*** You can now purchase the NEW Aliph Jawbone from Amazon.com.

Aliph’s New Jawbone has all the functions of your typical Bluetooth headset, but the company has added some key features that set it apart. Like its predecessor, two buttons hidden within the headset’s design manage all of the device’s functions. The buttons are easy to reach when the Jawbone is on the ear.

The peripheral Noise Assassin Button turns the Jawbone’s proprietary NoiseAssassin technology for canceling background sound on and off, though I’m not really sure why anyone would want to turn the technology off (the headset sounds awful when the technology is off). I would recommend Aliph eliminate the option in future versions, even if that means sacrificed battery life. The same button adjusts volume, rejects calls, initiates voice dialing, redials the last number and assists in pairing.

The middle Talk Button turns the New Jawbone on and off, answers and ends a call, transfers a call and turns off the LED indicator. This latest feature is a major development. There have been many times when I was using a Bluetooth headset in a dark room when I wished I could turn off the device’s annoying flash. With the New Jawbone, I can.

I think Aliph made one of its biggest mistakes in moving the redial and voice activation functions from the Talk Button to the Noise Assassin button. In Aliph’s previous Jawbone, the Noise Shield button did not handle these functions. The peripheral location of the Noise Assassin button makes it more likely to be accidentally engaged, especially when it’s in a pocket.

The New Jawbone allows you to re-call the last number by clicking the Noise Assassin button three times. The same button, when held down for two seconds, instigates voice dialing. During my tests, the New Jawbone both called the last person I was talking with and initiated voice activation dialing all while sitting in my pocket. Hopefully, the company will address this issue in new shipments of its device or in its next version.

The New Jawbone’s four earloops fit intuitively into a half circle slot on each side of the Jawbone. The earloops are labeled at their tip, which makes it easy to identify whether they are medium sized or large. It is obvious which earloops are coated with leather and which are designed to be used with glasses.

The earbuds fit over the headset’s speaker, then mold into place. The earbud may not stay in place if it is manipulated too often, but I can’t think of a reason why someone would not just stick with the right earbud for them – making the issue moot.

There may be no other Bluetooth headset brand that comes close to the New Jawbone’s sound quality, but Aliph’s own first-generation Jawbone sounds just slightly better than this one for the user. The sound improvement of the New Jawbone is for the person on the other end of the phone, who couldn’t even tell in each test that I was using a Bluetooth device.

I used Aliph’s New Jawbone Bluetooth headset while walking down the sidewalk of a busy street, while driving with my windows down, while washing dishes and grinding coffee and while listening to music on my car’s speakers, and the NoiseAssassin technology did its job each time. The technology delivered my voice clearly to the people I was talking with; in fact, it delivered my voice even better than my phones would have done by themselves. Background noise and wind was essentially insignificant during my conversations.

Though the Jawbone is programmed to adjust volume on my end to make the person on the other end audible to me, I found that this new Jawbone didn’t do as good of a job as its predecessor. I had to adjust the volume up by two notches to hear the person who I was talking with clearly. And though the person’s voice on the other end was clear indeed, there was a slight tinny sound that came along with their voice. The degradation was minimal and did not bring the Jawbone down to the level of most competitors, but the quality was slightly less than the previous version.

Aliph’s audio technology is important to me, and it’s clear that sound was still a leading consideration for the New Jawbone. The device delivered top-tier clarity when I was on the go and wanted to connect with friends, family, colleagues or business associates.

Don’t just take my word for it, check out the sound quality for yourself on YouTube.com. The company promises that no modifications were made to sound quality during its demonstration.

Aliph advertises a 33-foot (10-meter) range for its New Jawbone device, but sound quality degrades in some circumstances after about 20 feet. I tested the Jawbone’s range by placing my mobile phone on my kitchen table and walking outside to my car – about 30 feet. The headset performance was retained during the first 20 feet, but then degraded and became muffled after that. However, while inside my 1,300-square-foot house, the headset performed almost perfectly when my phone was sitting in one place connected to its charger and I was walking around. Only at the farther reaches of distance did degradation occur. The headset had excellent connectivity with my phone at all times and only dropped a call when my mobile phone dropped a call.

Aliph’s New Jawbone Bluetooth headset sounds better than anything I’ve ever tested for the person on the other end of the phone, and only the previous Jawbone sounded better on my end. The NoiseAssassin technology is a clear step above the previous Noise Shield technology and way above any other noise cancellation software. The New Jawbone is stylish and 50 percent smaller than the previous version. It is comfortable and comes with leather-coated earloops. It is the first headset I’ve tested that allows a user to turn off a LED indicator. Some of the headset’s functions should have been planned better for the device’s storage in a pocket. The earloops – though stronger – may still be susceptible to damage. But these are minor setbacks for a device that otherwise soars above the competition. Without a fraction of a doubt, we can strongly recommend the New Jawbone Bluetooth headset to anyone seeking a wireless headset to work with his or her Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone.

• Unmatched sound quality performance
• Spectacular NoiseAssassin technology (helps with first point)
• More features than most Bluetooth headsets
• LED indicator can be turned off
• Good range, great connectivity
• Decent battery life, charging devices
• Ease of use
• Comfortable fit
• Nice looking thanks to design by Yves Béhar
• White, rather than blue, LED light

• Some functions may work when you don’t want them to
• Earloops may break
• Expensive (but worth it)

*** You can now purchase the NEW Aliph Jawbone from Amazon.com.

By Andrew J. Manuse, of "For the Eyes of the Beholder," a Manuse Media Company Web site.

Previous

• Introduction
• Pairing, Battery Life, Style and Comfort
• Functions, Sound Quality, Range and Conclusion