By Bob Gatton
Do you have a Bluetooth-enabled phone? Have you tried a Bluetooth headset that is now sitting in a drawer? If you answered yes to these two questions, read further.
Many Bluetooth headsets have very poor audio quality, and even if the sound is adequate in a quiet environment, they are usually not usable in noisy place. And many are uncomfortable and/or make you look like an extra in a Star Wars movie.
If this has been your experience, take a look at the Jawbone. It’s pricier than most of the competition, but if it does what Jawbone claims, it could be a bargain. They allege great sound quality plus it has the ability to reduce ambient noise. They have a technology that they call Noise Shield that uses an advanced, military-grade noise-canceling system that continuously adapts to users' changing environments. This technology has a system of sensors and software, which continuously adjusts — at a rate of 500 times per second — to improve audio quality based on what it knows about the environment.
According to the Jawbone folks, the headset will:
- Identify and isolate your speech. The Jawbone headset has a voice-activity sensor. Its ability to determine precisely when you are speaking is what drives the headset's sound quality. Unlike other headsets, Jawbone can separate your speech from other sounds nearby.
- Subtract the unwanted noise. Jawbone's software continuously samples the sounds in your environment, and then subtracts those sounds from your speech signal. This allows you to speak normally in any environment while still being heard clearly when placing calls.
- Automatically enhance your audio. Jawbone constantly adapts, allowing you to hear your caller better by boosting the frequencies that increase voice intelligibility to stand out over your environment.
The result is if you are in a noisy environment, you can not only hear better on a call, but the person on the other end of line can also hear you better.
That’s what they claim. Lets see what the Jawbone is really like.
1. After charging the JawBone — out of the box, about two hours — and syncing it with my cell phone, I went to happy hour at a noisy bar on a Friday evening (oh, the things that I do in the name of journalism!). I called several people while standing in the middle of the bar. Not only did I not have to shout for them to understand me, I was easily understood — even when I was speaking slightly above a whisper. And everyone I called had no idea that I was standing in the middle of a tavern until I told them.
2. Second test: I tried the JawBone while driving at about 60 miles per hour with all the windows down. Once again, it was easy to understand the person on the other end of the line, and he could understand me.
3. The third test (the one you are interested in – the construction site): Taverns and cars with the windows down have a fairly constant noise level, but at a construction site the level of noise changes constantly. I went to a job site where a friend of mine is the general contractor. Several different trades where present; the place was very loud and level of noise was constantly changing. I spent some time there making calls. The only problem that I had was when the noise got very loud. The JawBone was in my right ear, but the noise I was hearing with my left ear made conversation impossible. But it was very, very loud. There is not much any headset can do about that.
The details:
- It will set you back $119. As I write this (February 2007), the JawBone is only available at Cingular stores (or through the company's website), but it is compatible with Bluetooth cell phones from other carriers. It worked perfectly with my phone, but, of course, I cannot confirm its functionality with other phones.
- The manufacturer claims up to six hours of talk time. I got a bit over five hours — close enough.
- The volume is adjusted by pressing the Noise Shield button. Each press increases the volume one step; there are a total of six steps. To reduce the volume one step you need to cycle the volume up to maximum and then the Jawbone will start back at the lowest volume setting. Or you could adjust volume on your cell phone.
- I have been told that some people have difficulty getting a comfortable fit and with having the sensor maintain contact with the side of the face. I did not have this problem.
- I really like the design. It is available in three colors: black, gray and red.
Bottom line – the JawBone is more expensive than most of the other Bluetooth headsets, but it's worth every penny. It works as promised, it is very comfortable and nobody will think that your last name is Skywalker — unless you buy the red one.
For more information go to www.jawbone.com and watch the demos. You can also order one through the website.
Jawbone
Bob Gatton is a freelance writer and consultant on home technology and media from Knoxville, Tenn.
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