New Jawbone/SAME BLUETOOTH

I just picked up my New Jawbone headset yesterday. I was so excited because I was happy with my old Jawbone and was positive the new one would be so much better.

The verdict is in. Bluetooth in general sucks. I used to believe my parents when they said the sound quality was as good as the phone itself, but I have had so many complaints recently, I no longer believe this. They are my parents, and they are just trying to reinforce my purchase decision, just like when you have a booger in your nose, I wish I had known the bitter truth long ago.

As far as the New Jawbone is concerned it is better in almost every way except sound performance. Hell, the packaging is even easier to open (no rubber band holding the headset in the hard plastic case). I have to say the designers really listened to user complaints on the old model.

Size: Its smaller. Smaller is better for almost all electronics

Buttons: The original had many complaints that the buttons were hard to locate and push. This model has buttons in the same location, but they are very easy to push.

Fit: The original felt like some kind of medieval ear torture device if you used the ear loop. If you didn't use the ear loop, you bought Jabra ear gels and modded your Jawbone. Once "modded" you enjoyed a comfortable fit for several minutes while you waited for it to eventually fall out at a dangerous time while you were driving.

The new device is MUCH more comfortable with the loop. The small size makes it much less intrusive. I am not sure the layout of the rubber ear piece lends itself to removing the loop and using the Jabra eargels, but I will look into it.

Operation: For some reason, double clicking the main button does not redial the last call. I am not sure why and may be forced to read the instructions! This is inconvenient as battles with my Treo often leave me dropping calls and I need a quick way to redial.

Charger: The original had pins that bent due to normal use. I had to use a rubber band to hold the charger to the headset with enough force to make contact on the old one. These problems have been elegantly eliminated with the new design.

Sound Quality: Identical to the original. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I have switched between the two on calls and the person I am speaking with can not tell a difference with the NoiseAssassin technology. All callers are amused by the NoiseAssassin moniker & that is definitely a plus.

Availability: This headset appears to be as popular as the last one and availability is tight. I had to call/visit 3 AT&T stores before securing one on 5/19 (Jean (pronounced John) in the 8471 Beverly Blvd ATT store is a tool, I drove 50 miles round trip to pick up the headset he was "holding" for me)


Note:
I used the new Jawbone with my Palm Treo 700P, a phone notorious for not playing nice with Bluetooth devices.