Jawbone 2 in the wild!

A friendly tipster sent us over some shots of a demo unit of the Jawbone 2 -- which the FCC so kindly leaked for us last month -- that he says his store is getting in stock tomorrow. He also says the headset will sell for $129, that it "looks pretty sweet" and provided some shots that pit it quite favorably against the now clunky original. Enjoy!

Gallery: Jawbone 2 in the wild

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

[Casper42 @ May 14th 2008 5:13PM]

Color me stupid, but what is so special about the "Jawbone" BT Headset?

A Few co-workers were talking about them like they were fantastic.

Because of a CA Law, I need to get a BT Headset before end of June or July and dont know which one to go with.

Thanks

[chaosrain @ May 14th 2008 5:20PM]

A standard BT headset uses a microphone which has the tendency to pick up on all neighboring sounds. As a result, it can be difficult to maintain a conversation in windy conditions or in an area with significant ambient noise with a standard BT headset. A jawbone, on the other hand, actually rests against your...wait for it...jawbone and uses the principle of bone conductance to pick up sound. Effectively, it is translating the vibration it senses in your jawbone back into the sound which caused the vibration. The result is that the jawbone headset doesn't pick up wind noise or ambient noise, only the noise emanating from the user's mouth.

Now if Jawbone wants to send me a free headset for this explanation, I'm waiting. I would love to use one, but don't have $130 for a headset right now.

[rektide @ May 14th 2008 5:24PM]

Jawbones are extremely noise resilient. You can be boating, flying, mowing the lawn or on a motorcycle and the person on the other end can still hear you. Maybe not well, but most other headsets get totally unusable very fast. The jawbone has a very small piece of plastic at the end of the headset (towards your mouth) that rests against your jaw and uses bone conduction to pick up the vibrations in your skull / mouth, and only sends sounds that sync with those vibrations.

Thats why I think the comments below griping about uninspired design and cheap Jabra headsets are hilarious. These guys clearly dont have the faintest idea that there is a distinct reason for being for this headset.

[rektide @ May 14th 2008 5:31PM]

I dont believe the Jawbone directly converts vibration to sound, I believe it uses vibration to confirm which sounds it should be transmitting. Aleph is somewhat vague about what exactly their product does though, so its hard to be certain.

[Richard Lai @ May 14th 2008 5:31PM]

You can watch a demo ad at 31:44 in this episode of Diggnation: http://revision3.com/diggnation/2008-03-27foxnews/

[CaptSaltyJack @ May 14th 2008 5:45PM]

It's way important to point out that the Jawbone cancels out noise, but NOT wind. I own one, and every time I step outside into wind, I hear crackling, and people on the other end can't hear me very well.

Wind is the achilles heel of the Jawbone, unfortunately. Now, if the Jawbone 2 can withstand wind, sign me up.

[John @ May 14th 2008 6:04PM]

The jawbone knows when you are talking using the vibrations of your jawbone and then uses that information to cancel out other noises. I believe it was first developed by DARPA for the military in battleground situations. It works great.

This headset on the other hand by Nextlink uses bone conduction only and doesn't even have a microphone so it is the best for truly noisy environments.
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/07/07/nextlinks-new-bone-conduction-headset-goes-bluetooth/

[Anthony @ May 14th 2008 6:29PM]

Turn on your phone's speakerphone. I've tried virtually every bluetooth headset out there & always just go back to good, ole fashioned speakerphone- no fiddling, no forgetting, no having to charge two things...

I also just got SE's new visor speakerphone. It's just about as useless as standard bluetooth headsets.

Plus w/ the Nokia N95 (standard & 8gb) you get stereo on the sides so the phone can rest on your lap, but you don't muffle the sound.

[Reid @ May 15th 2008 1:59AM]

Jawbone does nothing to cancel wind noise. Like other BT headsets I've owned, it picks up noise far more than a phone's built-in mic does -- probably because it is easier to shield the phone's mic from the sound, and not block your voice in the process.

The noise cancelling performance is nothing short of jaw-dropping. I simply can't use anything else.

