Jawbone Bluetooth Headset with NoiseAssassin-Jawbone 2(Black)[Retail Packaged]

The Jawbone 2 is great, although it does have its flaws like every other headset. However, they are not very pressing and would not stop me from recommending the headset to a friend.

While I haven't owned it very long as of this review I was experimenting with the noise cancellation the first day I got a chance.

I stood by the guy mowing my lawn and called a friend. I asked him to guess where I was standing and he said "In your car or in your room with the doors shut." When I told him I was standing outside by the lawn mower he didn't believe me until I shut off the NoiseAssassin.

The next day I called another friend while I was in the car and she said she couldn't hear the radio or anything. She did notice though when I moved my head and the "nub" no longer contacted my cheek. She said I was cutting out really bad when that happened and I had to readjust the headset. She guessed the cutting out, which hadn't happened at all until I moved my head, was due to her being in her basement until I told her it was my headset freaking out.

As for the incoming sound, it is nice and clear. Depending on the person however, I sometimes have to constantly readjust the volume via my phone.

Some have complained about the lack of volume change buttons, with the only option to increase it. I found it is far easier to just adjust the volume via my Voyager as the increments are finer and quicker than trying to do it on the headset while on a call.

The "crunching" sound of the button clicking isn't annoying to me. I actually like it because then I know if the button is being pushed. However, if I hadn't read reviews that commented about it I would have been concerned.

The "Small" earbud works fine for me. However, sometimes it is hard to hear the person on the other end, which is the only reason I docked it.

Initially I wouldn't have docked it for the incoming sound but the problem of me being able to hear the caller was still there wither I was somewhere noisy, where ambient noise is obviously higher, or quite.

Yes, the volume can be raised and lowered to compensate but I found that the built-in volume adjustment doesn't cut it for me. I found myself re-adjusting the volume multiple times during one particular call but, again I am not sure if that was due to the headset or if other factors were to blame.

If I notice this problem again I will update the review.

My last complaint is that, despite coming with a USB charging cable, it can't be updated to address problems.

While this isn't a big enough deal for me to dock it's overall score, I would have liked to see this feature so problems could possibly be fixed with a simple update. If, or probably when, the Jawbone 3 comes out I would love to see it come with upgradeable firmware.

Overall, the product is superb as long as it fits properly. I personally use it without earhooks and find it to be enjoyable and I don't worry about it falling out.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars because of the volume problem. Maybe I will pick up a couple Jabra MiniGels and see if that fixes the problem.

The one star I assigned to the Aliph Jawbone 2 is for its elegant appearance - a great improvement over the original Jawbone. The exterior has been brilliantly re-designed and I feel it's a unique and beautiful look, worthy of the MOMA design collection.

After much research, I had found that the Jawbone 2 was getting some rave reviews for the best (DARPA-approved) noise filtering and sound quality.

To my extreme disappointment, my real-world experience of the Jawbone 2, paired with an LG-VX8300 Verizon phone, was one of terribly inadequate noise filtering and voice reproduction.

Incoming sound ranged from somewhat noisy to extremely noisy, static-y and very difficult to understand, requiring a lot of "what?", "I can't hear you" and "please repeat slowly".

Outgoing sound quality was, at best, muddy with an under-water quality. Background noise reduction was modestly effective indoors with only quiet TV or slight chatter, and was most often so poor outdoors on noisy midtown Manhattan streets (and sitting in buses) as to make the outgoing voice nearly indecipherable by the call recipient. We left some voice messages for an "objective" test, with the same poor impressions as listening during the original call.

My wife and I changed places to compare our impressions and our experiences were identical. We experimented with various on-face positions, and were very careful that the Jawbone 2 was always in proper contact with the face, as functionally necessitated by its design.

The one obvious caveat to this review is that it may have been a defective unit. Due to imminent travel plans there was no opportunity for, or wish to risk experimenting with another unit.

We discovered that the Plantronics Discovery 925 worked very well with the LG-VX8300 and provided very satisfactory sound quality (incoming and outgoing) and very good noise filtering in noisy midtown Manhattan. We both found the Plantronics 925 to be a much more comfortable and secure fit than the Jawbone 2 - even without an added over-the-ear loop such as the Jawbone offers. Whereas the Jawbone 2 uses a 3-size earbud approach (rather hard and and ill-fitting/insecure with any size), the Discovery 925 uses a unique silicone fitting device that tensions against the inner grooves of the folds of the outer ear (pinna) rather than trying to pressure into the entrance of the ear canal as earbuds do.

Both the Jawbone 2 and Plantronics Discovery 925 paired easily and well with this phone.

Maybe it's time for someone to offer a bluetooth headset with a custom-molded fit typical of the in-ear monitors (IEMs) used by professional musicians. I have a pair of Westone ES2 IEMs for audiophile-quality music listening, custom-molded to fit my ears. The custom mold in and of itself significantly reduces ambient noise without the need for any electronic noise filtering, making even low-level music very clean and clear. An added benefit is protection for the ear(s) from ambient noise, lower-level listening (more hearing protection), and therefore greater longevity of healthy & effective hearing!

Bone conduction microphones already exist, picking up voice vibrations from the jawbone via the ear canal (simplistic description since I haven't studied the subject). This technology could obviously be implemented in a bluetooth headset. I wonder why it hasn't already been done. A quick search turned up the Invisio bone conduction earphone/mic systems. Their model M3 is standard/universal (http://www.invisioheadsets.com/content/us/products/invisio_m3), and M4 requires a custom mold fitted to the user's ear (http://www.invisioheadsets.com/content/us/products/invisio_m4).

For those unfamiliar with custom IEMs, here the URL link to Westone's "Musicians" products page:
http://www.westone.com/content/21.html

IF the Jawbone 2 unit we tested was not defective, then either Aliph's quality-control procedures allow too much unit-to-unit variation, or the "Noise Assasin" ("DARPA-tested and approved") system is not the panacea that the manufacturer claims it is.

CNET rates the Jawbone 2 at 4 out of 5 possible stars, though user reviews rate it only at an average of 2.5 stars (indicating both extremes, as I noted in reading the reviews). I've read many posts noting similar results to mine, and many others giving it raves. Very strange -- or perhaps not so, given the generally poor quality control standards across the board in many of today's consumer products.

CONCLUSION: It's already time for new bluetooth in-ear technology -- perhaps with a bone-conduction system --and a choice of easy-fit universal, or custom-molded IEM -- PLEASE!!!

It's still just another bluetooth ear piece so connection quality is the same as an above average bluetooth device. It's designed to fit well and it does. The noise assassin actually works pretty well also. It cancels out a lot of outside noise. Battery life is also just above average with talk time ranging between 4-6 hours.

So overall I rated it a 4 mainly for the price being so high. I know they have a feature no one else has out there but really now. $130 ?

used the Jawbone 1 for 14 months and loved it. The Jawbone 2 is even better. Light wieght, greater volume, and better battery life (or so it seems anyway). I highly recommend it if you liked the Jawbone 1.

Noise assasin does function but the switch/casing is very fragile, the case back has a dimple which makes contacts with the micro switch for activation, it's that dimple that breaks off after minimal use.

Warranty will reject your claim if you look inside to verify, ridiculous for such a high priced item, also the loops break off, i"ve gone thru 3 loops on this unit.

Nice but POOR execution on the quality of material of product, Function is A+, Quality is D score.

Purchase but be aware of Major design flaws.