Techcraver Review: Jabra Stone Bluetooth Headset
Introduction:
The Jabra STONE is a very unique Bluetooth headset – quite different than any I’ve seen before. The STONE has a very attractive design that completely lacks a boom microphone. Therefore, it just snugs around your ear without the dorky traditional Bluetooth look you have when you wear a Bluetooth headset.
Also unique to the STONE is the little charger unit it comes with. You see, in the box is a charging dock that the earpiece fits into. Why did Jabra do this? Because the STONE headset is so small, the company couldn’t fit a big enough battery into the earpiece itself. The charging unit looks slick and easily compliments the earpiece.
The little charging unit can actually give the earpiece up to four complete charges. Meaning that with these additional charges, the STONE has a functional battery life of 12 talking hours.
Pairing And Initial Use:
Taking the Jabra STONE off its base and using it is a slick experience. The earpiece easily slides over your ear and the little part that goes into your ear has a rubber piece that holds it in place. One problem though: the rubber part that hhelps hold the earpiece in place might be an issue for those with larger ears. I have normal sized ears (for a guy) and there were times that the STONE didn’t quite feel like it was in my ear well enough – it felt a bit lose and annoyed me, at times.
After charging, the STONE is ready to pair with your Bluetooth-enabled device(s). Pairing was never an issue for me. To test, I paired with an iPhone, MacBook Pro, Nokia N97, and Droid from Motorola. It should be noted that the STONE enables you to listen to music on any device that supports A2DP audio.
Audio Quality:
The STONE utilizes Jabra’s special “Blackout Extreme” noise canceling technology. In my tests, which included my noisy Honda Civic car, people I called reported that I sounded very good. A few folks couldn’t tell I was utilizing a Bluetooth headset (rare in my car). I also tried the headset while being outside in a city environment and a noisy room with TV noise. Callers were always able to hear me well and I could hear them very well too. This was true whether I was talking on the Nokia handsets, the Droid, or the iPhone.
Conclusion:
The Jabra STONE combines very sexy looks combined with awesome functionality. I like that the STONE doesn’t look like a regular dorky Bluetooth headset. Some of my friends/family couldn’t even tell I was wearing a headset until I pointed it out to the – a sign of the STONE’s inconspicuous form factor.
Not only does the STONE look good, it performs well also. I was always able to hear my callers and as noted above, they were able to hear me, even in noisy environments.
The STONE is priced at $129 which is a bit steep. This price is my one major complaint with the new device from Jabra.
However, if you feel the looks and audio performance are worth the price – I can tell you that you will be happy with the Jabra STONE.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under product reviews, tech news/notes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Jason Harris December 29th, 2009 at 9:37 am
the best one would be the current model from Plantronics that does noise cancellation.
this is the one.