I routinely use the Jawbone in datacenters that are so loud I can't hear my own voice unless I shout. Plus cell phone reception is terrible so it's nice to be able to place the phone somewhere that it gets good reception (up high on a rack) and talk hands-free while I type.

You can talk in a normal voice while in the datacenter, and the person on the other end hears you as clear as day, with NO background noise... but if the same person was standing right next to you instead of listening on the phone, they wouldn't be able to hear you over the noise.

Yes, it is that good.

Comfort level is not so good. Earpiece quality is okay. Not great, (not as good as my original Jabra actually, though that headset had a ton of static)... but good enough, and better than a phone in noisy environments since the speaker sits right in your ear.

[ScOObyDoo @ May 14th 2008 5:13PM]

Meh. Same boring design as the old one.

[yehweh @ May 14th 2008 5:17PM]

Meh,

129 is a bit much when you can get a jabra for abt $40/50.

[Xultar @ May 14th 2008 5:30PM]

Jabra? ROFL.

[LordFarkward @ May 14th 2008 11:36PM]

jawbra. for extra support.

[Achilles @ May 14th 2008 5:19PM]

The ear hook is VERY uncomfortable. It's annoying at best.

[Paul @ May 14th 2008 5:30PM]

Yeah, I absolutely love the headseat but hated the provided ear hook. The solution is to pick up some $10 Jabra EarGels, which connect to the headset and rest comfortably and securely in your ear without the need for the ear hook. The headset has been invaluable for me at work, I can take conference calls in the car or at the airport and people have no idea I'm not sitting at my desk in the office.

[Xultar @ May 14th 2008 5:28PM]

Looks like they didn't fix the comfort part. I'll skip this version.

[Richard Lai @ May 14th 2008 5:28PM]

I saw a demo/ad of one of the Jawbone devices in an episode of Diggnation, and was quite amazed by its noise-cancelling performance. Any Jawbone users here who would like to share their experience?

[rektide @ May 14th 2008 5:30PM]

Owned one, used it very rarely, then it got destroyed by a sand storm. Worked fine the couple times I biked around while on the phone.

[Golferal @ May 14th 2008 6:10PM]

Or you could just go the Jawbone website and not have to listen to Kevin & Alex goof off for 30 minutes.....

[Richard Lai @ May 14th 2008 6:12PM]

@Golferal: you can always skip forward, but you'll hurt Alex and Kevin a little bit inside. ;-)

[Golferal @ May 14th 2008 6:13PM]

PS: My real experience is similar to the demo. I can walk into a bathroom with all of the echo and fans running, take a leak, flush the toilet and no one can tell the difference!

[Richard Lai @ May 14th 2008 6:16PM]

@Golferal: sounds like it's the perfect kit for pretending you're working in the office overtime while you're actually having a pint in the pub.

[Golferal @ May 14th 2008 6:24PM]

Being self employed and all, I can do that without worry!

Along those lines, there's a Jawbone commercial for you - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sPQAgRSydU&feature=related

[Golferal @ May 14th 2008 6:28PM]

PS: Sorry for the "gayness" in that video if it offends!

[Richard Lai @ May 14th 2008 6:30PM]

@Golferal: OK.... that was VERY weird... I was hoping the two girls would make out instead of the two lads.

If that's what we're going to get from Jawbone, I'd rather have Dom Joly back with his upgrade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RMI_iSW9L8

[Richard Lai @ May 14th 2008 6:31PM]

PS: no offence to gay men!

[rektide @ May 14th 2008 5:29PM]

I dont believe the Jawbone directly converts vibration to sound, I believe it uses vibration to confirm which sounds it should be transmitting. Aleph is somewhat vague about what exactly their product does though, so its hard to be certain.

[Tim @ May 14th 2008 5:33PM]

Actually, the original doesn't use jawbone conduction to send the sound, it has a microphone. But the neat thing is its noise cancellation. It is meant to work in noisy environments and isolate your voice and cancel the background noise. Check out the demo at the mfgr's web site: www.aliph.com

I'm not super impressed with mine however it is the only headset I've ever owned that passes the wife test (wife not screaming -- "are you wearing that headset? take it off and talk into the phone!) so it's what I use.

