Aliph Kicks The Jawbone Up Another Notch

When Aliph released the first Jawbone, it generated quite a buzz. Touted as THE headset to have, thanks to its military grade noise-cancellation technology, everyone wanted to get their hands on it. One could now make calls and carry out conversations in places that used to be impossible to do so. Alas, the headset did suffer from some flaws (design and built quality mainly) that did not sit well with a good number of users.

Now that Aliph has released a new version of the Jawbone (which is still called the Jawbone), is it time to pick one up? You’ll have to make that call (no pun intended) yourself and hopefully this review will help you do so.

Introduction

The new Jawbone is a reworked version for of the first version that was launched a couple of years back. It’s 50% smaller and a lot lighter. However, not everything was reduced as the price was increase by $10. The first Jawbone retails for $119.99 but the newer version now goes for $129.99 and can be purchased from Jawbone.com as well as AT&T Stores. Aliph has also renamed their Noise Shield technology and now refers to it as Noise Assassin. So what did I think about it?

Outlook

Before I got the Jawbone, I was already anticipating something smaller and lighter. Much to my surprise, even the size of the box was reduced. But that was not all. While the Jawbone was still propped up and its accessories separated into 2 boxes like the first version, this one oozed class. Just take a look at the pictures to see what I mean.

What’s In The Box

There are 4 parts to the package: the headset, the quick guide, the box containing accessories for powering the device and the box containing ear loops and pieces.

Headset

Here are some up close and personal pictures of the headset. I personally like this finish over the previous version because the lack of holes on the surface meant that dust would not gather as easily. And even if they did, brushing them off was a much easier affair.

Wondering where the LED went? I sure did when I first surveyed the headset. I thought it was missing but it turns out that Aliph had blended it very nicely such that you can’t tell if it’s not lighted. But when it does light up, it emits a nice red or white glow (depending on the status) which is rather classy and nothing like the previous version. It’s no wonder that Aliph called the Jawbone Earwear.

If you’ve used the previous version of Jawbone, then you’d be very familiar with the controls of the current version. There are 2 invisible buttons, the Noise Assassin and Talk button. However, they do more than just their name suggests. For example, you can also use the Noise Assassin button to cycle through the volume levels (5 in all). A new feature introduced is the ability to turn off the LED (pressing Talk button 5 times while in Standby mode) which was something I had hoped for.

The semi-transparent nub that you see to the left is that of the Voice Activity Sensor (VAS) which is key to ensuring that the headset works properly. This is what picks up the vibration from your face and eliminates other noise so that your caller only hears your voice.

Proper contact must be achieved between the VAS and your face to ensure that Jawbone picks up the vibrations as it should. Otherwise, you’ll be wondering why the Noise Assassin does not work as touted.

Customize Your Fit

That’s what it says on the box and you guessed it right when you say it contains the ear loop and bud. There are 3 ear buds and 4 ear loops in all to help you get the best fit.

Ear Buds

Unlike the previous version, the current version only provides 3 ear buds for you to play around with. Medium comes attached with the headset and you can switch it between the small and medium sized ones in your box.

The ear buds were comfortable but I would have preferred something with of a more in-ear type of bud for better call volume (more on that later).

Ear Loops

I’ve heard feedback from other sites that they did not like the leather ear loop. If you share the same opinion, then fret not because Aliph has also included normal ear loops for you to choose from.

There are 4 ear loops in all, 2 clad in leather while the other 2 are in plastic (if I am not wrong). Unlike previous versions, the same ear loop can be used for both left and right ear wearing so you could easily switch while on the move, provided you use the same sizes on both ears. What’s even better, if you find can’t a loop that fits you well, you could bend the top of the loop inward or outward to decrease or increase its size respectively. This should then get you a better fit.

Power Up

To juice up your Jawbone, Aliph has included an AC adaptor as well as a cable for connection. The cable has a USB end so you could just as easily plug it into your computer to charge. Or if you do not have one handy, you could always use the included AC adaptor.

