Jawbone’s newest Jawbone Bluetooth headset has arrived, the Jawbone ERA, evolving the discrete styling of the ICON and taking its place at the top of the company’s range. There’s more than just good looks promised, though; Jawbone has also slotted in a bigger speaker for HD Audio, together with an accelerometer for more intuitive control. Is it enough to warrant the $129.99 price tag? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
Hardware
The Jawbone ERA is longer than the ICON, which shifts the microphone closer to your mouth, but the physical controls have been streamlined thanks to the addition of an accelerometer. Jawbone call it Motion-X, but it’s basically a way to kick the headset easily into pairing mode – “ShakeShake” – or answer/end calls – “TapTap” – by shaking or tapping the body of the ERA. Power on and shake ERA four or so times and it will automatically go into pairing mode; then, when you’re wearing the headset, a brisk double-tap will answer incoming calls.
Inside there’s Bluetooth 2.1+EDR with headset and hands-free profile support, as well as (mono) A2DP, and Jawbone reckon up to 33 feet range. Multipoint support means the ERA will remember up to eight paired devices, of which two can be simultaneously connected at any one time; that means you can have your cellphone and your laptop paired, and handle voice and VoIP calls with the same headset.
In the box there’s the ERA, four round earbuds for use with the easily-detached ear hook, four different earbuds with integrated rubber hoops for when you don’t want to use the ear hook, a short microUSB cable, carry pouch and a USB AC adapter. Unlike previous Jawbone ear hooks, the loop supplied with ERA is far more flexible which makes for more comfort together with a better fit for those wearing glasses or sunglasses.
Jawbone ERA unboxing and hands-on:
As with ICON, ERA will work with Jawbone’s MyTALK online suite of services to extend the headset beyond merely answering calls. Basically, it’s an app store for your Bluetooth headset, and with ERA Jawbone has boosted the connectivity speed so that updates take seconds rather than minutes. That’s useful, because you can now upload your address book to the headset’s onboard flash storage: whereas on the ICON the caller ID was read out as a number by a synthetic voice, with the ERA you hear the caller’s name (Jawbone ERA’s CallerID Function works with ten contacts that you’ve programmed using MyTALK). read out by a proper voice artist. Jawbone tells us it will be adding further voice artist recordings throughout the life of the headset, so names not initially covered – and which will get the robotic voice – will eventually get the premium treatment. There’s also the usual voice-control, the ability to dictate an SMS or Twitter update by voice, and the ability to send a short voice memo to Jawbone’s Jawbone THOUGHTS app.
Performance
Audio quality lives up to the solid construction of the ERA itself, putting the headset among the best we’ve tested. Jawbone has used a new wideband speaker – supposedly 25-percent larger – for what it calls HD Audio, along with the latest version of its noise-cancelation tech, NoiseAssassin 3.0. The latter adds automatic volume adjustment and intelligent DSP; with normal voice calls and Skype there was little in the way of obvious processing and simply clear, bright sound. When we tested in more noisy environments, however, such as while driving, the processing shifted into gear and was more ruthless at cutting out background sounds. We prefer the ERA’s performance to that of our previous favorite, Plantronics’ Voyager PRO+, and the Jawbone is more discrete in its design as well.
While the ShakeShake pairing system is slick, it’s the tap-to-answer that really makes the ERA straightforward to use. Rather than hunting for a button – or having to press so hard that it hurts your ear or even dislodges the headset – it’s intuitive to gently tap the ERA a couple of times and then start talking. Jawbone tells us that the Motion-X tech on the ERA is simply the first step in how it expects to develop the technology, and the upgrade potential via the MyTALK system means there’s a good chance new motions will be introduced at a later point.
We haven’t had a chance to put battery life to the test properly yet, but will do so over the next week or so. Jawbone claims up to 5.5hrs of talktime or 10 days of standby time.
Wrap-Up
It’s tough not to be impressed by the Jawbone ERA: the HD audio and effective noise-reduction technology take care of the core functionality, around which the solid build quality, innovative use of an accelerometer, and comfortable fit add up to an all-round winner. Jawbone definitely seems to be listening to feedback, and given the upgradable nature of the ERA we’re hopeful the MyTALK platform will mean future software modifications aren’t solely preserved for new headsets.