Hopefully the sound improves in terms of being louder and clearer in this new version.

For a person doing business from the road, $129 is well worth it if the product lives up to its hype.

[xanavi1130 @ May 14th 2008 5:36PM]

what's so special about it?

it doesn't use a conventional microphone to detect your voice. instead, it uses a vibration receiver that picks up vibrations from ur cheek and converts it into a digital signal. in a way, its sort of a noise cancelling headset. my dad has one and when he's driving with the top down, you can't even tell.

CA Law is making BT headsets mandatory?

[Brinda @ May 14th 2008 6:06PM]

I have a Jawbone, and I agree the ear hook is very uncomfortable. Also the earbud does not stay in the ear. I tried all the provided earbuds but none fit well. (They need an in-ear option) The noise canceling works good (have tried it on and off, and callers can definitely tell the difference), but the problem is the sound quality is so bad YOU can't hear anything. It doesn't matter how great the cancelation is on the other end if you can't hear the caller.

Would love to dump Jawbone...BlueAnt seems to come up alot. Anyone have experience with one, or know of another suitable replacement?

[Golferal @ May 14th 2008 6:09PM]

The sound quality on mine is as good as any other BT headset I've had (and I've had alot). Maybe yours is defective?

[iH8Engadget @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:14AM]

DO NOT BUY A BLUEANT! I owned one and returned it. It was AWFUL! No noise cancellation or isolation or anything! I live in NYC, and even when I would turn it's setting on high (cause it does have 2 settings, one for standard and one for max) and it STILL didn't work. I tried it out for 2 weeks, and right before the return period expired, I took it back. Only got store credit, but better than a loss. Not worth it at all. People preferred me to just talk into the phone, instead of using that thing. They said they could hear the traffic and street more than me! Unbelievable. Save your money.

[iH8Engadget @ May 14th 2008 8:01PM]

DO NOT BUY A BLUEANT! I owned one and returned it. It was AWFUL! No noise cancellation or isolation or anything! I live in NYC, and even when I would turn it's setting on high (cause it does have 2 settings, one for standard and one for max) and it STILL didn't work. I tried it out for 2 weeks, and right before the return period expired, I took it back. Only got store credit, but better than a loss. Not worth it at all. People preferred me to just talk into the phone, instead of using that thing. They said they could hear the traffic and street more than me! Unbelievable. Save your money.

[THELIVINGCOLOSSUS @ May 14th 2008 8:50PM]

I’ve tried literally dozens of BT headsets including the Blue Ant Z9. The Z9 is TERRIBLE. I keep coming back to the Jawbone. It isn’t as comfortable as I would like, and the noise cancellation is not entirely perfect (the efficacy of the noise cancellation has a lot to do with how snugly you can get it attached to your head), but it is definitely the best of what’s around. The only thing that I have found that comes close is the Motorola H12 Pure. It’s a lot more comfortable than JB, but it isn’t as effective in noise cancellation. Still, it’s pretty good. If you just hate the look/fit of the JB, you may want to give it a shot. The difference can be summed up thusly: I can have my car window rolled down and the music playing and still be heard by others with little to no interference with the JB. With the H12, I have to roll the window up and turn the music off. With anything else, I might as well just pull over somewhere to have the conversation.
Also... keep in mind that the type of phone you're using makes a difference... especially if you're using a Blackberry. BB's have some built-in features that actually hinder the quality of the call instead of help (echo control, I'm lookin' at you). Just turn that off and things for any BT headset get better. I also seem to have less problems with BT 2.0 phones with the JB (even though it's a BT 1.2 product). All in all, if you really just hate the Jawbone, give the H12 a try. Best Buy has a very liberal return policy, so you can try it out and see if you like it.
I also recommend doing some testing... Call a line where you can leave some messages, like a home phone or your work voicemail or something. Leave a few messages under varied conditions, such as driving with the window down, radio on, etc. and also without the headset. Make sure you talk long enough to be able to analyze the nuances of your call quality (20 seconds of general conversation should suffice). By doing this, you can make your own judgement about the quality of the product instead of relying on someone on the other end to tell you if it sounds ok or not. Hope this helps!

