Jawbone Era (Shadowbox)

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 7 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

• Sort by: Most helpful Highest rating Lowest rating Most recent

• 9 stars

  Best Headset I've ever owned.

  by dieseltech944 on February 16, 2011

  Pros: GREAT sound quality.
  Noise Assassin really does its job well.
  Light and comfortable
  A2DP and multipoint work well
  Plenty of fit options

  Cons: A little tricky to fit in your ear.
  Availability

  Summary: This is the third Jawbone model I've owned. I've had the original, Jawbone 2, and now this one. I've also had the Blue Ant X3 and Q5. ...

  Read more

  Summary: This is the third Jawbone model I've owned. I've had the original, Jawbone 2, and now this one. I've also had the Blue Ant X3 and Q5. The Era is EASILY the best of any of them.
  First the Cons since I don't have many: It is a bit tricky to get the earpiece just right. It took me about 5 minutes of trying to get it in and switching the earbud back and forth. Once I finally got it in, and the fit just right, it felt very comfortable and not very noticable.
  As for the availability, I ordered mine through Aliphcom directly, as not one store in my area carried the Era yet. I'm sure that will not be a problem soon however.
  
  Now for the good parts. The sound quality is by far the best I've heard on a BT set. According to the people I've talked to, they had no clue I was on a BT at all. I called my wife while rolling down the interstate at 75 MPH with my driver's side window half way down. She could hear a little background noise, but could hear what I was saying without any difficulties. She said my voice was pretty clear overall. Every other set I owned was worthless the moment I rolled the window down. This is a big win.
  As I stated earlier, once I managed to get the fit right, this is a very comfortable set. There are plenty of ear bud sizes and styles included, and even comes with an earhook (which I did not need) I even had to feel to see if it was there a few times once I was used to it being there.
  It streams music very well from my phone, even though I don't use my phone as an MP3 player. It paired right up to my PS3 and kept connected to my phone at the same time. While using my phone as a GPS, it sent the directions into the Era. I liked that.
  
  I would recommend this headset to anybody who is looking to buy one or upgrade from their old one, like I did. The difference from the Jawbone 2 and this one are astounding, and in a great way. For those that think the price is too high, this is definitely a case of getting what you pay for. Well worth the $130 spent.

  Show less

  4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  jawbone era vs plantronics voyager pro HD vs blueant q2

  by raeotrae on October 12, 2011

  Pros: -optional caller announce for 20 contacts
  -tap-tap answer and hang-up
  -Great noise-cancellation
  -can change voices
  -can announce the time with pressing the button (optional)
  -Easy-to-Press buttons
  -loud volume

  Cons: -terrible fit until you get the umbo earbud with Jabra eargel combo
  -Only 20 names for caller ID announce
  -Have to enter names you want announced manually
  -bass is poor when music played through it
  -Bulges
  -with only one button, its next to impossible to

  Summary: With the following 3 headsets, I'm yet to have customers, friends, co-workers, or family complain about background noise. The noise-cancelling on these three is premier and professional-grade. However, this ...

