Back in July, we bitched about our Motorola H700 bluetooth headset dying. So frustrated were we with Motorola’s track record, we swore off buying another Motorola bluetooth product, and instead picked up the highly recommended Aliph Jawbone 2.
Touted as one of the best headsets due to its noise reduction technology, the Jawbone 2 differs from its predecessor primarily in regards to size. That is to say, the Jawbone 2 is smaller than the original, and since bluetooth headsets often look obnoxious clinging to the side of someone’s skull, the reduction in the Jawbone’s size was welcome. We made our purchase with high expectations.
Sadly, the Jawbone 2 is as lame as it is cool. There are no visible buttons on the Jawbone, though pressing the surface turns the device on and off. There are, however, no volume buttons on the Jawbone 2, which we found to be annoying as the whole purpose of having a bluetooth headset means not worrying about fiddling with one’s phone while talking. The Jawbone’s hidden light is pretty cool, but we’d rather forego this for some more functionality.
As far as the Jawbone’s noise reduction goes, it’s tough to say, since we were on the speaking end and not the listening end of our phone calls. Some people made no comments at all about the audio quality (suggesting that it was pretty good), while other people occasionally complained about not being able to hear us, likely because the Jawbone 2 didn’t rest consistently on our face. And that’s really where the Jawbone 2 struggles, because despite including different earbuds and ear-loops, we couldn’t find a combination that kept the Jawbone 2 properly in place, and its resting perfectly well on one’s face that the Jawbone’s noise reduction technology relies on.
Our annoyance at this only grew when we realized that the Jawbone 2 couldn’t simply be thrown into our pocket, because the ear-loops were made out of a flimsy plastic that would bend and break down, until the dumb thing would just snap. After this happened the first time, we stopped putting the Jawbone 2 in our pants pocket and kept it in a suit or jacket pocket instead, which generally didn’t bend the ear-loop into an awkward position. After several months, these precautions still didn’t entirely work, however, as the ear-loop broke again.
The original Jawbone came with an ear-loop made out of metal, and we have no doubt that it was more durable than the ones the Jawbone 2 ships with. From what we could tell, all replacement ear-loops are similarly plastic, and therefore are also destined to fail. It’s pretty sad when a product retailing for around $100 has such a major critical weakness. Quite simply, we’re not cool with the idea of buying replacement ear-loops every couple months because of a design flaw that easily trumps the H700′s wire wear.
Aliph needs to either sell better ear-loops, or re-design the ear-loop/earbud system on the Jawbone entirely. And while they’re at it, they need to dump the Jawbone’s proprietary charging interface – mini-USB is the way to go, since travelers don’t want to have to carry an extra cable around just for their headset.
Until we see some improvements by Aliph, we’ve restarted our search for a durable, quality bluetooth headset. Any suggestions?
{ 11 comments }
There is in fact a VOL button on this device it’s the rear button ,the noise cancellation button. You know there are two buttons on the Jawbone 2 don’t you? I hope so. It does have some nifty shortcuts for voice dialing, VOL adjustment, etc….maybe if you read the instructions….
Yes, there’s a second button on the Jawbone, but no dual volume buttons like on other headsets.
Does the instruction manual explain why the ear-loops are such enormous pieces of shit, and how they can be made to not break? ’cause we didn’t see that information in there.
The original Jawbone loops are pos too. Jawbone quit making them and you can oly get them on ebay at around $10.00 for one crappy loop. Jawbone-worthless. Save your money and buy a Jabra or Plantronics bluetooth.
Lucky for me the JB2 fits nicely in my ear even without the earloop. I would recommend being gentle with the earloops, just out of my years of experience with headsets in general. These aren’t beefy Plantronics earloops, this is a delicate, metro, sleek Jawbone 2. To be enjoyed with fine wine.
I agree with your feedback and I can’t wait for the next Aliph release. They are good about listening to feedback before going back to the drawing board, so that leaves me hopeful for the future. Great review with open, honest and direct feedback. Kudos!
I love the Jawbone 2. It’s a great headset with great sound. Super sleek design, too!
jawbone headset
The volume thing is annoying. You have to cycle through five volume settings with the loudest being not that loud. I frequenly go past it, back to the lowest setting, then counting my way up to the fifth setting. I frequently find myself pushing the thing in my ear with one hand so I can hear while driving, which defeats the purpose of a headset. The earloop is horrible. It rarely feels secure in my ear, and when I do get it there, it doesn’t stay for long. When it is out of place (most of the time) the noise cancelling does not work properly because it assumes your voice is background noise and cancels it out. I would not buy it again.
Good news–It seems that the Jawbone clan is waking up. If you go up on their site they now offer a new set of rubber earbuds. It claims you can wear the unit w/o the hook (TBD). They look like they might just work? http://us.jawbone.com/fitearbud.aspx Your only charged the $3 shipping fee for a set of 3.
As for your comment on the hook — don’t give them credit I’ve broken two hooks on the original (I called and got free warranty replacements.) I too had fit issues so I crafted my own ear gel from an old wired Jabra. Ironically, my modified design is outstanding as it fits perfectly and sounds great. This is the real lesson, if you can’t get it to sit in your ear it is truly worthless. A poor fit allows ambient noise in and muffles the headset. Read reviews of all the brands and models — the bottom line is that fit impacts functionality. Lets see if the new ear gels do the trick.
For 69.00 http://www.averysound.com will custom make an earpiece specifically for the Jawbone II. I ordered the new jawbone gels to see if they will work better than the earloops. I have already broken 2 of the earloops and Ive only owned the Jawbone for 1 month. If the ear gels are crap then Im going to order the custom made one from averysound. I love the performance of the Jawbone II. Just wish the earloops werent garbage.
the quickest way to fix a broken earpiece for the jawbone 2 is to remove the pos one with a pin or small nail, then get a stick pin (preferably a black one) bend it slightly with pliers, and slip it through the jawbone and into the leather of the old earpiece. If you don’t get it to go all the way, just snip it off with a wire cutter. Lasts way longer than the original plastic!
i’m shopping for a new bluetooth also as my calls suddenly couln’t be heard on my moto h700 unless i pulled it off of my ear & held it up to my mouth. i’v e located a bluetooth product, Callpod, that i’ve never seen, but it looks promising. The website is: www callpod com.
good luck!
ok, nevermind. bad reviews on this one … i’ll get back to ya’ if i find anything useful.
When handsfree earpieces became manditory in California I went to buy one and naturally wanted quality. The allure of the Jawbone was its styling and supposed noise reduction. It was also the most expensive so you think you are getting more. What I got was a real clunker. First of all the earloop is so poorly designed and of low-grade metal it constantly breaks when stored in a pocket. I have run through all the replacements that have come with the unit and looking at even spending $12 for a replacement is throwing good money after bad unless they upgrade the design or materials. But that is not all. The rubber ear inserts of which there are many, come off and get lost. Finally I don’t know about the noise reduction part because I can’t listen to myself but can tell you that if you are talking in the car and have the AC or heater even on low fan, this sounds like a hurricane on the other end according to the people I am calling. Shut off the AC or heater and you are OK. This is noise reduction???!!! I was given a Plantronics by a supplier as a free gift and started using it thinking it was a cheapo and that I would have to upgrade. It has not broken after use that would have destroyed the Jawbone, I like the noises it makes to tell me it is on, shutting down etc. and it does not have the wind tunnel issue. I hate to see my expensive Jawbone going to waste and sitting broken on my desk but I bought a poor product and this is the price I pay. All I can do now is put Jawbone on my no buy list.