Aliph Jawbone Noise Shield Bluetooth Headset (Red)

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
• Jawbone's ergonomic design enhances the acoustic performance and keeps the device lightweight, stable and comfortable

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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 not only due to its unique looks but also thanks to 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 red, but it's also available in black 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

  Disappointment abounds with this high-rated headset, 2008-07-18
I'm so thoroughly disappointed by the results of this headset. After much time and research online, I decided that of all Bluetooth options, the Jawbone looked the best. The design was intriguing to me - and the sound is pretty good but certainly not flawless - but the fit is the biggest drawback. After trying it out for a few days, I realized that NONE of the ear hooks fit properly over my ear. I also switched out the little buds, which also did not fit - to the point that it almost fell out many times. In addition, it is abnormally time consuming to fit the awkward loops and earbuds over your ear while driving. If it doesn't fit properly in your ear or OVER your ear, you won't get the optimum sound, right? That's what I found. I'm sending it back and ordering another one.

  Works great! (and girls like it too!), 2008-07-17
I'd seen the Jawbone commercials - you know, the guy with all the loud yard equipment in the background, and wondered if the noise reduction you REALLY got was as dramatic as the commercial would have you believe.

NOISE REDUCTION:
Well, not quite, but it DOES reduce background noise for the person on the other end of the connection, NOT you. I tried switching from noise reduction enabled to disabled while standing within earshot of a busy expressway). My calls could all hear the background noise when noise reduction was enabled (the default state), but disabling it caused the noise they heard to be so great they couldn't understand me. I can't say that noise reduction was 100%, but it was pretty darned good.

FIT:
I was a little uncomfortable with the fit at first - it seemed too loose to me. The unit comes with several ear loops and ear buds, and I tried them all before settling on the loop and bud that came installed out of the box. As I've grown accustomed to the unit, though, the 'looseness' no longer bothers me, and I find I can wear it the entire day without discomfort. In noisy environments I find I have to press the earbud deeper into my ear to drown out ambient noise. This hasn't been a huge inconvenience, because I don't spend that much time in high-noise environments, but I could see it being a major annoyance if I did.

APPEARANCE:
I've seen plenty of grey and black Jawbones (even one that was painted with shimmery pink nail polish), but have never seen another red one like mine. I get a lot of positive comments on both color and appearance.

I really like the appearance of the unit. It's distinctive; clean lines, no visible buttons. It just LOOKS easy to use.

BLUETOOTH:
I've used several Bluetooth headsets, with varying degrees of ease in pairing the unit to my phone. This one was one of the easiest and quickest setups I've done. My phone is a Blackjack II, using Windows Mobile 6.

PRICE:
I've wanted a Jawbone for some time now, but wasn't willing to purchase one until the price fell under $80. Of course, that was only because Jawbone II was recently released. I don't know that I'd invest in a full-priced Jawbone or Jawbone II, but it was definately worth what I paid for mine.

I highly recommend this product.

  Total frustration & a waste of money, 2008-07-17
I'm not one to give a negative review lightly - I research the product well before I choose to buy it, but I misjudged this Jawbone headset big-time! After over a month of use, I have to say this is the worst bluetooth headset I've ever had the misfortune to own.

The fit is terrible - none of the ear inserts feel comfortable or stay in my ear more than a few minutes, causing me to continuously fiddle with it trying to get the thing back in my ear while on a call. This causes a great deal of noise, interrupts the flow of the call, and is incredibly frustrating at the very least, not to mention requiring me to use my hands while on a "hands-free" call - totally negating the purpose of using the headset in the first place.

The ear wire is awkward to put on, and no matter which size I've used the thing will inevitably fall off my ear the first time I make a movement - and I'm not talking about throwing my head about wildly here - I mean normal natural movement. That puts the damper on using this while driving - I don't need it flying off when i turn my head to see oncoming traffic.

Yes, the call does sound good, although I can't really say I've noticed the noise shield feature making any difference, but it definitely doesn't sound so much better than the previous units I've owned to warrant the high price tag. Maybe I was lured in by the spiffy red ultra-elegant look, maybe it was the glowing review by a friend, but either way this headset has been a total waste of my time and money. I only wish I was able to give it 0 stars instead of 1 star.

  The good, the bad, and the ugly, 2008-07-16
The Good: Everything you may have heard about the sound quality of this headset is probably true. After many people I calld complained about noise or not being able to hear me when I used my Motorola 700 I decided to bite the bullet and try a different headset. The Jawbone solved the problem for people I called beautifully. Not a single complaint, no strugling to be heard, no static/hissing, and I could actually wear my phone on the opposite side of my body with no loss of quality. (The Motorola couldn't be used in the right ear if the phone wasn't on the right side of me within two feet of the headset.)

The Bad: Don't believe statements claiming the Jawbone is good for use in loud environments. It may or may not work for you. Although the touted sound quality was there for the people I called, I often could not raise the volume of the earpiece loud enough to hear them. This may be due to the fact that I couldn't find a combination of the five differently shaped ear inserts and two ear clips that fit me well enough to block out ambient noise from my ear. For me, the Jawbone was half a solution.

The Ugly: Make no mistake about it, the Jawbone is fragile. It should be fine for people who can put it away in a purse or attache case (maybe a suit pocket?) when not in use, but forget about putting it in the pocket of your jeans while you work or play. The ear clip that fit my ear broke in less than two weeks of use, and the second ear clip was so tight in the Jawbone socket that it was bending as I tried to put it in. I returned the unit.

I'm still looking for a satisfactory Bluetooth headset.

  Can you hear me now?, 2008-07-15
This headset is great! Not only can I hear others clearly- they can hear me perfectly, even when the convertible top is down. I like this headset even better than the Jawbone2- which, as I understand it, is the newer version.

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