This announcement sets users up for a two-step update, allowing them access first to a set of apps that have already been working with iOS fitness buffs for some time, then promises the same deal this first 10 app family has for developers galore. With RunKeeper and MapMyFitness, users will be working with maps, seeing distance, information on how daily activities affect a fitness regiment, and more.

Users will be able to use IFTTT, an app that texts one based on pre-set specifications and allows you to tie in with a partner for co-managing and co-motivation, so to speak. Wello is another app integrating with UP this week, bringing on a personal trainer to the wrist of the user – Withings app integration allows your UP band to tie in with your Withings scale. This UP family of apps will continue to expand, says Jawbone, especially once the open API is made real.

Above and below you’ll find the full UP Platform 10 app iOS push for the UP Platform. You’ll notice that this setup is ready for iOS at launch – Android has been promised by Jawbone to be launching really soon as well. Have a peek at our history with Jawbone for more information on this device and make sure you keep tuned to SlashGear for your expanding abilities with UP as well!

Mayer’s roles while at Google, where she climbed to the position of Vice President of Local, Maps, and Location Services before leaving to join Yahoo, included work on product design, usability, and engineering. That is likely to be a large part of her appeal to Jawbone, a privately-owned company which has raised more than $200m from venture capitalists and other firms.

However, Jawbone itself – and the company’s existing footprint in wearable technology, most recently the UP fitness monitoring band, but also including a range of Bluetooth headsets with voice-activated controls and limited app support – is likely to have been particularly appealing to Yahoo. The company has made it known that it is looking to raise its game in mobile, initially with redesigned smartphone apps for weather and email.

However, Yahoo’s senior director of product management, mobile communications, Lee Parry, also confirmed that the company was looking at the growing wearables market. “It would be crazy not to be looking at Google Glass or Apple’s watch” he conceded in an interview back in April 2013.

Whether Yahoo will aim quite so high as Google’s head-mounted computer is unclear, though the wearables market itself is predicted to surge with more simplistic gadgets – like UP – initially driving demand. However, increasingly complex devices such as wearable displays are tipped to play an increasing role in the market, as prices fall, capabilities increase, and battery life extends.

It’s likely early-days for any sort of Yahoo Glass rival, but there’s plenty of scope for Mayer to help guide the company through the growing marketplace, as well as ensure Yahoo itself gets a foot in the door. Neither Jawbone nor Yahoo have commented on the leak.

So, if you’ve been looking for better audio performance when you’re gaming on your Vita, but you don’t want to plug in a set of headphones, the BIG JAMBOX can step in. It’s also intended to play more readily with Apple’s iPhone, with new AAC support for iOS 6.1 along with a claimed reduction in audio dropouts at longer distances.

Elsewhere, there’s synchronized volume control, which means adjusting the volume on either the BIG JAMBOX or the gadget that’s streaming is matched. You’ll need something that supports AVRCP 1.4 for that to work, however.

A new Silent Mode cuts out any of the tones and voice prompts which would usually guide you through using the BIG JAMBOX, though it still lets through calls. Holding down the Talk and Minus buttons simultaneously switches it on; holding down Talk and Plus while powering on turns it off.

We were mighty impressed with version one of the BIG JAMBOX when we reviewed it last year, and anything that coaxes out better performance can only be a good thing. You can pick up the portable speaker online from around $240.

With the release of the UP app for Android you’ll find massive amounts of new users joining the Jawbone UP community, this push joining up with added availability for the device across the planet. Jawbone has also announced that UP will be available in Europe this month, with Asia, Australia, and parts of the Middle East coming up for availability next month.

If you download the Android app today, you’ll have only to purchase the actual Jawbone UP device from your favorite retailer or straight from Jawbone itself online. This device will cost you $129 USD or comparable amounts of cash depending on where you live. If you’re all about getting in on the party with a preview before you head out to grab the device for yourself, you’ll want to see our extended coverage, of course!

Have a peek at the timeline below for every bit of Jawbone UP action you could possibly need, including our own hands-on experiences. And be sure to hit up the SlashGear Jawbone tag portal for more Jawbone action through the future, too!