  Read more

  Summary: With the following 3 headsets, I'm yet to have customers, friends, co-workers, or family complain about background noise. The noise-cancelling on these three is premier and professional-grade. However, this is why I go between multiple headsets, but ultimately revert back to the Jawbone Era (usually):
  Plantronics Voyager Pro HD: marginally better noise-cancelling with my experiments, but not by much; hardly noticeable. Great sound quality for a single ear bluetooth headset. Stuck with the default ringtone the bluetooth plays for ALL calls. No battery life announcement or any voice commands whatsoever when button is pushed. Caller volume does not go as high, and sometimes not high enough in certain environments. EXTREMELY comfortable. Although the other two can be comfortable, this one could be worn for days and days and while sleeping without irritation or giving you earwax from oxygen deprevation to the ear canal.
  Blueant Q2: great volume. Awesome concept trying to get it to caller ID announce up to 2000 names. However, it didn't work with my phone and from what I can tell around the web, there's quite a few people it doesn't work with. It works on my wife's phone. Told you have to have contacts saved on your phone's memory, which is impossible to transfer 2000 contacts from a MicroSD to phone memory without a painstaking process, plus you'd eat up a good chunk of your phone's memory anyways. If the name announce doesn't work, it will still announce the caller's number. Button is a little difficult to press and results in you shoving the bluetooth into your ear too hard for my liking. All-day fit isn't that great since the plastic of the earpiece is right at the surface of the eargel. Can put an umbo earbud with jabra eargel on it, but it isn't quite as secure as the jawbone since the earpiece is a little bit of a funky design. Noise cancellation suprised me with how good it was. It ranked right up there equal with the Voyager Pro HD and the Jawbone Era. There are a couple of other color options that look really slick. The black one looks kind of ordinary, but the platinum one looks really classy. The red one is a little too bold for me and I'm afraid it would look like a safety cone on the side of my head. The bluetooth fits to the ear and head nicely giving it a sleek and not-to-obvious look. With the standard earbud and earhook combo, its not exactly a breeze to throw into your ear on the fly. Music through the earpiece is of decent quality (not as good as Voyager Pro HD but better than Jawbone Era), and certainly with plenty of volume. Stuck with some dude voice for all announcements, which you hear every call you make on top of any voice commands.
  Jawbone Era:
  Great noise cancelling. Short size, but due to its noise-cancel design, it comes out of your face about 3/4 of an inch, creating a definitive asymmetry to your facial structure. Can change voice to a female or male of many varieties, so you don't get sick of it. Announces caller number and can do up to 20 actual names if done through the jawbone updater website. After update, my tap-tap button works beautifully, and I use it to answer each call and end each call now. Because of tap-tap, you don't have to mess with the button and unlike others, you don't have to push the bluetooth into your ear canal to answer a call, which can cause irritation after a day of many calls. Fits are terrible for me, but I added the Umbo Earbud (trimmed its tip a bit) and the Jabra Eargels, which are the next best thing to a custom-fit, and now it fits great and can be worn through the day without an issue. Easy to remove and place back in the ear. Sturdy and solid built, so I'm not afraid to put it in my pocket if I have to. Small and compact. Has the main things I need and like:
  -caller name announce (20 contacts)
  -not annoying voice; even has a variety
  -easy, quick, and comfortable answer and end of calls
  -near perfect noise-cancellation
  -Looks good despite a little bulkiness (I use the white one)
  -Loud volume level
  -comfortable (after fit modification)
  In my opinion, the only thing its really missing is:
  -an easier way to adjust volume and mute calls
  -better sound quality for music; but no bluetooth compares to my Monster Gold editions anyways, why would I listen to music on anything that's not stereo and of the highest quality?!

  Show less

  2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  Best so far! (using w/ iPhone 3GS)

  by cnetXfan on January 28, 2011

  Pros: speaker sound is exceptional - best every
  noise/wind suppression is excellent
  voice quality (for others) is very good
  features are useful; taptap, voicedial, callerID, 2ADP, MyTalk, etc
  multipoint connections; cell phone & laptop

  Cons: having a little issue w/ multipoint use; need to call support ... but otherwise, very easy to setup and use

  Summary: having used earlier Jawbone models, BlueAnt, and Plantronics, this bluetooth earpiece may be the best so far
  
  p.s. press and hold the talk button changes the volume up/down ...

  Read more

  Summary: having used earlier Jawbone models, BlueAnt, and Plantronics, this bluetooth earpiece may be the best so far
  
  p.s. press and hold the talk button changes the volume up/down -- i think cnet's comment on "no volume rocker" is misleading ... some people think that means you have to dig out the phone to change the volume ... this is not true. you can increase/decrease volume by holding the talk button during calls

  Show less

  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 2 stars

  Less than 1 star.

  by newporke on April 26, 2013

  Pros: Paired that's all I know

  Cons: Everything else never worked.

  Summary: Just my experience with Droid4 and MS Vista P/C. Paired with Droid 4, and uninstalled software from Vista P/C. Never got to use it. Updater failed freezing at ...

  Read more

  Summary: Just my experience with Droid4 and MS Vista P/C. Paired with Droid 4, and uninstalled software from Vista P/C. Never got to use it. Updater failed freezing at 4%, the fix on FAQ failed. Factory unit reset failed. Returning tomorrow.