At $129.99 – available in Shadowbox, Smokescreen, Midnight and Silver Lining finishes – it’s in the premium price range, but the functionality means you’re getting one of the best performing devices for your money. We’d opt for the ERA over the $99.99 Jawbone ICON (which will remain on sale alongside the new flagship) for its boosted HD Audio performance and easier control.
With a fantastic Bluetooth headset on the market and a pumpin’ portable speaker to blast out jams, how could Jawbone improve their product lineup? Well, we still think a stereo headset might be swell… but that’s not what the company delivered today. No, this is the Jawbone Era, the world’s first Bluetooth earpiece with a built-in accelerometer for motion-sensing apps, and plenty more improvements where that came from. There’s a new version of the company’s NoiseAssassin noise-canceling algorithms that adjusts inbound volume and equalization to let you hear better, an extra-large 10mm cone speaker with a larger range of frequencies, two processors, more memory, and an hour of extra battery life compared to the Jawbone Icon, to be specific. With only two motions currently recognized — a double-tap to begin / end / switch calls and a rapid shake to pair — the accelerometer’s a bit of a gimmick for now, but Jawbone suggests more gestures are probably on the way. In the meanwhile, the other advancements might make the Era worth the price of entry — which is $130, by the by.
We’ve spent about five hours with the headset already, listening to music and taking calls, and while the accelerometer seems almost wasted at present, there’s no discounting that new 10mm driver and the audio it can pump out. While no substitute for a set of quality dedicated earbuds, it sounded worlds better than the Jawbone Icon’s tiny, tinny drum, and playing Pandora tracks we no longer felt an overpowering desire to take it out of our ear — making a cyborg existence all the more bearable, we suppose. We’ll bring you a full review soon, but if you’re already sold, you’ll find four different Era designs on sale at Jawbone’s online store… oh, right about now. PR after the break.
We’re used to seeing all sorts of funky motion-based games on smartphones, but here’s something a little bit different: a retro-themed desktop 3D flash game that utilises your iOS device as an accelerometer and gyroscope-based wireless controller. The objective of kijjaa! is simple: just fly your vessel around, shoot down or avoid the enemies, and pick up extra lives. Don’t worry, there’s no jailbreaking involved here — all we had to do was visit kijjaa.com/air, and then copy the code onto our iOS app to establish the link via WiFi or 3G.
There’s no serious challenge in kijjaa! — based on the app’s description on iTunes, the game’s designed with students and office workers in mind, so it’s ideal for those seeking a fun quickie during their short breaks. We’d say the hardest part is trying to dodge the ghosts that show up randomly in short notice, but what really annoyed us were the occasional control lags that popped up even over WiFi. Still, for a promotional $0.99 pricing (the 70 percent price drop ends on January 17th has been extended to January 24th), this game has gone much further than most other games have, and it’ll only get better — already in the pipeline are Game Center support, new enemies, new bonuses, and achievements. Hopefully the developer will also throw in some more chiptune soundtracks as well. Demo video after the break — it kinda makes you want this on the Apple TV too, doesn’t it?
Apple has opened up accelerometer and gyroscope access to mobile Safari web developers in iOS 4.2, meaning iPhone, iPod touch and iPad sites can potentially be controlled by those motion sensors. Developer Maximiliano Firtman spotted the update, which appears to be based on the W3C draft for the DeviceOrientation API; he’s also thrown together a quick rolling-ball demo, which you can see after the cut.
Video demo after the cut
The sample uses JavaScript and some CSS3, and basically allows the ball’s movement to be controlled by the direction the smartphone is being tilted in. You can try it on a mobile Safari browser at http://ad.ag/wjmtgt. Similar access to the iOS orientation APIs has been available for iOS SDK users – creating native apps – for some time now, but this is the first time that the same hardware access has been made available for web app devs.
The new functionality opens up the possibility of motion-sensitive web games, navigation of complex web pages by simply tilting the phone, and augmented reality apps that do not have to be locally stored on the iOS device. Meanwhile Apple has also added the WebSockets API, updated their HTML5 Form support and made other tweaks.