Jawbone launched the MyTALK service back in 2010, alongside the ICON Bluetooth headset, as a way to deliver not only firmware updates to its Bluetooth-enabled products, but add cloud-based services. For instance, Jawbone allows headset users to add number speed-dials to the multifunction button via MyTALK, as well as change the voice of the spoken command prompts.

As a response to the hack, Jawbone has disabled existing passwords and users must reset them if they want to log back into MyTALK. Technical details are yet to be revealed, with the company only saying that it was an “isolated attack on our system.”

Jawbone is keen to point out in its message that the passwords taken were encrypted, and as such the actual passwords themselves weren’t revealed. We’ve got a request in for more information from Jawbone and will update when we know more.

[Thanks Matt!]

The iOS app update is live right this minute for those of you working with a Jawbone UP and an iPhone. This update is free, of course, and includes the two bullet-points we’re having a chat about here, starting with Multiple Sleep Alarms. Where before this week your alarm system was a bit more limited, you’re now able to set up multiple Smart Sleep alarms with 10, 20, and 30 minute custom wakeup windows.

With Facebook Open Graph integration you’ll be able to share your UP events and accomplishments with all of your best Jawbone buddies. Sharing via Facebook includes data from your workout plan and action, sleep schedule, food, drink, and everything in-between. Perhaps most important of all in this situation is the fact that your sharing will be selective – only the items you want to share will be shared, this as Jawbone notes avoiding “clogging up your Timeline” as it were.

The images above and below show how your newly Facebook-friendly Jawbone UP device and iOS app will be working with you through the future. The integration you’re seeing here is all up to you, you choose how much or how little you share or if you share anything at all, and of course you can take the device off your wrist at any time – be free! And make sure you don’t sleep through that Jawbone alarm – consider wrapping it around your ear, perhaps (at your own risk!)

As each project tracks toward release, however, the ecosystem of more straightforward body-worn gadgetry such as activity monitors like Jawbone’s UP picks up for what’s predicted to be a bumper year of sales. Still, among sensor ubiquity and the specter of power paucity, the fledgling wearables industry hasn’t apparently decided whether it’ll face this brave new augmented world hand-in-hand, or jealously guarding its data.

[Original Sergey Brin image via Noah Zerkin]

Project Glass and Memoto both take photos, but otherwise they come at the wearables space in a very different way. The Google headset shoots stills and video on-demand, but isn’t – as far as we know – intended for permanent streaming. Memoto’s camera, however, is intended as a life-logging tool, periodically snapping shots and tagging them with location and direction; earlier today, the team behind the project confirmed there’d now be a digital compass in there too. Other wearables take their own routes to your wrist, jacket lapel, or elsewhere on the body, such as UP or other digital activity monitors.

Though the ethos may be different, much of the hardware is the same. Headset, wearable camera, and wrist-born pedometer-on-steroids all have motion sensors; both Glass and Memoto have digital compasses, and GPS. There’s a huge degree of overlap, even more when you factor in that most users of wearables will also be carrying a smartphone, with its own battery of sensors and radios.

So, with Memoto’s new-found digital compass, how does its hardware differ from that of an UP, or Fitbit’s Flex? All three have the ability to monitor patterns of movement and figure out if you’re running, or walking, or sleeping; all that’s missing is the software to do the crunching of that data on the camera. Why should tomorrow’s wearables enthusiast carry two, or three, or more accelerometers and magnetometers, when the data from one is sufficient?

Of course, sharing sensors is only one element of what convergence demands: there’s a bigger compromise to be made, when fewer gadgets perform more tasks. Battery life continues to be the bane of the consumer electronics world, and that headache is only going to be magnified when it comes to body-worn technology. A hefty smartphone with a big screen and a 3,000mAh+ battery might be acceptable in your jacket pocket, but a power pack of that size simply isn’t going to fly when you’re wearing it on the side of your head.

In many ways, then, the PAN – or Personal Area Network – is inescapable. The early iterations of wearables are naively insular in their approach: they try to do everything themselves, with little reliance and few expectations of the other gadgetry on your person. Take, for example, Vuzix’s Smart Glasses M100, a prototype of which we played with at CES earlier this month. Inside the chunky headset there’s a full Android computer, with all the connectivity you’d expect from a reasonably recent smartphone, bar the cellular data.

