The World According to Mitch

I have always been finicky about my Bluetooth earpieces.  As long as I have been using them (since about 2005) I have been very selective, for several reasons.  Sound quality of course is important, but so is comfort, not to mention battery life.  When I found my Jabra Supreme (See article) I was thrilled because it offered me all of those.

When you find an accessory that you are comfortable with it is often the best idea to stop looking; otherwise it could get very expensive.  Gadgets are, after all, a very expensive hobby!  However when they add real benefits to your day to day work productivity then they usually pay for themselves pretty quickly.

I picked up a Jabra Motion earlier this week (specifically the Jabra Motion UC with Travel & Charge Kit MS) after seeing it demonstrated at a recent event.  It is a different style of earpiece than I am used to… the mechanism itself fits behind the ear (rather than over it) and only the actual piece that fits into your ear hangs down.  Because of this I was worried about how co mfortable it would be, but sure enough after wearing it for the better part of a day it was still easy to wear.

My first concern about the device when I put it into my ear was that it did not seem to be a one-size-fits-all mechanism.  The speaker house seemed to fall short of going comfortably into my ear.  That is, until I took a closer look and realized that the piece that the speaker house was connected to was actually two pieces, and that the ear was easily adjusted by pulling it down (or up).  This design allows me to wear the device without having it in my ear, and when I take (or make) a call I just have to pop it in… the speaker house hangs freely otherwise, and I don’t have to remove it completely to hear what is happening around me.

Another great feature of this component is that it allows me to rotate the speaker house itself, which means I can wear it in either ear.  If you wear any device long enough it may get uncomfortable, and by being able to change ears without taking it apart is a huge bonus for me.

Okay, so now it came time to pair the device.  Only I didn’t have the device ready, so when I pressed the button on the device it told me something I had never heard from a Bluetooth earpiece before: SEVEN hours talk-time remaining.  That is amazing… I used it all week and did not need to recharge until the end of the day Friday (which I was then able to do while sitting at a cafe, because I had the carry/charge case with me!)

Pairing the device was easy… I followed the same steps I would have with any other Bluetooth device, and within seconds it was first paired to my phone, and then to my computer.  However it gets better, and I only discovered this feature after I was already paired: The Motion has a feature called Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, which lets you simply tap the phone and the headset together and POOF! they are connected.  How cool is that?  I will be reading more about that feature later on… along with testing it out for you of course!

Some models of the Jabra Motion come with a comprehensive, everything-in-its-place carrying case which is nice, but a lot more practical than most carrying cases.  The case itself plugs in to any USB port and becomes a charging dock!  The hard shell of the carrying case protects it when not in use (I have broken several while sitting on airplanes) and comes complete with your cable, UC connector, and two extra ear gels (so you can pick the one that is the best fit for you, but also ‘just in case’ one of them should get lost).  If you are ordering on-line make sure you specify that you order the version that comes with the case!

The sound quality on the Motion surprised me.  At first test (from my office cubicle) it was no better or worse than the Jabra Supreme (which I still love).  Where it really shone though was when I walked outside with it… even on a windy day the HD voice, Noise Blackout 3.0 and Wind Noise Reduction technology reminded me why I went out and got this device… My wife did not even realize I had left my cubicle and walked outside during our conversation.  These features alone are worth the price!

The intuitive call control features are pretty slick… Every Bluetooth earpiece knows when your phone is ringing… how many of them will automatically answer the phone when you pick it up?  The built-in motion sensors do that, along with adjusting the volume automatically for you when you are on the go.

There are other ways to answer the phone aside from the mundane ‘pressing the button’ method.  If the boom arm is up when a call is coming in just unfold it and you are talking.  If the boom arm is already down then you can just say the word ‘answer’ and it will!  How cool is that?

Of course it works just fine with the Jabra PC Suite , so you can add all sorts of control to your device with that.  It also streams music from any Bluetooth device, and at 17.5g (.62g) it is lightweight yet durable.

Do I recommend it?  Oh yeah… Just the UC features made my life better this week, as I easily and seamlessly switched between talking on the phone, Lync, and Skype.  Of course only the –MS models are certified for Lync, but they will all work.  Pick one up and see what I mean!