It’s been a little while since we heard from the fine folks at Jabra, but CTIA is well underway and today they unveiled the Jabra Freeway.  It’s a brand new speakerphone system that boasts 3 speakers, a category first according to the company.

Once clipped to your visor, the Freeway automatically turns on and guides you through the pairing process with a set of voice commands.  Incoming callers will be announced by their name or telephone number, while a Voice Assist app – free for the first year and costs $59 there after – let’s you control the Freeway by voice, allowing you place and receive calls, respond to texts and voicemails, and even update your Facebook status (like anyone is going to use that last feature).

Gimmicky apps aside, the Freeway’s other features include battery status and connection status voice announce, A2DP for playing music via compatible Bluetooth devices, virtual surround sound, 14 hours of talk time (40 days standby) and can connect with to up to two devices simultaneously.

The Jabra Freeway will ship this May for $129.99.

JABRA LAUNCHES INDUSTRY-FIRST
SPEAKERPHONE WITH THREE SPEAKERS
AND HD VOICE READY TECHNOLOGY

Take Calls & Listen to Music Anywhere You Are With the Jabra FREEWAY;
Partnership with Voice Assist Creates the Ultimate Hands-Free Solution

Orlando, FL – March 23, 2011– Jabra today announced the Jabra FREEWAY, a revolutionary new speakerphone that features industry-first innovation and expands the Company’s wide offerings in the category. Taking audio quality to a whole new level, the Jabra FREEWAY features a ground-breaking new three speaker system – a first-ever in the category – along with HD Voice Ready, ensuring superior audio quality on both ends of a phone call. The Jabra FREEWAY provides unique versatility as both a device to be used inside or outside the car and for both calls as well as listening to music with any device – an iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, mp3 players or video game console. The Jabra FREEWAY will be showcased at CTIA Wireless show this week in Orlando, Florida, prior to the North American launch in May.

The Jabra FREEWAY features an intuitive design and a complete hands-free experience for users, allowing them to focus on the task at hand. Once the Jabra FREEWAY is clipped to the car’s visor, it automatically turns on when the car door is opened and then helps the driver pair the device to a mobile phone. Drivers can then sit back with their hands on the wheel and focus on the road ahead and use their voice to solicit all kinds of commands – making, answering, ending, redialing or rejecting calls – without touching their phone. And once a conversation is finished or a destination reached, the FREEWAY automatically shuts off so there is no need to worry about saving battery life for the next use.

The Jabra FREEWAY also comes with a free one year subscription (valued at $59) to Voice Assist, a voice controlled app that can be used with any type of mobile phone or IP-connected device. With Voice Assist, calls and commands can be performed all by voice controlled communication, allowing users to call, send or respond to emails and text messages, or post to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, all by voice.

Those features combined with Voice Guidance, which communicates pairing instructions, battery level and connection status, and Caller ID, an easy and safe way to know who is calling by announcing the name of the caller or the phone number if the caller is not in your phonebook, provide a truly hands-free experience.

Other industry-leading features include Virtual Surround Sound, delivering superior audio quality and rich, crisp, full stereo sound anywhere your day takes you – at home, in the car or at a friend’s house – and A2DP for playing music and podcasts or listening to GPS directions, long talk and stand-by times, connection to more 2 Bluetooth devices at same time, and auto on/off.
The Jabra FREEWAY was recently named a winner of the 2011 red dot awards for product design, and is currently a finalist in the CTIA 2011 Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Awards Program.
For more information on Jabra’s line of mobile products, visit http://www.buyjabra.com/US, like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Jabra.US or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jabra_us. The Jabra FREEWAY will be available in May for a suggested retail price of $129. The FREEWAY is already available in Europe and Asia-Pacific retail stores.

We weren’t too impressed with Jabra’s STONE bluetooth headset when it came to actual functionality, but aesthetics, well that’s a whole other story.  It’s sleek lines and minimalist presence on the ear is by far the headset’s best selling point.  So if black is a bit to nonchalant – perhaps you’re more of an Apple white bud ear type of guy/gal – than you’ll be glad to know Jabra today announced a white STONE.  It has the same functionality and form factor, so be sure to read our review before taking the plunge on May 16th when it will be sold exclusively by AT&T for $130.