The adaptor I got is pretty light and let’s your fold the prongs when not in use which makes for easy transportation. Also, it seems that Aliph has addressed the charge connector problem. While it is still not a standard mini USB plug as I had hoped, the charger connects to the headset much easier. It also disconnects just as easily so you do not have to worry about playing tug of war with it.

For those curious, a full charge takes about 50 minutes but if you do not have that much time to spare, then 35 minutes will get you up to the 80% charge level. Pretty impressive when you consider that it provides 8 hours of talk time and up to 100 hours of standby time.

Quick Guide

Unlike some guides and manual that I have come across, the one for the Jawbone is nicely sized. You could easily put it in your pocket or wallet the first few days when you are using the Jawbone in case you need to refer to it. It does not contain every thing you need to know about the headset but it does contain more than sufficient information to help you get started and tweaking. If you need more support, there’s always the Support section that you could visit which covers a wide range of topics and you can even submit your own.

Personal Experience

So everything looks good on paper. But how does it perform in real life? Well that’s where this section is all about.

A Much Better Fit

Without a doubt, the new Jawbone fits me a lot better than the previous generation. For one, I no longer have to deal with the spring back ear loop. Couple that with the fact the headset is now lighter and you can see why I would enjoy wearing the whole day. So much so that I seldom even realize that it’s there. It is that light.

Buttons Easier To Press

On the previous Jawbone headset, pressing the Talk button required some force and some even complained that it pushed the headset into their face and caused some slight discomfort.

With this new version, buttons are a lot more comfortable to press. That’s not to say that the slightest touch will activate them because you’ll still require a bit of pressure but nothing that would cause discomfort like before.

Charger Connects/Disconnects Better

Another complaint about the previous version was with the charger. Well, with this newer version, you’ll find that charging the headset is no longer a tug of war.

For one, thanks to the magnetic part of the headset, it attracts the charger when placed within close proximity to ensure proper fit. Disconnecting it is just as straightforward: pull the charger and headset apart and it snaps right off. How’s that for improvement?

Call Volume

The call volume still functions like before, that is, you need to cycle through the 5 available volume levels. The reason for this is that Aliph claims the Jawbone to automatically adjust call volume to something that suits your surrounding. And if that is not enough, you can then increase it accordingly.

While this all sounds good, in reality, I would prefer to automatically adjust the volume myself. On certain occasions (when the surrounding was really noisy), I could still hear the other party, but I would preferred a much louder volume.

One way to minimize this setback would be to provide ear buds whose tips protrude into the ear like those in-ear ear phone whose picture I have attached. This would allow for the sound to be directed into the ear canal while sealing off (or to a certain extent) outside noise.

Call Quality

The all important call quality. It doesn’t matter if the headset fits you perfectly and you can hear your callers loud and clear. The question is, how well can they hear you? So rather than describe it to you in words how it performs, here are some audio clips of the Jawbone in action.

Normal Conditions

This is the kind of conditions that many of us would be making calls from. True, you may buy the Jawbone for its military-grade noise-cancellation technology but that does not mean you’ll be heading to the nearest active construction site every time you make or receive a call.

The recording below is that of me in a room with the radio on. Pretty standard setting if you ask me. Here’s the clip:

You could still hear the background music but carrying out conversations was much better with Noise Assassin turned on than it was off. For those wondering, the volume of the radio during the test was twice that of before it was turned up.

Noisy Conditions

There are several type of noisy conditions that one could be in: a noisy concert, the construction site or by a busy roadside. To simulate such conditions, I tested it against a vacuum cleaner:

Like the radio, noise was not eliminated but it was reduced drastically. I hope you didn’t get in trouble while listening to that clip but that’s how your caller’s would normally hear you if you had made the call under such conditions.

