Perhaps hoping no one makes any references to Samson, Cingular has announced an exclusive deal to carry Aliph's Jawbone stylish, noise-shielded, Bluetooth mobile headset.
Cingular Wireless today announced an exclusive deal which put’s Aliph’s stylish JawBone Bluetooth headset for mobile phones into the consumer marketplace (barely) in time for the end-of-year holidays.
“We endeavored to build the first headset all users will actually want to wear,” said Hosain Rahman, Aliph CEO and co-founder, in a release. “We’ve always led the industry from a technology perspective, now we’ve integrated that adaptive technology into a Bluetooth headset that is simple, intuitive, and easy to use—the total product experience has been designed around how consumers actually use wearable technology.”
The Jawbone is an adaptive Bluetooth headset with Aliph’s Noise Shield technology, which was originally developed for the military to enhance the quality of voice communications in rugged and noise-filled environments. The system actively works to separate speech from nearby sound, uses software do cancel out ambient noise and background sounds, and boosting frequencies and other audio characteristics to improve speech intelligibility and clarity. The headsets also feature a slyish design from Yves Behar which emphasizes comfort and simplicity, sporting a perforated shield with a smooth underside. The Jawbone can be worn on either ear and offers earloops in four different sizes.
“Jawbone is the first Bluetooth headset that adjusts and optimizes both incoming and outgoing sound so you can conquer the problems of a noisy, unpredictable world,” said David Christopher, Cingular’s VP of Product Management, in a release. “Today’s consumers may often find themselves having conversations in less than ideal environments. With Jawbone, our customers can now make phone calls comfortably in high-traffic, high noise locations. We are pleased to be the first wireless carrier worldwide to bring this unique, best-in-class product to market.”
The Jawbone is currently available at select Cingular Wireless retail locations for $119.99, and is compatible with all Bluetooth-capable handsets.
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RSS1. The ability to slide a Jabra Style molded ear Gel would be useful. The Jawbone does not do a good job of isolating noise around the wearer from entering the ear canal. Therefore, the person called hears little to no background noise, but the user is left with a less than ideal type of fitting for the ear. In fact, a Jabra molded ear Gel could effective hold the device in one's ear even without the ear loop.
2. The fact the ear loops are designed to assure that the users jawbone is touching the Voice Activity Center, actually tends to force the earpiece away from the ear canal. This is another design area that could use some enhancement to assure that the VAC is engaged while not compromising the close fit required in the ear to block out sounds for the user.
3. SOUND QUALITY of the earpiece on the amazingly effective Jawbone is poor. Loud does not equate with good. My Plantronics 655 snugs my ear canal better, and delivers a sound quality into my ear that is far more full range and less tube and air like than the Jawbone. I do believe however that this can be easily remedied by adapting the Jawbone to isolate the ear canal better; either through the use of the aforementioned Jabra Style molded ear Gels or something proprietary that emulates the fit and feel of the Plantronics ear Gels. Either solution will significantly improve the Jawbone's user sound quality (in-ear) without the need for a complete audio revamp of the device.