The iOS App Store might already have its fair share of addictive and compelling games on offer, but when John Carmack comes calling with his latest megatextured shoot-em-up, you’ve got to sit up and pay attention. Rage HD: Mutant Bash TV isn’t so much a full-fledged game in its own right as it is a teaser for the forthcoming Rage FPS for the PC, and yet even in its pretty limited running time, it managed to woo and thrill us with its visceral gameplay and arresting visuals. It’s easily the best-looking game we’ve yet seen on a mobile device and provides a fine demonstration of just how far Apple’s hardware — on the iPhone 4, iPad, and fourth-gen iPod touch — can be pushed when some appropriately adroit hands are at the graphical controls. But, of course, games are supposed to be fun to play, not just to look at, so why not join us after the break to see how well Rage HD handles its mutant-bashing duties?
Trying to snap a shot of your cherry red Mazda, but can’t keep your hands still? You’ll find all the tech you need to smooth things out in an iPhone 4 or (MotionPlus-equipped) Nintendo Wiimote. Experimenting with 6DOF inertial measurement sensor packages, scientists at Microsoft Research have developed a software algorithm that literally records your exposure-destroying shake via accelerometer and gyroscope, then magically removes the blur by canceling it out. While the technique still isn’t perfect — spot ghostly line above some of those background cars — the Microsoft researchers compared their results to other in-progress algorithms, and we think you’ll agree this new solution presents the best results by far. It’s a shame Microsoft doesn’t say when we’ll see the tech in a spiffy DSLR attachment, or better yet a cameraphone. See before and after animated GIFs after the break, and find high-res comparison images and much more at our source link.
Sprint and Verizon may have shunned the Nexus One, but that doesn’t mean the handsets can’t be put to good use: these Android-controlled, Arduino-powered Cellbots now feature the one true Googlephone as the CPU. At Intel’s 2010 International Science and Engineering Fair in San Jose, we got our hot little hands on the DIY truckbots for the first time, and found to our surprise they’d been imbued with accelerometer-based motion control. Grabbing a Nexus One off a nearby table, we simply tilted the handset forward, back, left and right to make the Cellbot wheel about accordingly, bumping playfully into neighbors and streaming live video the whole time. We were told the first handset wirelessly relayed instructions to the second using Google Chat, after which point a Python script determined the bot’s compass facing and activated Arduino-rigged motors via Bluetooth, but the real takeaway here is that robots never fail to amuse. Watch our phone-skewing, bot-driving antics in a video after the break, and see what we mean.
You ain’t nobody if you don’t have an Android handset (or two) these days, and Garmin-Asus has just added the A10 to its own stable of devices. It’s a pretty humble 3.2-inch HVGA communicator, but it has a healthy 1,500mAh battery, a multitouch-friendly WebKit browser, and an autofocusing 5 megapixel camera with automatic geotagging. Coming with preloaded Garmin Navigation maps and software, the A10 eliminates the need for a web connection when looking up your local topography, and similarly retains turn-by-turn voice instructions while used offline. It’s not altogether clear what the pedestrian optimizations are, aside from the public transport-aware cityXplorer maps, but in-car navigation is also obviously fully supported and encouraged. We’re told to expect the A10 in mid-2010 for European and Asia-Pacific markets. Full PR after the break.
Sci-fi movies often present us with omniscient villains who are able to track the most minute actions of their underlings and foes. Rarely do we get a glimpse into their surveillance systems, but you have to imagine that some of the more rudimentary “employee evaluation” hardware will not be too far off from KDDI‘s latest. The Japanese cellphone giant has unveiled a new system, built around accelerometers, that can detect the difference between a cleaner scrubbing or sweeping a floor and merely walking along it. Based on new analytical software, stored remotely, this should provide not only accurate positional information about workers, but also a detailed breakdown of their activities. The benefits touted include “central monitoring, “salesforce optimisation,” and improvements in employee efficiency. We’re guessing privacy concerns were filed away in a collateral damage folder somewhere.
HP Labs does some incredible research and development work now and then, and this time, they haven’t disappointed at all. They’ve managed to create an inertial accelerometer so sensitive that that it is approximately 1,000 times more sensitive than “today’s mass-produced devices”.
The sensor is part of HP’s CeNSE (Central Nervous System for the Earth) research and development program, which aims to build a planetwide sensing network using billions of tiny, cheap, tough and exquisitely sensitive detectors to measure anything and everything about the environment.
The first realistic focus is coming from oil giant Shell, who’s looking to use the sensors for underground oil detection, Later on, HP expects to shift to “city-level” projects, in which “awareness could revolutionize human interaction with the Earth as profoundly as the Internet has revolutionized personal and business interactions today”.
