Oh no, not another Bluetooth headset!
April 7, 2010 Post a Comment Thursday, April 8th, 2010, Netcast 1064
That’s what I said when someone from Jawbone told me they had a brand new model. But when they started to explain what was new about the Icon Hero, I was immediately interested. First off, this headset is tiny and it has almost no controls to learn about. There’s an actual slide on/off switch, so a quick peek & you’ll know if it’s on or off. That’s easier than trying to decide if that LED light blink meant your headset just turned off, or off? Then there’s a micro-USB port for charging and a single multi-function button. There is no volume control because this headset uses something called Jawbone Active Dynamic Range Management. It sets volumes based on the way you set up your phone for the first time. Something I’ve never seen on any other Bluetooth headset is the voice that whispers how much battery life is left – in hours and minutes – when you first turn the unit one. But wait there’s more! If you have an iPhone you can also have an on-screen battery icon. Pairing was a breeze and I had no trouble letting the Icon Hero control the volume for me. The voice that tells you the condition of the battery also announces the number calling in. You can change the voice to man, woman, sexy voice etc. at the Icon MyTALK website. And if you like, you can pick Spanish, French and German. There’s voice dialing, directory assistance, even Jott voice-to-text (provided you subscribe). Something Icon calls NoiseAssassin worked well too. It suppresses background noise while letting your voice push through. I made a couple of calls standing right next to a loud TV and the party I called was able to hear me with just some low background noise - like I was calling from a busy restaurant. It’s offered in six different fashion colors and flashy styles. List is $100, but if you do a web search you can find it for about $75. Read all the details of the Icon and see the six styles at the company website:
http://jawbone.com/productsPageIcon.aspx
Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1064
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