Even though noise was not eliminated, it was still reduced to a level that was not distracting when you were making the call. That in itself shows that Noise Assassin does a great job in helping you sound clearer to your callers.

Windy Conditions

How does Noise Assassin stand up to the wind? Here’s the clip:

If you ask me, I think it fares alright. In the first part, where Noise Assassin was on, there was not much difference between that and the second part when Noise Assassin was turned off. But after that, in part 3, Noise Assassin somehow became better adapted to the situation and it actually minimized the wind noise to a much better extent than in the first part. This suggests that if you can get a proper and snug fit with the Jawbone, Noise Assassin does work very well, even in windy conditions (as was heard in part 3). If not, you’ll get something similar in part 1.

Considering that, I would say the Jawbone performed much better than I expected and in lighter winds, which is what we normally encounter, the interference would not be as great.

Unnatural And Digitized Voice?

Have you heard the rumors that using the Jawbone digitizes and makes your voice unnatural? Well here’s a clip of me in an empty room with Noise Assassin toggled so you can check it out yourself:

As you can tell, there’s not much difference between Noise Assassin being turned off and on and there’s really no digitization that makes the voice unnatural.

Overall

All in all, I would say that the call quality is one of the best when compared with other headsets that I have tried. In my tests, noise was not eliminated fully but it was drastically reduced (in the case of the vacuum cleaner).

Wind noise elimination or cancellation is rather tricky and it did fool the Jawbone as you have heard in the test earlier. However, the Jawbone did show some promise, when towards the end of that test, it started to greatly reduce wind noise and almost eliminate it. A step in the right direction definitely for Aliph but I hope it continues to improve on it.

Getting the right fir for the Jawbone is important to make sure that it works as described. A loose or improper fit would not give you the desired result and even though it took me quite some time to find mine, the results do speak for themselves. I guess if I tweaked it a bit more to fit me even better (not sure if it’s possible), I could get the kind of call quality we see in the videos.

On that note, I wished that Aliph had provided a feature that would tell the user if the fit was not proper or perfect. A series of beeps when test mode is activated or something similar would really help the user know when he’s not using it properly. The graphics to show the proper fit are a good start but I think having such a feature would be even better.

Sometimes, I like to take my headset off for some reason or other and in such cases, I have a trouble finding a place to store it. Sure I could keep it in my pocket or the glove box but considering the price of the headset, I want to make sure that it’s well protected. For such a high price, having a carrying case would really help to soften the impact of spending so much. What do you say Aliph?

What I Liked

• Great packaging.
• No more spring-back from the ear loop.
• Ear loop can be adjusted for the perfect fit.
• Headset fits the ear better and feels lighter too.
• Charger now connects and disconnects easier.
• Buttons are easier to press.
• LEDS is hidden when not lit up and when it does, it glows nicely.
• Ability to turn LED off when headset is being used.
• Noise Assassin works great in most conditions.
• I could go on for almost 3 days without recharging it.

What Could Be Improved

• In-ear ear buds for a louder volume.
• Standard volume adjusting instead of cycling.
• Provision of a carrying case.
• Better noise cancellation in windy conditions.
• Ability to tell when Jawbone is not fitted properly.

Conclusion

Aliph has really reworked the Jawbone to what it is with this new version. I have to say that it’s a much better product than it’s predecessor. For those who had issues with the first generation of Jawbone, chances are those issues have been rectified in this version.

While it’s noise cancellation technology, Noise Assassin, does not appear to fully eliminate noise in the tests that I have conducted, it does minimize it to a level that makes carrying out a conversation still possible and comfortable. That is if you can ignore the ambient noise on your end. It still suffers in windy conditions which is something that hopefully Aliph can continue to improve on.

So if you’ve turned your back on Aliph and the Jawbone, now would be a good time to give it another go. For $129.99, the price is on the steep side when you compare it with other noise-canceling headsets out there but then again, can you put a price on decent call conversations in places that used to be impossible?

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