Bluetooth headset maker Aliph launches its Jawbone series, consisting of six headsets all including MyTalk, which the company is billing as an industry-first platform for Bluetooth headsets. The technology allows users to customize the headset through Audio and Dial applications.
Bluetooth headset maker Aliph announced the launch of its Jawbone series,
consisting of six headsets all including MyTalk, which the company is billing
as an industry-first platform for Bluetooth headsets. The technology allows
users to customize the headset through Audio and Dial applications.
When paired with an Apple iPhone, the headset's battery meter appears
alongside the phone's to help users know the device's battery strength. Aliph
is offering the Jawbone Icon headset for $99.99.
Icon also boasts lethal NoiseAssassin 2.5 with wind reduction, a proprietary
technology that eliminates background noise from mobile phone conversations.
Aliph claims the Jawbone Icon is the only Bluetooth headset with a Voice
Activity Sensor (VAS) that actually feels a
user's speech, which helps it distinguish a voice from background noise. The
company developed a Digital Sensor Signal Fusion system to reduce wind noise,
and the Icon uses an algorithm that digitally fuses together audio from its two
electret microphones and Voice Activity Sensor to create a single, natural-sounding
speech signal.
Aliph said the Icon provides up to 4.5 hours talk time and 10 days standby
time, with a range of up to 33 feet.
Aliph has also improved speaker design and signal processing for enhanced
inbound sound quality, as well as added features like the ability to set the
volume on one call and have the device remember the volume level until the user
decides to change it again. Icon uses standard microUSB charging technology and
boasts a user-friendly, On/Off slide switch and one button, as well as Simultaneous
Multipoint, which allows users to
manage two calls from two different phones at the same time.
Custom Icon audio tones whisper information like remaining battery life and
caller ID into the user's ear.
With AudioApps from MyTalk, users can change the voice that conveys the
aforementioned information, and each of the six Jawbone Icons has a unique
voice and personality. Consumers can choose from the Hero, the Bombshell, the Catch,
the Rogue (who sounds an awful lot like Antonio Banderas), the Thinker and the
Ace.
MyTalk also offers three localized versions, in Spanish, French and German.
DialApps let users customize an access button that links the Icon directly to
411, voice-to-SMS and voice dial services.
Some apps even let users employ voice to listen and post to social
networking sites Facebook and Twitter.
The $100 price point also includes one microUSB cable, one A/C wall adapter,
three fit earbuds, four round earbuds, one optional binaural earloop, one quick
start guide and one wallet sized "cheat sheet."
Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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