  Show less

• 8 stars

  Very satisfied so far! Great Sound and Features!

  by bkent11 on September 15, 2012

  Pros: Charger and Cord Combo
  Dedicated On/Off Switch
  Sound Quality
  Streaming Media, Music and Voice
  Fit

  Cons: Comfort Over Time

  Summary: Sound and Streaming: The sound quality is great and the volume is as loud as I care to make it. The media streaming (music and voice) is both useful and ...

  Read more

  Summary: Sound and Streaming: The sound quality is great and the volume is as loud as I care to make it. The media streaming (music and voice) is both useful and cool. Of course it won't replace the stereo headset for an audiophile but will do in a pinch and spoken work sounds really good.
  
  Battery Life: I can talk 3 hours with tech support and stream NPR for 2 hours before the battery starts before a little voice in my ears says "you have about a half hour of talk time remaining".
  
  Features and Use: The Jawbone Era is very easy to use, not at all complicated. I won't cover all the features but I would like to share a couple that I really like: 1) Having the dedicated on/off switch instead of dealing with a multifunction button. 2) An interesting thing that Jawbone has added is a short stiff bendy charge cord and matching USB wall charger. The whole thing is 5 inches long and just plug your headset into and it stands there in the socket in plain site so I don't forget it the next morning. The faint red light tells you it's charging but is not obnoxious and won't bother even the lightest sleeper. As for the guy who complained mightily about and could not understand the short cord, Dude! Use your imagination. How many 3 foot USB cords do you need in your life anyway.
  
  Fit and Comfort: Pro and Con here. I really believe, that with a little trial and error, anyone can find a good working fit. There are many earbuds to choose from and the earloop is very well designed and comfortable. However it is so hard to find a combination that is comfortable all day long. After 2 or 3 hours my ears starts to hurt a bit from the bud. I honestly think that I will have a callus, either physically or mentally, after a full week of use. I don't believe anyone should let this stop you from purchasing the Era, but it will drop 1 star from my rating.
  
  Summary: For several years I've used a Plantronics headset that served me well and has a very comfortable fit. I felt it was time to move into the current decade and I feel that my new Era is a more than worthy successor.

  Show less

• 6 stars

  Unbeatable transmission, inexcusably weak reception.

  by jkirk1626 on August 20, 2012

  Pros: Jawbone's noise cancellation is as good as anything on the market. Listeners will hear you loud and clear, likely unaware that you're in a noisy environment.

  Cons: Reception quality is low average, especially for a $130 headset. This is the Jawbone's weak spot.

  Summary: This my second Jawbone. Previously, I had a Jawbone Icon whose reception volume degraded with time to the point of being marginally usable.
  
  Jawbone's noise cancellation is impressive. But ...

  Read more

  Summary: This my second Jawbone. Previously, I had a Jawbone Icon whose reception volume degraded with time to the point of being marginally usable.
  
  Jawbone's noise cancellation is impressive. But that's only half the battle. More likely than not, my next bluetooth will not be a Jawbone.
  
  This review is based on use with a Samsung Galaxy Nexus CDMA LTE made for Verizon Wireless.

  Show less

• 9 stars

  Works well - a noticeable improvement over the icon

  by kdwiggins on July 27, 2011

  Pros: - Ease of use
  - Multipoint technology
  - Clear audio calls
  - comfortable fit
  - extended talk time

  Cons: - Bass almost nonexistent when listening to music
  - Only 20 contacts for caller id

  Summary: This is my 3rd Jawbone. I've owned the orignal, the icon, and now the era. I am just as pleased with this one as I was when I bought ...

  Read more

  Summary: This is my 3rd Jawbone. I've owned the orignal, the icon, and now the era. I am just as pleased with this one as I was when I bought my first jawbone. Being able to stream music from my phone is probably my favorite feature. My only complaint is the lack of bass. Of course with a speaker so small what could you expect. When they solve that issue i will give them 5 stars.
  
  The caller id speaking of the contacts sounds very natural. I was pleasantly surprised at how clear it sounds. I just wish you could have more than 20.
  
  Again, I am completely happy with my purchase, and I must comment on how this is the most comfortable jawbone of them all. It comes with 9 ear pads, so finding the right fit is not really a problem. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone I know.

  Show less

See pricing