Bluetooth Head to Head: Jabra, Novero, MoGo
We’re letting the novelty cool off of our iPad, and can’t wait to talk about some of the great apps and accessories that we’ve been testing. In the meantime though, we’ve been working with some Bluetooth gear, mainly using our iPhones, but also able to connect to any other Bluetooth compliant device, for use as both headsets or for listening to music. We’ve seen all manner of devices, from in-dash units to ones that you clip to your car visor and even a few solar-powered systems.
The Jabra Stone is one of the smaller and sleeker of the headsets we’ve tried, one offering a clever pebble-like design and immediately appealing look and feel. Unfortunately, it also suffers from some major limitations that leave us decidedly mixed- for some users it will be the perfect headset, while others will likely find it poor-fitting or hard to use. We wanted to love it, and it offers plenty of reasons: unobtrusive and discreet looks, light weight (a quarter-ounce!), easy recharging dock, great A2DP audio quality and excellent noise cancellation (bested only by Aliph, in our opinion). As with the Aliph sets, controls are hard to notice, and the hidden button is awkward at best. Volume control is handled via a nifty touch sensor- nifty unless you accidentally set it off while playing with your hair, putting in the unit, or trying to operate the controls.
One catch is that the design of the unit limits it to use in the right ear- not a major problem, but still fairly unusual. All in all, we’d still consider it a top contender, were it not for the deal-breaker: battery life. Most headsets that we test can last a full day on standby and offer several hours of talk-time, but the light weight of this unit means that battery life is a compromise: you can expect a couple of hours of use or less when listening to music. Interestingly, the charger itself serves as a battery when unplugged and triples the battery life (provided that you keep it on hand and place the headset in the pebble base when not in use). Available for around $90, it’s also a bit on the high end of the spectrum, but decent for a dual-mic unit.
Even pricier is the MoGo Talk Bluetooth Headset and Protective Case from Newton Peripherals, this one limited to use with the iPhone 3G and 3GS (though Blackberry Curve and and Javelin models are available). At about $130, you do get a nifty case along with the headset, but we still faced a bit of sticker shock here. Talk time is a bit better than the Stone, at around four hours, and we did like the easy portability of the headset- simply snap it into the custom case and voila- no more lost Bluetooth devices! The concept is definitely interesting, but the execution still left something to be desired.
Most folks will already have iPhone cases or skins that they like, and this plastic case is merely OK- sleek black in color, it gets the job done but adds thickness and bulk and isn’t grippy or soft. The headset itself is decent- echo suppression and ‘active noise compensation’ made for adequate audio quality during calls, though calling from a busy street left listeners dissatisfied, and we did get some static on both ends at times. Six sizes of ear tips are helpfully included, and once you figure out how to unfold and refold the low-profile headset, it’s actually not too bad- comfortable enough for short sessions, nothing you’d want to leave in for a longer period. Controls are simple, pairing is easy, but the problem once again is with power- not with battery life in this case, but with recharging. You need to use a separate micro-USB cable to charge the headset through the swivel out adapter on the case- it’s awkward, as you then need to have two cables running to your iPhone. We would’ve liked an integrated system, and felt that the swivel port on the case was not particularly rugged and seemed likely to break. For now, the MoGo is a no-go.
Finally, we have a speakerphone from Novero, who we last saw with their first model, aptly if oddly named TheFirstOne. They decided to mix it up a bit, and have released TheTalkyOne, a universal Bluteooth speakerphone. We’ve seen similar items before, but not quite like this. The full feature set includes the usual suspects- A2DP 1.2, Multipoint, easy pairing- but also text-to-speech capabilities to read your text messages and announce who is calling (on phones that support the feature). It works pretty well, in fact.
There aren’t any complicated controls either- one large button on the face of the unit rocks back and forth for volume control; push down to answer a call. We might’ve liked a display as well though, considering the size of the unit. The slim profile, stable design, and added extras allows flexible placement thanks to included glue and velcro pads as well as a dashboard holder and even the sun visor clip. Stereo speakers offered decent sound, though volume wasn’t always satisfactory and bass was a bit weak. The microphones were surprisingly good though, able to pick up our voice clearly when driving even through sirens and street noise. Charging is done via the included micro USB cable (thankfully, a car adapter was included), and we appreciated the stated 15 hour talk-time (180 hours standby). We didn’t run out of power over a few days of semi-regular use. All in all, it’s a pretty sleek device, sturdy and solid, and the only sore point is the price- a bit steep at $139, but worth it for those who are seeking a good in-car or desktop speakerphone solution.
