By Julian Prokaza on Friday, 28 December 2007
 Unless you’re Jason Bourne (or driving a vehicle, of course), hands-free kits for mobile phones make most people look like a bit of a dork, but a couple of new Bluetooth models look set to change all that.
Stick the Invisio G5 or Jawbone in your ear while you're wandering around the supermarket and you're more likely to be mistaken for a member of the Secret Service than Locutus of Borg, but hi-tech good looks are least of their features.
The Nextlink Invisio G5 is reckoned to be the lightest and smallest Bluetooth headset in the world and although we can't confirm such a claim, we can't see any reason to doubt it. Weighing a mere 6g and barely bigger than the end of a finger, the G5 is certainly tiny and is very discrete when worn.
Unlike other Bluetooth earpieces (including the Jawbone), the G5 doesn't have an ear loop to keep it in place. Instead, it uses a shaped rubber earpiece with long flexible rod that hooks inside one of the folds of your ear – a couple of earpieces are supplied and the rods can be cut to suit your ear.
It looks like a silly contrivance that will never work, but in fact it provides an extremely positive fit and the G5 stays put no matter how vigorously you shake your head. The earpiece does sit quite far inside the ear and this makes the headset a little uncomfortable to wear for more than an hour or so, but otherwise, it's almost possible to forget it's there and the design means that you can wear spectacles or sunglasses without interfering with its operation.
With only three buttons to fiddle with, the G5 doesn't take much figuring out – the entire outer face acts as a call answer/end button, and two tiny volume buttons sit on opposite edges. Like most mobile phone headsets, the G5's call quality isn't quite as good as using the phone directly, but it's still very good. It copes well with ambient noise when used inside a moving vehicle too, although it doesn't employ the noise cancelling technology used by Invisio's other headsets (the company specialises in tactical headsets for use by the police and military).
The claimed four hour talk time and 150 hour standby time is fair rather than good, but Invisio compensates for this by including a combined carry/recharging case. About the size of a packet of cigarettes, this matte black plastic box charges from a USB port or the mains, and effectively ups the G5's talk time to 150 hours. The top of the case flips open Zippo-style and the G5 slots neatly inside. LEDs on the front show both the case's and the G5's status, though you'll need to memorise the relevant pages from the manual to make sense of the rather cryptic codes.
 The Aliph Jawbone has a more traditional ear-loop design and while it's much larger than the G5, its sleek rectangular design still looks pretty stylish. Unfortunately, the design – along with the extra bulk – also prevents the Jawbone from fitting snugly in the ear and it slips out of place if you tilt your head forward. A selection of ear-loops and earpieces are supplied, but none solved the problem for this reviewer's lughole and as a result, I had to constantly readjust the Jawbone while driving – not good.
This awkward fit is a great shame ad the Jawbone is an incredible headset. It uses similar ‘bone conduction' technology as Invisio's higher-end headsets to suppress ambient noise during a call and it works extremely well.
The combination of multiple microphones and a vibration sensor that sits against your upper jaw allow the Jawbone to filter your speech from surrounding sounds and dynamically adjust the speaker volume. The results are very impressive and the headset successfully filters everything from traffic noise to background chatter in an office to loud music just a few feet away. Wind (of the atmospheric variety) causes more of a problem, but this is otherwise the best noise cancelling headset by some margin.
With only two buttons to press, the Jawbone is also very easy to use, although the excellent instruction manual deserves particular praise, too. The claimed six hour talk/120 hour standby times are comparable to the Invisio G5, but the Jawbone lacks its portable charging solution (though it can be charged from a USB port).
The Invisio G5 costs £40 – the Jawbone twice as much, but both offer similar performance. If you regularly need to make phone calls in noisy environments then the Jawbone certainly has the considerable edge, but if you just need a capable, discrete Bluetooth headset, then the tiny G5 with its clever recharging case is much better value.
Invisio G5
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Price:
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£39.99 £69.99
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Rating:
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6/6
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Good: |
Tiny and light; snug fit; clever recharging carry case |
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Bad: |
Uncomfortable to wear for long periods |
| Verdict: |
By far the most discrete headset we've ever seen and a great performer too. The clever recharging case adds to the appeal. -- as does the price. |
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Manufacturer: |
Nextlink
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Buy from: |
Carphone Warehouse
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| SPECIFICATIONS
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Claimed talk time: |
4 hours / 20 hours
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Claimed standby time: |
150 hours / 30 days
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Size: |
33 x 35x x16mm
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Weight: |
6g
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Aliph Jawbone
| Price: |
£79.99 |
| Rating: |
5/6 |
| Good: |
Excellent sound quality; comfortable |
| Bad: |
Loose fit means it won't stay put |
| Verdict: |
A bit pricey and it's an awkward fit, but the Jawbone's noise cancelling technology makes it a good choice for people who need to call from noisy environments. |
| Manufacturer: |
Aliph |
| Buy from: |
O2 |
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Claimed talk time: |
6 hours |
| Claimed standby time: |
120 hours |
| Size: |
51.8 x 27.9 x 20.3mm |
| Weight: |
19g |
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