That makes for a wearable with impressive standalone abilities, but also one that’s greedy for power. Vuzix’s headline estimate is up to eight hours of “typical use”; however, what’s “typical” in the manufacturer’s opinion is sporadic activation summing just two hours in total, or even half that if you want to use both display and camera. All that despite the fact that your smartphone – which you’ll probably need anyway, since Vuzix supplies a remote control app to more easily navigate the M100′s apps – has a processor, battery, radios, sensors, and other hardware already.

Bluetooth 4.0, the most power-frugal iteration of the technology, may go some way to popularizing PANs. Still, that’s just the virtual cable: the glaring omission is any sort of wearables standardization, which would allow your eyepiece from manufacturer X to output the information from smartphone Y, having called upon sensors Za, Zb, and Zc dotted around your body (not to mention in spread around the ecosystem around you).

Predictions have it that the wearables market will explode over the next 4-5 years, albeit beginning with more humble tech like activity tracking bracelets, but building to Glass-style headsets once the technology gets in line with affordable pricing. That may well be the case, but it will take more than slick hardware and project execs that drink the Kool-Aid to motivate the industry. We’ve put up with silo’d ecosystems in smartphones, and stomached it in tablets, but if wearables are to succeed the consumer electronics industry will need to set aside its appetite for insularity and embrace openness in augmentation.

Stand-alone speakers are almost always a good gift for that random person in your life in need of a “just because” gift: check the iFrogz Boost Nearfeild audio speaker for example. If you’ve got a smartphone, not even necessarily if you’ve got an iPhone, your gift receiver will be amazed at the hot sound enhancement that occurs with this fabulous unique technology. We also suggest you take a peek at House of Marley for some bright and fabulous audio equipment – see their showing in our Redemption Song on-ear headphones review as well as our review of the massive Bag of Rhythm. Noone else will have those gifts to give at your party, you can bet!

Other highly approved stand-alone speakers we’ve had a peek at and enjoyed include, first, the SuperTooth Disco 2 – the original Disco and the Disco 2 remain out and about in our office on the regular. They’re out because they’re extremely simple to use and they’re both compact in shape – they’re just that nice. The Libratone Zipp has been an entirely reliable speaker made to work first and foremost with wireless commands from your iPhone or iPad.

Another of the most unique and creative of speakers we’ve got here is HiddenRadio – a speaker that connects to your smartphone (if you wish) then plays music louder or softer based on how high or low the knob is on the device. For those of you who want to go just about as wireless as a non-battery device will bring you, you’ll want to see the Sonos collection for music in your home – and stay tuned to SlashGear for a review of the Sonos SUB – it’s bumping right now for real.

For those of you that don’t want to spend too much cash but do want to afford a pair of headphones rather than a tiny pair of earbuds, there’s always the greatness of Tenqa Remxd – a hot ticket indeed for very, very few dollars from you. Moving up the scale as far as headphone quality goes we’ve got (in no particular order), Marshall Major Pitch Black headphones, ThinkSound ms01 monitor series earbuds, the Jabra Supreme-UC Bluetooth headset (wireless greatness), and don’t forget the Monster Inspiration Active Noise Cancellation Headphones – they’re beastly!

The folks at Plantronics have been hitting it correct this year with gems such as the BackBeat Go wireless earbuds and the lovely Plantronics m55 bluetooth headset to kick up the market in the quality sector. This year Apple also revealed their own new and updated pair of earbuds called Apple Earpods – they drown your eardrums in lovely warm sound! The team at V-MODA has been coming correct this year too with such beasts as the V-MODA Limited Edition Crossfade LP2 headphones as well as the slightly newer and slightly smaller V-MODA Crossfade M-80 White Pearl headphones – both are powerful and made with extra high-quality materials to boot!

