Review of Jabra Extreme

In the previous year, a number of companies such as BlueAnt, Aliph and Plantronics have manufactured quality Bluetooth headsets. These headsets were equipped with noise cancelling features that were impressive. The Jabra also released some in 2009 but their quality was not as impressive as the ones form the other companies. Now Jabra has introduced the new Extreme headset. It uses the Noise Blackout Extreme noise cancellation technique and is named so. It has impressive audio quality and is available at a cost of $79. It is a tiny headset that can offer twice the quality as the other Jabra headsets that were released in the past.

Features

The Jabra Extreme is recommended to be used only with mobile phones. It has a mono aural headphone with the convertible form factor. It also has a hook to attach it on the ear. It uses the Bluetooth version 2.0 EDR technology for wireless connectivity and is capable of working in both the Hands free profile and the Headset profile. It produces omni directional mode of output sound with a built in microphone. The Extreme has a wireless transmission range of 33 feet. The included rechargeable headset battery provides a talk time of 5.5 hours and stand by time of 10.5 days. There is an external power adapter also. It uses additional features such as Noise Blackout Extreme technology, Multiuse and dual microphones.

Design

The Extreme measures 0.7 inches in width, 1.9 inches in depth and 1.1 inches in height. It weights only 0.4 ounces that is pretty light. It has a long and slender design with industrial looks. It is has a gray gunmetal cladding on the front side while the rest of the exterior is black in color. The front surface of the Extreme has a perforated grille covering that conceals the dual microphones of the headset. There is also a thin button on the center with a Jabra brand logo. This is the multifunctional call button of the headset. Below this there is a LED indicator.  On the either side of the call button are the volume controls. Though the volume controls are tiny they are easy to handle.

The power on or off switch is on the left side of the Extreme. The charger jack is on the top. The back side of the headset has the ear piece that is covered with a gel cover. The package of Extreme includes three different gel covers of which two are attached with half loops. These two covers can be used to avoid the hook. These are not pretty comfortable as they are bit large. The gel cover with an optional plastic hook is the most comfortable and secure one. The hook can fit on either ear comfortably.

Performance

The Extreme can perform tasks like answering, rejecting, ending, voice dial, redial, mute, call waiting, holding a call and the transfer of a call from the phone to the headset and vice versa. It also has the Multi Point technology that enables the device to connect to a couple of different devices. The A2DP technology allows the device to support streaming music. The mono output mode of the headset is not suitable for songs but it can be used for quick listening. It even worked with podcasts. But the quality is not good as the headset can be worn only on one ear at a time. The automatic volume control feature of the headset adjusts the volume according to the level of the ambient noise. There is a sound monitor that protects the ear drums from the sudden spikes of volume. This is done by the Acoustic Shock Protection feature.

The headset was tested with Apple iPhone 3G under many different environmental conditions such as a quiet room, traveling vehicle and on a crowded road. The quality of the calls made in all the above situations was impressive. The callers are heard clear and loud with natural sound. The callers experienced little static and slight muffled background noise that is not of much concern in the noisier environments. The provided lithium ion battery is also effective and provides a talk time of 5.5 hours and a stand by time of 10.5 days.

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