[Golferal @ May 14th 2008 6:07PM]

I have had version 1 since the day it came out and have not even thought of buying another headset since. Yes the styling kinda sucks and the ear loop bites monkey balls, but as a previous poster said an little superglue and a Jabra eargel and that problem is solved (I no longer need the ear loop at all).

I may even buy 2 of the new ones so the wife can have one too. I am soooo tired of hearing all of the ambient noise on her Motorola unit.

If you need a headset and want true noise cancellation technology, don't even bother with any other brand. The Jawbone is the shiznit!

[Jeeves @ May 14th 2008 6:22PM]

None of the comments above are correct....the Jawbone does NOT use bone conduction technology. It uses a sensor on the front of the headset that detects when you're speaking by using jawbone vibrations (and turns the microphone on and off depending on when you are speaking) but it uses traditional microphone and noise reduction technology after that.

Big drawbacks to this are always size, really poor wind performance, accidental activation of the microphones (therefore transmitting unintended sound), etc....

Bone conduction, instead, actually converts bone vibrations into acoustic sound....Jawbone does not do this....

[blackfeathers @ May 14th 2008 6:31PM]

looks like incremental changes to an existing product. looks better for a more low profile look. it's tough to say more without a full review.

i wonder if there'll ever be a giant leap forward on bluetooth headset advancements or if we continue on this path of +1 incrementation.

[Deadmonkey @ May 14th 2008 6:32PM]

until they fix the busted a$$ charger the Jawbone is dead to me. DEAD.

[digitallysick @ May 14th 2008 6:38PM]

I currently own a jawbone headset and its garbage. After a few months it won't charge, or attach to the charger well at all. If you google it, you will see how many compaints they got for it. I have contacted support via email when i first got it, no response over and over. Its the most money i ever wasted in my life on a headset . So i will not purchase the new version, i suggest if you want noise cxl headset look else where.

[Harkonian @ May 14th 2008 7:28PM]

It has its own garbage? Intriguing.

[Chip @ May 14th 2008 7:06PM]

Biggest drawback of Jawbone 1 was the goofy proprietary charging cable. Unless this is mini or micro USB... FAIL!

[Joseph @ May 14th 2008 7:31PM]

engadgetmobile.com says the connector is different, but they didn't say if it's a standard.

[Neal @ May 14th 2008 7:54PM]

Check the article on Engadget when it went to FCC, it shows the charger interface, which is smaller, different, but NOT standard.

[vudean @ May 14th 2008 7:31PM]

Still looks like a PIA to get on a normal size ear

[vudean @ May 14th 2008 7:45PM]

sorry piTa

[Jeff Snugglebutton @ May 14th 2008 7:48PM]

i much prefer the 8040 over the jawbone of course i'm only 5'10" and don't have ogre ears

[Nate @ May 14th 2008 7:51PM]

All bluetooth headsets make you look like an idiot. Only a douche would wear one unless required by law while driving.

[Cleo @ May 14th 2008 7:57PM]

I have had the Jawbone for 1 yr and 4 months.

My charging cable still works. It still holds charge.

It has the least amount of fatigue on the ears than the other dozen top of the line headsets that I have tried. That means it does less damage to your ears over long periods of time at similar listening levels.

It is also the only one, that people can not tell when I use my handset, and when I use the Jawbone.

The original On/Off button takes getting used to, but once you are over that hurdle, it is fine.

[Mike @ May 14th 2008 7:59PM]

I never had the charge issue... but i've broken A LOT of the ear clips. if they don't fix that i'm not getting another jawbone. What good is a headset that you can't put in your pocket without breaking the ear hanger and rendering it useless until you can get another one?

[vudean @ May 14th 2008 9:57PM]

I think superglueing it to your head is a bit extreme.
harhar