Jawbone Era

Zitat: The good: + Well hello there. We still can’t bring ourselves to call any earpiece attractive, but this is as close as they come. Barely an inch long, with its slightly ridged edges, it looks a little bit like a Quality Street chocolate, in muted colour (red, black, bronze or silver are your options). Three sizes of earbud cover mean it can comfortably fit for most people, and as importantly stay comfortable, since it loads some of the weight to your body. Despite its small profile, sound quality is excellent - Jawbone’s Noise Assassin tech whittles out background noise well, and knows when you’re speaking by comparing sound against the movement of your jaw. Wind is still an issue, sure, but it’s as diminished as it’s ever been. And if you’re okay with listening to music in one ear, you can do that comfortably with this too. Better still, if you’ve got the Jawbone Nerd dongle for your PC, you can use the Era for high definition voice chats on supported services like Skype and Google Hangout. No more crackled phone calls. What sets this apart from other headsets isn’t so much its size - everyone will still see you’re wearing this, make no mistake - but its seamless set up. The discrete call answer button can also interact with your smartphone’s hands-free service - Siri on iOS, or Google Now on Android - meaning you can control your phone in just the same way as you can with headphones, or when talking to it minus a headset. This is a huge advantage for in-car use, especially since Apple would rather you bought a whole new car instead . The bad: - Of course, with a smaller profile comes less space to fit a battery. That 10 hour battery life Jawbone is claiming is legit, but split between the headset itself (four hours) and the small charging carry case, which you could attach to a keyring, or if you were really keen, your belt. That’s not a huge issue, but do be aware that extra charge time will cost you extra: the Jawbone Era solo costs £79, and £109 with the charger. There’s also one other problem. Let’s be honest, it’s a Bluetooth headset. “Have my people call your people,” they seem to scream when worn in public. Although the company is pitching the Era as a serious alternative to headphones (since it plays both channels back for music), and certainly it matches them for functionality, you’d have to take a lot of calls in between your tunes to make that £79 outlay worth your while. And the looks. The new Jawbone Era is by far the most subtle and powerful Bluetooth headset we’ve used. If you work the phones all day, or have to make a lot of call from the car, it seems like the ideal companion to help you Get Things Done. But until these accessories actually become invisible, the stigma remains: we’d still rather pop on a pair of headphones with a mic wired in for day to day use and the commute. The Jawbone Era is out now at Apple stores, Amazon, Selfridges and Jawbone.com

Zitat: Pros: + Stylish design Built-in motion controls Ease of use and sound quality Cons: - Can be tough to find a comfortable ear bud A little expensive No AC adapter included for charging AliphCom´s Jawbone ERA combines appealing style with excellent noise-cancelling capabilities, and its motion based controls work well. This is without doubt one of the best Bluetooth headsets available on the market.

Zitat: Editor´s Choice The Good: + Unique and attractive design Updated features that include caller ID by name, a built-in accelerometer and HD-quality audio The Bad: - Doesn´t have a dedicated volume rocker The way it fits the ear is not as easy and comfortable as we would like The Aliph Jawbone Era knocks it out of the park with high-end features, amazing audio quality and innovative design.

Zitat: If you´ve been eyeing the Jawbone family of products for a while, and you expect to conduct your phone calls in a variety of environments where background noise will be a factor, check out the Era. But, depending on where you buy, expect to fork out the best part of £100.