Las Vegas, NV – March 23, 2010 – Unique style, comfort, portability and great sound proved the winning combination for Jabra in 2009 with the introduction of the ground-breaking Jabra STONE.  Created by GN Netcom, a world leader in innovative headset solutions, the Jabra STONE exceeded sales expectations and received accolades from journalists around the world when it was introduced in Q4.  As a result of that success, Jabra and AT&T will soon offer consumers another option – the White STONE.  Announced today at the 2010 International CTIA Wireless® show, a white version of the popular headset will be available only at AT&T retail stores nationwide and online wireless.att.com beginning May 16.

Taking the world by storm since it was introduced, the Jabra STONE is a revolutionary wireless Bluetooth® headset that combines style, superior sound quality, ease-of-use and portability.  The White STONE will feature the same sleek style and features, once again breaking the mold of what a traditional Bluetooth® headset looks like – this time with color.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the global success the Jabra STONE has achieved and are looking forward to continuing to push boundaries with the introduction of the White STONE,” said Jonas Forsberg, General Manager North America, Mobile Division, GN Netcom, Inc.  “AT&T has been a great partner and their success with the initial launch and enthusiasm for the product has been tremendous.”

“The Jabra STONE has been a successful product for us since we launched it in Q4 last year,” said Michael Cowan, AT&T director of accessories, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets.  “The STONE’s unique shape, in particular, has resonated strongly and we feel that the addition of the White STONE will appeal to an even broader base of our customers.”

Combining visual appeal with advanced technology, the Jabra STONE has a shape like no other headset on the market, elegantly wrapping behind the ear and eliminating the standard on-face microphone, while still featuring Noise Blackout™ Extreme technology.

The wireless portable charger functions as a compact carrying case that fits into the palm of your hand – simply plug your headset into the charger and power-up whenever and wherever you want.

Accolades from around the world include such comments as:  “One of the best Bluetooth headsets money can buy, particularly for the self-conscious headset wearers out there” (AOL/Switched.com); “…ergonomically sound design and smoking good looks” (PopGadget.net); and “the STONE looks as good as it sounds” (Play Magazine).

The Jabra STONE features discreetly placed controls that are easy to operate.  With a nearly invisible touch-controlled volume pad on the outside of the headset, users can simply slide their finger up or down to control the volume while on a call. The STONE also features the Jabra StatusDisplayTM, making it easy for users to check battery level and Bluetooth connectivity, and MultiuseTM capabilities to effortlessly connect two Bluetooth enabled devices at the same time.  The headset also streams music from A2DP enabled mobile phones.  The Jabra STONE comes with both a Micro USB and AC Charger, as well as a belt clip for easy wearing.

The White Jabra STONE will be available for $129.99 at AT&T retail stores nationwide and on wireless.att.com beginning May 16, 2010. For more information visit jabrastone.com.

Bluetooth headsets should be about sound quality, battery life and functionally.  But in a world in which you’re judged by how good you look fortunately there is the Jabra STONE. Unfortunately, that’s most of what it has to offer.

First things first. Pairing the Jabra STONE was challenging to say the least.  It requires that you continue to hold down the power button (also the talk and volume button) until a the two interior LED lights blink, indicating it’s in pairing mode. This didn’t always work for me and required multiple powering downs. Pairing with my iPhone was no problem, but the Motorola DROID (I was reviewing at the time) took about 4 attempts.

The Jabra STONE is an unusual looking Bluetooth headset. It doesn’t have a boom mic and there are no physical buttons. Additionally, to charge the device you place it inside the holster/charger, which also contains an additional 1 hour charge, making total talk time about 2 hours before requiring a wall plug.

To increase or decrease the volume of the STONE you just simply swipe your finger up or down over the clickable portion of the headset without pressing down. While this looks sleek from a design standpoint it’s far from functional. Most of the time I couldn’t get the headset to increase or decrease in volume and if anything jammed the ear piece further inside my ear canal causing a slight bit of discomfort.

Sound quality of the STONE is mediocre at best. One of my friends asked me if I was calling from the inside of a tin box. The noise canceling is pretty devoid of any existence, but I really didn’t expect too much from such a small and sleek device.

