Review of Jabra Wave headset

Use and convenience

A tip is represented by a mild and transparent "pillow", which is pleasant to touch. The inside boasts velvet plastic and Jabra Wave fitted my ear like a glove. I was not surprised by a microphone "tail" protruding at the bottom as it offers better speech reproduction due to its location closer to a mouth. If you have long hair only the microphone will be visible.

I can easily recommend the gadget for use in sports facilities. Brisk movements are not a threat to Wave.

Control

Everything is fine here as well. You get a dedicated activation button, which makes the operation understandable. Push it and the gadget starts. Push it again to switch off. Volume control button is wide and convenient. There are two light indicators. The first one is responsible for communication and the second gives information about the battery. Indicators are stunning and I have not seen anything similar for ages. Well done! Where is the multifunctional key? It is located at the tip of the microphone where it belongs. Its pressings are predictably sublime as it makes light clicks. You cannot make a mistake unless you are trying to touch your nose with closed eyes.

Available features are quite traditional – activation of voice dialing, dialing of the latest number and switch between lines.

Power

The manufacturer claims up to 6 hours of talktime and 192 hours on the standby. Full charging takes around 3 hours. A standard microUSB slot is protected by a masterfully created cap.

Phone connection and sound quality

I tested the headset with iPhone 4 in different conditions. During these crazy days Wave had no time for relaxation when the owner traveled extensively from a sweaty gym to city centre meetings, jumping in and out of cars. In Jabra lineup this headset has several selling points – ergonomics, 3 stage wind breaking option, voice notes about the low battery and connection loss and operation with two phones at a time (it really works). The phone connection required no password and happened to be really fast. There were no connection losses and the operation distance was around 5 meters indoors. In the street speech reproduction was excellent as if you are just speaking on the phone. Your contacts cannot guess you are using a headset, which is the best compliment. I will not comment on a 3 stage wind breaking as it resembles a 5 element razor (wind noise goes down and we don't care how many stages are used for that).

Conclusions

The retail price of the headset is $80, which is fair enough. The kit is not rich, but instead you get:

• Excellent ergonomics
• Excellent controls
• Excellent speech reproduction

Operation time is decent, light indicators are well-made and I could not complain about materials, build and other features. By the end of the year Jabra came up with a strong product to be appreciated by those who know how to use headsets, cannot be scared by a protruding microphone and lead a hectic life where using several phones at a time is a little but too much. I recommend it and plan to use this model myself until I get bored.

Sergei Kuzmin (skuzmin@mobile-review.com)
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Translated by Maxim Antonenko (maxantonenko@ukr.net)

Published — 22 December 2010

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