Hardware

Jawbone’s minimal outward changes mean you might not realize you have a new UP at first glance, most of the differences between the first- and second-generation models being behind the scenes. It’s still a twist of rubbery plastic that stretches out to wrap around your wrist – your non-dominant hand is recommended, for best accuracy – only now Jawbone says it has refined both the water-resistance and the resilience to flexing, both key flaws in the original.

The circuit board running down the middle is designed to be twisted, but it turned out owners did a whole lot more twisting (and in unexpected ways) than Jawbone had initially predicted. As for water, the “wear it anywhere” message of the original UP meant that owners took it into the shower or while doing the washing up, and the seals proved to be susceptible to soaps and other factors that the original water-resistance standards – and thus Jawbone’s testing – simply didn’t envisage.

The few external changes you only really notice after a period of wearing the new UP. The material is slightly difference, and we found it rubbed against our skin in a little less of an aggravating way than before, while the cap – that pulls off to reveal a 3.5mm headphone plug – clips on more securely. That means it takes a little extra force to remove when you actually want to sync with your phone, but it also reduces the number of lost caps that frustrated original owners.

Inside, it’s the same combination of sensors (and glaring omissions) as before, though worked in different ways thanks to the circuit board redesign. The primary magic happens in the interplay between the motion sensor and the algorithms Jawbone uses to interpret them: figuring out whether you’re walking, jogging, or running, and then calculating distance, calories burned, how long you were active, and other results.

Our lingering frustration is around the way in which the UP synchronizes. Despite being best known for its Bluetooth devices, Jawbone persists with a more low-tech system for the UP: a headphone jack. Unlike Nike’s Fuelband, to get your data off the UP you have to remove it, pull off the cap, and plug it into the headphone jack on your iPhone or iPad; there’s no way to do it wirelessly.

Jawbone says that’s a compromise based on battery life: by eschewing wireless radios, the UP is rated for as much as ten days use between charges. That’s in contrast to the Fuelband’s “up to four days” estimate, though our own testing suggested that NIke’s predictions were over-ambitious and assumed minimal use of the display and the Bluetooth connectivity. Still, it’s worth remembering that it’s not just synchronizing exercise data that requires the UP be plugged in: if you want to change the alarm time (which vibrates to wake you) you’ll need to plug in too.

Software

The UP wristband itself isn’t the only thing to get a significant reworking since the first-gen model: Jawbone has also spruced up its companion app. The new software works with the original UP (though not the original UP on the iPhone 5) or the new model, though you’ll need an iOS device, since Jawbone says the Android version is still a work-in-progress.

In comparison to the bare-bones original app, the new software is far more comprehensive in the data it collects and how it utilizes that data. There’s a new system for logging your diet, and more social features that allow you to compare and share your activity to other members of your “Team.” Meanwhile, if you sync data from the old band to the new app, it will apply its new analysis to the old data.

The app does a good job in balancing what information it shows you – and there’s a lot to choose from – without being too overwhelming. The basics are activity through the day, shown on a bar chart, with a count of steps and distance traveled, how many calories you’ve burned (broken down into active and resting burn), your longest period of activity and idle time, and your total activity as well as how close you came to your “Move goal” that day. On the flip side, there are stats for sleep (the UP is meant to be worn day and night) with total time sleeping broken down into deep and light phases, how long it took you to drop off, how many times you woke up and for how long, and how close you came to your “Sleep goal” that night.

Both elements have a few extras to round out their usability. On the active side, there’s a Stopwatch Mode which allows you to manually mark the beginning and end of periods of exercise, with that section later being flagged up for specific analysis in the app. An Idle Alert buzzes the UP band after a preset period of inactivity, useful if you’re a desk-worker. Smart Alarm uses sleep tracking to figure out the best point to wake you in the morning, gaging sleep schedules rather than sticking to a single point in time as per traditional alarms, while Power Nap does something similar but for a much shorter burst of resting (Jawbone says it’s in the region of 26.5 minutes, but will vary).

The original app allowed for basic diet logging, but it was a chore to enter meals. Jawbone has addressed that with a new nutrition database that works with a barcode scanner, meaning you can simply zap the ‘code on what you’re eating to automatically log it. There’s manual search in case you don’t have a barcode to scan, or you can get particularly detailed and file each ingredient. Integration with the camera supports attaching snapshots of your meals to each entry.

