Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth Headset

The Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth headset really is extraordinary. The experience starts with the box that it comes in, resembling the display of a work of art you might find in a museum, and these good first impressions are just a sign of things to come.

The Jawbone Bluetooth headset is an upgrade to the wired Jawbone headset. The Bluetooth version received an impressive makeover leaving it looking much sleeker and, because it is Bluetooth, the annoying clunky cord is no longer a problem.

The new look, designed by Yves Behar, a distinguished industrial designer, is very impressive. The Jawbone is available in black, silver, and red, and they all look as attractive as each other.

The front face is a glossy black accompanied by small perforations from the front of the device to the LED at the rear. The LED glows white when the headset is active and glows red for powering up and down. The LED acts as a divider between the perforated part and the rear black glossy piece that contains the Jawbone wording and tops the headset. Buttons are located under the surface of both the perforated and the brand bearing areas. Both of these buttons are easy to find and press.

The size of the Aliph Jawbone is on the large side at 45.7mm x 55.9mm x 17.8mm (1.8" x 2.2" x 0.7"), but the performance of the headset makes this barely a consideration. Unlike the size, weight is a fairly standard 28.3g (1oz).

The Jawbone's battery was the only feature of this headset that did not stand out, delivering a talk time of 6:13 (hh:mm) and coming with a manufacturer claim of 120 hours of standby time. The charger that comes with the Jawbone is a USB charger, but the package includes a USB to AC adapter. The package also includes four adjustable ear hooks, five ear buds, and a user guide.

Thankfully, using the Jawbone turned out to be just as enjoyable as looking at it. The main talk button is used for answering and ending a call with a short press, or powering the headset up and down with a long press. The talk button is also used for voice dialling, last number redialing, and transferring a call between phone and headset. The Noise Shield button, the smaller button that carries the Jawbone branding, is used for turning the Noise Shield and Voice Activity Sensor on and off, changing the volume level, rejecting incoming calls, and putting the device into pairing mode.

The volume control is different to that of most other headsets in that there are six levels of volume, but only one volume control button. The Noise Shield button will increase the volume to the next level and is accompanied by an audible beep. Once the headset reaches the maximum volume level, another press of the Noise Shield button will put the headset back to the minimum volume level.

Pairing mode can only be entered when the headset is off, and is achieved by holding the noise shield button until the LED flashes red and white. Pairing the device was easy, and we had no troubles during testing. The pairing code is '0000,' and the number of simultaneous pairings is unspecified.

The audio quality of the Aliph Jawbone really is outstanding. The noise cancellation it uses was optimized for the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Department of Defense research and development organization. The Jawbone uses directional microphones as well as signal processing to separate background noise and speech. In noisy environments, callers on the other end couldn't fathom how noisy it was on our end when described to them, and for a call from a noisy environment, the caller could only hear faint clicking as the noise reduction went to work. From a noisy car to a busy food court, the performance of the Jawbone was just stellar.

The Voice Activity Sensor aids in noise cancellation, and is indeed what gives the headset its name. This sensor is a small plastic nub that sits on your cheek while you are wearing the headset, detecting when you are talking using the vibrations in your jawbone and adjusting the microphone and noise cancellation appropriately.

The incoming audio was equally impressive. The volume is able to be manually controlled. The Jawbone assesses the current environmental background noise and adjusts the volume to suit. The in-ear buds also help with blocking external noise.

As well as the outstanding audio and sleek looks, the Jawbone is very comfortable. The range of fitting accessories it comes with means there is a secure, comfortable fit for most people. The ear loops are shaped specific to the ear you wear the headset on, with two large and two small ear loops included, one of each for the left and right ear. The ear loops themselves are comfortable and contour nicely to the shape of your ear, and the part that is against your ear is covered in a nice soft rubber. The headset can be worn without these ear loops, and the Jawbone is the most secure and comfortable headset when used without ear loops that we have seen to date.

Five ear buds are included and come in an assortment of shapes, but are all based around a teardrop design or the more traditional round shape.