of the conversation with even a moderate level of noise.

Hope this is helpful.

  Excellent, but with one minor setback, 2008-07-20
I had to buy a headset due the new California cell phone driving laws. I did some research and decided that the Jawbone was the best, and after owning it and using it quite often for my job, I would have to agree. There is one easily fixable flaw though. The ear pieces and ear hooks are terrible. the fit is never consistent and over time, very painful no mater what combination that you use. I heard from many other reviews with this same problem and many fixed the problem with the Jabra EarGels. I bought a set from Amazon and after sizing myself with the large, the problem was solved. With a half drop of superglue to permanently affix the EarGel to the small plastic piece that the original earpiece was encasing, my Jawbone was perfect. It fits so securely that the ear hook does not even need to be used and the sound is better directed through your ear canal. I can also wear it all day with no discomfort at all, and wearing your shades isn't a problem anymore either (sunglass temple laying on top of a poor fitting ear hook really sucks). With this tiny fix, you will definitely have the best looking, best performing, and best fitting bluetooth headset out there. I hope you enjoy it! Regards,

Reinhold

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