Jawbone 2 review
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From: La Habra
Jawbone 2 review
Executive summary - it works! At speed and with the top down!
Review -
A hands-free phone system is critical for us Californians who are about to hit a July 1st law requiring it. I was planning to just a GPS built-in BT function but that won't work if cabin noise is high, like top down on the highway.
I never tried a BT earpiece before. I mostly make fun of them because you look like a "BlueTool." But if anything has a shot at working in the S2K on the move with the top down it'd be these.
I was tempted by the EtyBlu since I already dig Etymotics' ER4's and the ear insert is supposed to be similar (or same?) but their best noise isolation requires a snap-on boom. If it telescoped out instead I'd probably have tried it.
Other than that one, the new Jawbone 2 gets the best reviews for clarity under noisy conditions. I noted the price on Amazon and drove all over creation, still breaking in my new S so I didn't mind, looking for a store that had 'em. I found it at a local AT&T store for the same sticker as I found at Amazon, call it $140 out the door in CA. Note that Fry's, Best Buy, Verizon stores, Sprint stores, and some local independent cellular stores haven't gotten them yet. A handful of sales clerks didn't know it exists and the rest wanted them but didn't know when they'd get 'em. If I'd bothered to visit the Jawbone site I would have found that they said AT&T is their first retail outlet. They also have a 30 day return policy.
The packaging reminds me of Apple's products, very posh with thin instructions. It comes with three earpiece sizes and four or five ear hangers (two leather-wrapped, two or three thin ones). I got the black one and the outer face is a nice matte diamond-texture black. As good as I can get for wanting it to be invisible. For you bling-ers I think it is available in a gold or silver tone.
First full charge is 50 minutes. I can't verify the battery life yet but they claim 4 hours talk and something like 8 days stand-by.
The controls are almost too integrated. There are two hidden buttons and that's it! So each button has two or more functions. You press the outer shell to push each button, either in the middle of the unit or at the top end. Not too hard to find them but starting off is confusing. In my first test I ended up turning it off rather than making a voice-activated call because I held down the wrong button. Pairing to my RAZR phone was painless but I had to "force" it (supposed to auto-pair when first turned on but I eather goofed that or it had been turned on before).
It provides its own ringtone. I'm not seeing any way to change it. If you're not looking at your phone you also don't get any caller ID. Back to those buttons, pick the right one to answer it because the OTHER button rejects the call.
I was pretty skeptical about this tiny unit's ability to pick up my voice. My wife and I called back and forth a few times while I was on the road. With the top up this thing delivers my voice more clearly than my RAZR phone. It is still perfectly clear with the top down at low speeds. On the highway it got noisy with the top & windows down but she could still hear and understand me fine. That's amazing to me since I can barely hear myself in those conditions! The volume control is incremental, with four or five settings that rotate (press top button once to increment). Near the middle worked fine for me, maybe up one notch at 70 MPH top-down. The max volume setting is painfully loud but my hearing is pretty good so maybe for you deaf rockers?
I'm still not perfectly comfortable wearing it. I'll swap the pieces around some more to see if it is sizing. But probably just not used to having something hanging on my ear, though like I said, I have no problem with Etymotic's triple-flange ear canal pieces.
Two thumbs up from me.
Review -
A hands-free phone system is critical for us Californians who are about to hit a July 1st law requiring it. I was planning to just a GPS built-in BT function but that won't work if cabin noise is high, like top down on the highway.
I never tried a BT earpiece before. I mostly make fun of them because you look like a "BlueTool." But if anything has a shot at working in the S2K on the move with the top down it'd be these.
I was tempted by the EtyBlu since I already dig Etymotics' ER4's and the ear insert is supposed to be similar (or same?) but their best noise isolation requires a snap-on boom. If it telescoped out instead I'd probably have tried it.
Other than that one, the new Jawbone 2 gets the best reviews for clarity under noisy conditions. I noted the price on Amazon and drove all over creation, still breaking in my new S so I didn't mind, looking for a store that had 'em. I found it at a local AT&T store for the same sticker as I found at Amazon, call it $140 out the door in CA. Note that Fry's, Best Buy, Verizon stores, Sprint stores, and some local independent cellular stores haven't gotten them yet. A handful of sales clerks didn't know it exists and the rest wanted them but didn't know when they'd get 'em. If I'd bothered to visit the Jawbone site I would have found that they said AT&T is their first retail outlet. They also have a 30 day return policy.
The packaging reminds me of Apple's products, very posh with thin instructions. It comes with three earpiece sizes and four or five ear hangers (two leather-wrapped, two or three thin ones). I got the black one and the outer face is a nice matte diamond-texture black. As good as I can get for wanting it to be invisible. For you bling-ers I think it is available in a gold or silver tone.
First full charge is 50 minutes. I can't verify the battery life yet but they claim 4 hours talk and something like 8 days stand-by.
The controls are almost too integrated. There are two hidden buttons and that's it! So each button has two or more functions. You press the outer shell to push each button, either in the middle of the unit or at the top end. Not too hard to find them but starting off is confusing. In my first test I ended up turning it off rather than making a voice-activated call because I held down the wrong button. Pairing to my RAZR phone was painless but I had to "force" it (supposed to auto-pair when first turned on but I eather goofed that or it had been turned on before).
It provides its own ringtone. I'm not seeing any way to change it. If you're not looking at your phone you also don't get any caller ID. Back to those buttons, pick the right one to answer it because the OTHER button rejects the call.
I was pretty skeptical about this tiny unit's ability to pick up my voice. My wife and I called back and forth a few times while I was on the road. With the top up this thing delivers my voice more clearly than my RAZR phone. It is still perfectly clear with the top down at low speeds. On the highway it got noisy with the top & windows down but she could still hear and understand me fine. That's amazing to me since I can barely hear myself in those conditions! The volume control is incremental, with four or five settings that rotate (press top button once to increment). Near the middle worked fine for me, maybe up one notch at 70 MPH top-down. The max volume setting is painfully loud but my hearing is pretty good so maybe for you deaf rockers?
I'm still not perfectly comfortable wearing it. I'll swap the pieces around some more to see if it is sizing. But probably just not used to having something hanging on my ear, though like I said, I have no problem with Etymotic's triple-flange ear canal pieces.
Two thumbs up from me.
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 287
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From: New York State
Another unit that works well, is the Jabra BT800. Bought it 2 years ago. Automatically adjusts volume to ambient sound. Don't know if this is still made, or the current cost, but it works for me at 60-70 mph w/the top down too. Might find them on ebay now for cheap?
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Joined: Apr 2001
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From: La Habra
Follow-up on an alternate BT device (I'll post a new thread after I get some pics) --
Today I finally got the Garmin 550C GPS-with-BT I ordered (only $200!). I'm spoiled for life by having GPS in my last car. While the hands-free BT works in a quiet environment (low RPM/top-up) like city driving, no way would it be useable on the highway even with the top up. I have it mounted pretty well on a Modifry bracket (two thumbs up!) but the mic picks up lots of noise and the speaker isn't THAT powerful even at max volume.
I do figure I could use Garmin's hands-free function for city commuting.
Today I finally got the Garmin 550C GPS-with-BT I ordered (only $200!). I'm spoiled for life by having GPS in my last car. While the hands-free BT works in a quiet environment (low RPM/top-up) like city driving, no way would it be useable on the highway even with the top up. I have it mounted pretty well on a Modifry bracket (two thumbs up!) but the mic picks up lots of noise and the speaker isn't THAT powerful even at max volume.
I do figure I could use Garmin's hands-free function for city commuting.
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