Jawbone

This product was hyped at CES, looks cool and paged ready for the Apple Store if you ask me. Still the Jawbone comes with a big claim. "Its intelligent system of sensors, softrware, and ergonomic features allows it to accurately identify your speech while adapting to background noise so that you can hear and be heard, like never before." Unfortunately, those I called on it from my home office without a lot of background noise all asked me to return to my nomal headset (A cheapo Plantronics). The Jawbone has a button that rests against your cheek, you don't feel this, it just has to be touching for it to perform well. The design, like the box and the enclosed pocket case looks really cool. Semi-clear cables and brushed steel look to the earpiece and the switch unit do make a statement. It's big enough that it might be noticed. That is if you want to be seen.

Still I found it uncomfortable in my ear, and I was not alone. The single earpiece doesn't effectively replace the standard dual muff headset for sound quality. I'd also have to look at the basic design a little more carefully. The cord is generally rather short. This seems made and designed for the laptop user. Certainly don't buy it for a desktop unless you can plug it into the front or have some extension cords. You need a USB and the audio / mic ports for it to work. Strangely, given its apparent design for a laptop I found the switch unit to be too far from the earpiece to clip on comfortably and too far away from the laptop to just sit on the desk with it. So for a product that promises a lot I'm afraid it fails to deliver any more than Skype's own dual plugs earpiece dongle. Which, while cheap, is something every travelling Skyper should carry in their bag as a spare backup.

Motorola HK-500 & Dongle.
The third in this range of products. Bluetooth headsets have become light weight, and increasingly commonplace with cellphone users. This Motorola package is their first for a Skype bundled bluetooth headset. Still opening the box and putting it to use on my laptop taught me a a few things. Now my laptop already had bluetooth installed with a Belkin adaptor. So I tested out the HK-500 like that at first. Then I thought let's try the Motorola dongle. There is no warning in the package about what to do if you already have bluetooth installed. I followed the directions, it removed my Belkin drivers, and installed the Motorola dongle which only provides a headset gateway. So the dongle definitely wasn't a replacement. After that I restored my PC back to the previous settings. There is nothing wrong with the bluetooth dongle. Just make sure you really need it before installing.

So how's the headset work. The HK-500 has just a few external buttons. Holding down the main talk button for 10 seconds enables the pairing process to begin. Once set up it is ready to go. You can't use any of the advanced features incorporated in the earpiece like you might on a mobile phone (eg press button to answer) as there is no software to connect to the Skype API incorporated. This seems a little short-sighted to me. A bluetooth experience comes with pressing the button to answer. This product still requires you to answer the calls on Skype. Similarly if you were using some other device you must first point Skype's audio setting to the Bluetooth headset for it to work.

Then we have the sound test. Again my buddies can tell when I'm talking on bluetooth. I can't tell you how much I enjoy the lightweight, no wires capability to wander off and make coffee and talk at the same time. Still your caller may hear the difference. Ultimately I'm not sure if this is because these headsets are really tuned to mobile phones, narrow band audio and their usage environment . If so bluetooth in this format is doing a disservice to Skype.

One other comment on this bluetooth headset. I have a Motorola HK-810 bluetooth headset where the microphone boom folds over to turn it off. It's marginally heavier than the HK-500. I shove it in my pocket all the time. So naturally I took the HK-500 out to try with my mobile phone. I went into a meeting and then half way through the meeting my phone started talking. Now my Nokia N70 has voice activated dialing. I must have inadvertently pressed the on button twice while in my pocket or brushing against something. It was a weird and scary experience being in a meeitng when your phone goes off on what sounded like a loudspeaker. With that I'd look very carefully at how you turn your bluetooth headset off and on. It needs to be quick. Still it can't be unexpected. I think the pocket is a natural repository for these types of items.

Thus we have audio solutions tested here that frame a range of newly certified Skype products. All of them in my experience result in an audio experience worse than with a reasonalble fully wired headset with boom mic. Thus while handsfree, sexy looks and simple wireless may be very attrractive how you sound to the other person still matters. Often you are selling yourself when on the phone. I'm not convinced any of these solutions will put your best voice forward.

Separately, none of these devices really adds to the multi-modal way in which many of us use or want to use Skype. The most popular devices after the headset are the handset. In many cases they too compromise voice quality. The difference is the better ones are more integrated with Skype and provide a different and perhaps for many of us more comfortable user experience. Eg Cordless handset out by the pool.

Three Questions:
1. Should Skype certify products that result in lower quality audio experiences?
2. What does Skype certified mean when none of these tested devices actually manage or interact with Skype in anyway? Do any of them make the experience smarter? All require you to change the audio settings to connect. None of this is automatic.
3. What specs should Skype be driving for? What will provide really innovative new experiences? To this last question I think the suppliers will listen. So far most are playing a catch up game. They don't have enough experience with Skype to really think through how to enhance it.

In the meantime we have some products carrying "Skype Certified" that aren't exactly earth shattering. It's a tough call in the end. Skype needs more products; they take time to develop and it's still a relatively small market. Still even volumes in the 10's of 1000's is enough to make it attractive.