Jawbone Era Bluetooth Headset Is Pricey, But Delivers the Goods [Review]

I’m a huge bluetooth headset fan. In fact, I don’t mean to brag, but I’ve been doin’ it “hands free” since the early aughts. So naturally when I heard Jawbone had a hot new headset on the market, the Jawbone Era, I was excited to get my hands on it and give it a go.

Well, I’ve been using the Era for about four weeks now, and I’m happy to report it has performed admirably. Excellent audio quality. Simple, understated good looks. Feature packed. This is one of the best bluetooth headsets on the market today, and one of the best I’ve ever used.

Check the video for my full review or my abridged version below for the short and skinny.

The Goodies

• Small and beautiful. You won’t be embarrassed to actually wear it around. How come nobody else makes headsets that look this good?
• Very simple to use.
• Jawbone’s Noise Assassin 3.0 noise canceling technology works very well. Even talking in windy or noisy environments, callers said my audio was coming in loud and clear.
• Motion controls make it easy to answer and end calls by simply tapping or shaking the headset — pretty cool!
• Allows you to listen to any audio source on your iPhone, be it music, podcasts, whatever!
• The headset’s battery meter shows up right on your iPhone screen so you always know how much battery life is left.
• Tons of earpiece options included in the box.
• Packaging is quite beautiful and made from recyclable materials.

The Baddies

• Incoming call audio can sound a bit tinny. This isn’t as much of a problem with music and podcasts though, they actually sound pretty good on the Era.
• Motion controls don’t always work. Tapping the headset twice is supposed to end a call, but oftentimes the double tap did nothing. Not a huge deal since you can still use the headset button to answer and end calls, but I wish the motion control features worked more reliably.
• Era’s “auto volume” is supposed to keep adjust audio for you, but often kept the volume too low for me to hear.
• No dedicated volume button. This means you’ll have to use your phone’s volume rocker. You can adjust volume via the headset, but the control is too clunky to be useful.
• The price. This isn’t a cheap headset, that’s for sure. It’ll eventually come down in price, but as of this writing it’s going for about $120 online.

My Conclusion

I would absolutely recommend this headset if you’re looking to get onboard the bluetooth train. It has wonderful sound quality, best-of-class noise reduction, and is the most handsome headset I’ve ever used. Is it a bit pricy? Sure. But it’s the best of the best, and if price isn’t a major concern for you, I think you’re going to love the Jawbone Era.

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Erfon Elijah

Erfon Elijah is the producer and host of The CultCast. When not editing podcasts or watching Mrs. Doubtfire, you’ll find him on Xbox Live hunting CoD Ghosts foes like the Predator. Here are his tweets…