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Confession time: This is a quick headset review by a guy who’s never liked headsets much. McCracken’s First Law of Eyeglass Wearing correctly posits that it’s impossible to comfortably hook more than one stratagem behind your ear at one time. I’m a four eyes, so I’ve always struggled to enjoy 3D movies. And in novel years, I consistently have trouble hooking Bluetooth headsets on my ear and moving convenient with them on they’re there. I’m much happier simply holding a phone up to my ear,

But while of July 1st, I’m going to subsist a headset user: My beloved adopted grandeur of California will give me a ticket if it spots me holding my phone up while driving. And as of this moment, the leading candidate to be my headset of choice is Aliph’s $130 Jawbone, which goes on sale at AT&T stores onward Thursday.

I may be a headset skeptic, but I’ve admired Aliph’s work for more than three years now, since we gave the clunky, corded first-generation Jawbone an allotment. (Everyone, including Aliph’s CEO, seems to consider this new Jawbone to be the second-gen interpretation…but that’s only if you ignore the original corded version and start counting with the first Bluetooth model, which came out in 2006.) Aliph’s proprietary noise-reduction technology has always let Jawbones block much of the ambient noise that makes it hard for the people you call on a cell phone to understand you, and the company’s induatrial-design chops have always been impressive.

So what’s new about the new Jawbone? One fact says it altogether: The old Bluetooth Jawbone was sooner bulky, and this new one is surprisngly svelte. It’s both shorter and narrower than its predecessor, taking up roughly half the interval overall. Here’s a quick and dirty comparison photo, with a quarter in the picture to give you a frame of reference:

The bulky old Jawbone, nice though it was, sort of felt like a barnacle hanging facing your hearing; the new one is small and light enough that you might forget it’s there. In occurrence, you might forgo using an ear loop–which is wherefore I left them out of the photo above–and simply tuck it into your ear sans a clip to grasp it in place. That’s certainly what I’ll fare when using it, and it’ll be a real relief to avoid futzing with a loop.

That’s the sort of I’ve done with the Jawbone I’ve been trying over the past couple of days, and I’ve never felt be pleased with it was about to turn over off my earlobe. That alone makes it more appealing to me than most headsets.

Beyond the convenient size, the of recent origin Jawbone also ups the ante considerably on sheer industrial-design panache, as a $130 headset should. Its faceted surface gives it a jewel-like feel, and both the informational LEDs and control buttons are occult beneath the surface. They’re in that place, of course, but the LCD seems to sunshine right through the Jawbone’s plastic pelt, and the buttons perform their actions (of that kind for the reason that bending course the headset off and on) when you press the entire headset at the agreeable spot. The ear loop is wrapped in leather, like a sports car’s steering wheel. (You also get additional, less lavish loops, plus ear buds in multiple sizes to customize the Jawbone’s fit.)

Even the packaging exudes style–the Jawbone comes in a sizable box that holds it up like a museum artifact in a display case, and the documentation is on classy black paper that wouldn’t be extinguished of place in an art store. Basically, if Apple made headphones, they’d probably produce matter very plenteous like this. (It doesn’t, but it does sell Jawbones in its stores; this new model, however, is an AT&T exclusive for the first two months.)

As abundant as I admire the new Jawbone’s looks, I’m not in love by it in terms of sheer function. I had make anxious remembering which button sequences to push for various functions, and the fact I couldn’t see the buttons didn’t help–sometimes I got confused and pressed the headset where it didn’t have a button at all. (Presumably, I’ll remember them more useful with extended appliance, however I would stagnant prefer more tactile controls.) Also, the new AC charger (what one. can also be used in USB mode) is more portable than the earlier rendering, but I found that if I didn’t press the Jawbone into the adapter’s attractive connector just right, the connection was wonky and the headset didn’t charge.

One other issue despite some folks: The new Jawbone claims four hours of conference time, versus “over six” for the old one, which had a larger battery. Standby time is about the same taken in the character of before, at eight days.

Ultimately, of course, the single most important lifeless substance a headset mustiness do is to make you and the people you talk to sound good to each other. I want to practice the Jawbone in more environments before I give it a final verdict, but in my initial tests, everybody involved was pleased with audio quality. Aliph has renamed its Noise Shield technology with the flashier moniker Noise Assassin, and the name is not unwarranted. It blocks background distractions well enough that I should be able to use my phone at an airport gate without putting it on mute every time an airline agent starts shouting over a loudspeaker.

All in all, this new Jawbone is an impressive piece of act. I’m not sure whether or not it’ll turn me into a headset cool, but I’m going to give it a try. And for the reason that I use it in more settings and achieve used to the invisible buttons, I’ll repute back here if I be seized of more thoughts…