Small, Stylish, and Sophisticated
I have been looking for a new Bluetooth headset for quite sometime, and I decided to see if the Jabra JX10 Series II for $79.95 would fit the bill. It arrived in a sleek black and yellow box, with a round window opening that displayed the exciting new toy I was about to test out. I was pleasantly surprised with the Jabra’s compact size. The color could be described as black or dark grey ash which is perfect!
Jabra JX10 Series II
Headset Features and Design
The Jabra JX10 Series II was designed by the world renowned European Design House of Jacob Jensen. The upgrades to the Series II include adding Bluetooth 2.0 compatibility and Multipoint Software technology. The Multipoint Software upgrade could prove to be an invaluable benefit to business users who are required to carry multiple cell phones. The Multipoint Software allows the user to connect the headset to two separate devices at once. Now you can use your Jabra JX10 Series II to answer calls on your BlackBerry as well as another mobile phone. With the addition of the soon to be released Jabra JX10 Bluetooth hub, you will have the ability to use the Series II as a headset with your BlackBerry and your office phone.
The Series II comes in weighing less than 10 grams. It has an amazing 6 hours of talk time, with approximately 200 hours of standby time. It also boasts a 33 foot wireless range.
Amazingly Small and Lightweight
Unboxing
Like a kid at Christmas waiting to tear into that new toy, I could not wait to rip into the box and see what all it had to offer me. The front of the box had a flap secured by a little spot of Velcro that opened up to another sneak peak of what was yet to come. It displayed another round window showing the home charger for the headset. I was happy to see that there was something more than just a floppy power cord supplied to charge the headset. I will talk more in depth on ways to charge the JX10 headset later.
Once I broke the seal on the box, and pulled out the plastic tray that housed the headset and accessories, I found that the box contained the following:
- Jabra JX10 Series II Headset
- Desktop Charger and power cord
- USB charging cable
- Car Charger
- Getting Started brochure and the standard Instruction Manual
I was immediately pleased with the size of the headset. It was quite a bit smaller in comparison to my current Jabra BT250V. I removed the headset to find that the front and back were covered with a protective plastic sheeting to prevent any scratching while in transport. The JX10 has a standard setup for right ear wear. However, there is also a lightweight plastic ear hook, which can be easily be repositioned for left ear wear, or removed entirely for cleaning.
The desktop charger is sleekly designed with sharp lines and black piano finish. It will add style to any desktop. You connect a proprietary power cable to the desktop charger, and then plug it in the wall. You may also choose to charge your new headset by the included USB power cable attached to your PC. The charging method I liked the best, was the included car charger. It is a simple DC power plug on one end, and the other end has a flexible elbow where the JX10 attaches.
Lots of Goodies in the Box!
The Desktop Charger Looks Great!
Nicely Designed Car Charger has a Flexible Elbow
Pairing with my Blackberry Curve
As with many other Bluetooth headsets I have used, pairing the JX10 with my Blackberry Curve was about as simple as it can get. First just turn on the JX10 by pressing and holding the Talk/End button until the blue LED begins to flash. Next, I put my BlackBerry in pairing mode, and then pressed and held the pairing button on the JX10 until the LED turned solid blue. That’s it. The BlackBerry found the headset with no problem, and after entering the generic pass code of 0000, I was all set to start using the JX10!
Putting the JX10 into Action
Putting the JX10 onto my ear was easy. It almost just slips into place, which is more than I can say for my BT250V. It was very comfortable, and it was so lightweight, I barely even noticed it was there.
I turned on the headset and was prompted by my BlackBerry to accept the connection. I allowed the connection, and directed it to always accept the connection. The blue LED on both the headset and my BlackBerry were now flashing eagerly awaiting me to make my first call.
Naturally, the first call had to go to my wife. I called her on my way to work to see what she thought about the sound quality. I immediately noticed that the call was crisp and clear, but the volume seemed too low for me to hear while traveling down the road. I tried raising the volume using the headset volume control, but did not notice any difference. I then reverted to the main volume control on my BlackBerry and found that it was also already maxed out. The volume was as high as it was going to get, and for me, it was hard to hear a conversation while driving. My wife informed me that she could easily hear me, but there was a lot of background noise. I did not have the radio or anything else on in the car. She described it as wind or road noise. All the windows were up. I’m guessing that the microphone is picking up the road noise as I traveled down the highway. I was disappointed with this. The JX10 advertises that it has automatic volume control, which is supposed to elevate sound level and quality to match your environment. It also features DSP (Digital Signal Processing) technology to reduce background noises. Neither of which seemed to be holding up to highway driving.
Thinking that maybe I just had a bad connection, I called one of my CrackBerry friends for his opinion on the call quality. He informed me of the exact same thing. It was clear on my end no static, but he could hear a lot of road noise. Now to be fair, I was traveling 70 mph down a freeway at the time of both calls.
Since highway quality wasn’t the best, I tried city driving next. I called my wife again and this time was told that the call sounded much better. I was still driving in the car, but now at much lower speeds, only about 25-40MPH.
Lastly, I tested the quality calling a few different people while out in public on foot. My first test was while at dinner at Outback Steakhouse. By the way, that was an excellent steak! J With a noisy restaurant as the background, the call was clear and crisp, and the receiver of the call had no issues… other than I didn’t invite them to dinner. Next I took a call outside, and received the same results.
I had been wearing the JX10 for approximately 3 hours now. What started off as a comfortable earpiece was now starting to hurt a little bit. I suppose like anything else, if you wear it long enough, it will start to bother you sooner or later. I had only kept it on this long, just to test it, and see how it would work. Normally I take off my earpiece when I’m done using it.
What to do With the Headset When NOT in Use
In the past when I was done using my BT250V, I’d toss it into the cup holder of my car to be stored until I needed it again. Now with the JX10, it is far more expensive, and too good looking to be just merely tossed around. You have a couple of options for carrying the JX10. There is the standard method of putting it in your pocket, but that could lead to damage of the headset from other things in your pocket rubbing up against it. You could also clip the earpiece to your shirt or pants pocket and let it hang there. Although, I’d be afraid it would fall off and I’d lose it. Now the method that makes the most sense, and gives you the most protection is to put it in a case.
Enter the Smartphone Experts JX10 leather case. This leather case is designed to keep your JX10 protected at all times when not in use. The case retails for $12.95 and is well worth the money. The only downside to the case was that it did not come with any instructions. It’s not like there is that much to it, but there are a few different ways you could attempt to put the JX10 in the case, and it would’ve been nice to at least have a diagram of the preferred method.
Smartphone Experts' Leather Case Protects Your Bluetooth Investment
The Right Way to Place the Jabra JX10 into the Case
Conclusion
The design of the JX10 is far superior to that of previous Jabra headsets I have used and is well worth the price. I think it will be very competitive to the other new small designed headsets on the market like the Nokia BH800 and the Aliph Jawbone.
The instruction manual covers all the basics that you need to know, and of course, being a man, I didn’t even read it at first and was still successful at setting up the headset.
As previously stated, I was somewhat disappointed with the volume level and noise reduction features while driving at highway speeds. This is something that I think could be improved in future versions.
All in all, I think this is a good headset that will work for most users. It’s small and sleek and is bound to impress your friends with its stylish design.
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