So what’s good about the STONE? How good it looks. The ear loop fits over your ear which for most will prove secure enough, and it’s light enough to not be a nuisance or fall off. In fact, most people won’t even notice that you’re wearing it. From an ear canal comfort standpoint it’s pretty solid, unless of course you have trouble increasing its volume, like I did, which made me feel like I was getting an ear cleaning.

The Jabra STONE is all looks and no brawn or brain. The talk time is reasonable considering its slender and small size, but as we’ve all learned all the good looks in the world can’t negate functionality. I hate to say it, but the Jabra STONE is probably best suited at the bottom of a dark and murky pond with all the other pebbles.

You can grab the Jabra STONE here for $120

Pros:

• Killer design
• Light weight
• Charger doubles as a holster

Cons:

• Sound quality is crappy for callers
• Touch volume button doesn’t work
• Sound cancellation is just poor

I think I’m in love…with the Stone, Jabra’s lastest consumer grade Bluetooth headset.  We covered the launch announcement last month and so far it’s all that it promised to be, aesthetically of course.  I just unboxed it so I’m off to the wall socket to get it and the charger/carrying case juiced up.  More video and pics after the ‘leap’

Jabra’s newest headset, the Stone, is set to release on November 8th and it’s shaping up to be one of the most desirable headsets on the market.  It draws its name from the included carrying case that also doubles as a portable charger.  An external LED indicator light lets you know if you need to recharge the Stone while a small battery indicator on the inside of the ear hooks lets you know if you need to charge the headset. 

It uses dual microphones to process noise cancellation – something they call Noise Blackout Extreme – and Digital Signal Noise processing to insure there aren’t any sudden spikes in volume.  But the cool factor doesn’t end there.  Slide your finger over the external part of the ear loop and you can increase or decrease volume or tap it to answer a call.  The Stone is designed for right ear wearing only so if you’ve got a penchant for left ear action you might wanna look else where.  Expect the Jabra Stone to retail for $129.99 at select AT&T store locations.

Read

Jabra kicked out two new wireless headsets today that can make and receive landline, VoIP and mobile phone calls.  The Jabra GO 6400 uses Bluetooth while the GO 9400 uses DECT for wireless connectivity, which provides a range of up to 450 feet from the base unit.  Both units include a docking station that features a magnetic recharging slot and a 2.4-inch capacitive touchscreen LCD for reviewing and making calls.  Expect both the 6400 and the 9400 to arrive this September and start at $199.

Read

As CTIA gets well underway Jabra has dropped a new wireless headphone on us, the HALO. With a sleek and slender build that works with any device featuring the A2DP stereo Bluetooth protocol, the HALO also includes a wired 3.5mm jack option and their Noise Blackout technology with dual microphones for answering calls on a handset of choice.  Other notables include a 6 hour battery life, 3oz weight, connection with up to 2 devices and touch sensitive controls for controlling music and calls.

Expect the Jabra HALO to drop this May for $129.99.

Features:

• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
• Works with our without ear hooks, light weight
• 180 hour standby time

It looks like the Bluetooth headset market has piqued. or at least is the case for Jabra.  Today they released two new Bluetooth headsets, the BT530 and M5390 (pictured above), which aren’t bad looking, but are pretty unremarkable. Feature run down just below.

Jabra M5390 USB

• Up to 200 foot range
• Up to 6 hours talk time, 60 hours standby time
• Plug-and-play Bluetooth connectivity to PC or VoIP
• Comes with Jabra PC Suite with e-hook functionality for Microsoft Office Communicator, Skype and Cisco IP Communicator
• Wideband audio and noise cancelling microphone
• True wideband sound quality
• Two wearing styles (earhook and headband)
• Retails price – $191
• Available January, 2009

Jabra BT530 USB

• Pairs with 8 devices
• Plug-and-play Bluetooth adapter for PC applications and soft-phones
• Includes Jabra PC Suite with VoIP functionality for Skype, Cisco and Microsoft Office Communicator
• Third generation ear gel design available in three sizes and can be worn with or without the earhook for maximum individualized comfort
• The 0.35 ounce headset allows for up to 5.5 hours of talk time, up to 250 hours of standby time, and has a maximum range of 33 feet
• Retails price – $129
• Currently shipping