Review: Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth headset

Mini headset with advanced features

Written by Andrea-Marie Vassou, Computeract!ve

Larger Image

Verdict:

Good points: small and light; good sound for recipients; good range of size fittings
Bad points: Crackly noise at caller's end
Overall: A small and light headset, which lets us be heard loudly and clearly. However crackling on incoming calls lets it down

Rating:

3

Price:

£80

As mobile phones have got smaller so have the accessories that go with them, the Jawbone Bluetooth headset by Aliph being one example.

The Jawbone is a tiny Bluetooth headset that comes with different fittings to fit the differing ears of different types of people.

Advertisement

Although fitting the adapters was fiddly at first, once we found the right one for our ears it fitted comfortably.

The device itself is small and sleek and comes in a black leather-style finish. A perforated shield that curves to match the outline of the face means it won’t look out of place on the user's ear.

We were also impressed with how easy it is to pair with a phone. We switched on the Jawbone device and the Bluetooth function on our test mobile phone, which found the device quickly.

The Jawbone comes with an in-built 'noise shield' which uses a voice sensor to recognise people’s speech and cut out any background noise for the receiver. In our tests this worked very well and the people we called could hear us clearly.

However, we were not as impressed with the sound quality at the caller's end, which was quite crackly. The manual promised a feature called the noise assassin to improve on this, but we didn't get much benefit from it.

The battery in the headset can be charged from a PC using the supplied USB cable or directly using the supplied mains charger. Fully charged, it lasted for around six hours of talk time.

The Jawbone looks good but, while it sounded good at one end, we were unimpressed with call quality at the caller's end, meaning it doesn't justify its £80 price tag.

See more Mobile Phones

Reader comments

More from Computeractive

News

The latest home computing news

Downloads

The best PC tools, applications and more

Reviews

Independent opinions on new hardware and software

Step-by-step guides

Easy-to-follow projects with pictures

PC Help

Solve PC problems with our Q&A

Videos

PC projects demonstrated and product reviews

Articles

An in-depth look at how to get the best from your PC

Magazine

What's coming up in Computeractive

Forums

Get help with your PC problems from our readers

Competitions

Your chance to win computing prizes

Shopping

Great deals on products, services and more

Computeractive CD Rom 10
All 26 issues of Computeractive from 2007 on one CD-Rom.

Ultimate Guide to PC Troubleshooting
Everything you need to know to solve your PC problems.

Driving Test Success
The UK's best-selling driving test software.

Computeractive Back Issues
Missed an issue? Click here to find a back issue

Compare prices now!

Save money on hardware and software with our price comparison service: Best Prices

Compare prices

Advertisement

Free email newsletters

Techno babble demystified...

[Display all definitions]

Or type in any computer-related word and click "Go"

Blogs

Windows Watch

Windows Watch

Keeping an eye on the latest XP and Vista news

More storage added to Windows Live Skydrive

19 Nov 2008The storage limit for Windows Live Skydrive is to be increased to a very respectable 25GB . As of just now my...

Download Junkie

Download Junkie

Your daily dose of download discussion

Tweak all areas of your display hardware

21 Nov 2008Most current graphics cards will come with a number of different display options. These settings are often pre-configured on any card installed...

The test bed

The test bed

The hottest products, news and gossip from PCW's Labs

Keep Wifi at the edge - and be wary of channel aggregation

21 Nov 2008Can a Wifi network really be better than a wired one? Clearly there are situations where wireless links have to be used...

Primary Navigation

© Incisive Media Ltd. 2008. Incisive Media Limited, Haymarket House,
28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX, is a company registered in the United Kingdom with company registration number 04038503

Search computeractive.co.uk