Performance

The original UP was comfortable to wear, and the new model is no different: although you notice the rubberized band initially, after a few days it becomes commonplace on your wrist. It’s flexible enough to not get in the way while sleeping, but sufficiently springy to hold on and not slip around as you move. We saw battery life in the region of 6-8 days. We also feel it’s important to note that one person who tried the UP on complained of a mild rash after a period of wearing it; Jawbone says the band is made of medical-grade, hypoallergenic TPU rubber, and only one person who tried it encountered a problem.

Compared to a Nike+ Fuelband, the UP appeared to be more sensitive to movement: we logged more steps with the Jawbone than we did with Nike’s tracker. There’s more immediacy to the Fuelband, thanks to its integrated display and wireless connection with the companion app; with the UP we found ourselves synching 2-3 times a day and reviewing our activity, whereas with the Fuelband we checked progress more frequently, often in the midst of activity.

Like most if not all of the trackers on the market, the UP struggles to capture non-step based activity. However, using the manual logging system – double-tapping and holding the button built into the end of the band until a light flashes – you can flag up those periods where you’re doing other forms of exercise. The same button puts the UP into Sleep mode, which you need to do if you want the Jawbone app to work out the length and quality of your sleep.

Unfortunately, on more than one occasion we forgot to press the button, and the UP assumed we were having a long day with little activity. The band will automatically switch from Sleep to Active mode, depending on your movement, which also means you can see interruptions in the sleep-mode logging if, say, you’re a parent with a young child who gets you up a few times during the night. We’d like to see a user-configurable sleep schedule system, where we could log a “usual range” of sleeping times just in case we forgot to manually trigger the correct mode.

When in the correct mode, the UP produces stats that are easy to understand and makes suggestions on how to improve. It can prompt you to get more sleep if you’ve been short-changing your duvet time, or remind you of recommended salt and fat allowances if you’ve been indulging. Keeping a food diary is straightforward thanks to the new system, though not essential for health tracking overall.

We had mixed results with Power Nap and the Smart Alarm, primarily because the vibration alert sometimes proved too subtle to wake us. After a couple of mornings to habituate to it, we found could sleep straight through. Others who tried the system didn’t encounter the same problem, however, so some sort of adjustable intensity would be a useful addition.

It’s the social features that might be the best new addition to UP, however. You can now set up groups of people – Jawbone calls them “Teams” – who can see your fitness scores, and with whom you can either compete or encourage. There’s the option to limit certain UP status updates selectively, too, so if you’ve had a lazy day or a particularly indulgent meal, you don’t have to confess to it.

The Competition

The marketplace for fitness monitoring technology has grown dramatically in the time between this second UP attempt and the first model. Nike’s Fuelband has the edge in connectivity but lacks the breadth of data logging: it’s great for general fitness, but misses out on the sleep tracking and the food database. Fitbit’s range of trackers are more discrete and can hook up to the company’s WiFi-enabled scales for more personal data, but there’s something about having a device wrapped around your wrist to simply make you more aware of how active you are. Still, Fitbit has added Bluetooth for easier synchronization.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of apps for smartphones that promise to track your activity. Endomondo and Runtastic keep a log of movement, for a matter of dollars on your phone rather than the $129.99 of the Jawbone UP; other apps can keep a food log. Even Google Now, in its latest iteration, quietly adds up your steps and gives you a running total of distance traveled each month.

Wrap-Up

The shine quickly rubbed off the original UP, but all signs point to Jawbone having learned its lesson. The new hardware feels sturdier than before, and the more stringent tolerances mean we now have no qualms about wearing UP in the shower or pool. Meanwhile, the software has improved considerably and the UP app is now something you would readily open up even when you’re not synchronizing the band, for its mixture of diet logging and health tips.

As with any of these activity trackers, wearing them consistently is the key to their usefulness. All too often we’d pick up our Fuelband only to discover it was flat; the longer battery life of the UP meant that was far less common an experience. Being able to annotate your activity and your meals also encourages you to think about what you’re doing and what you’re consuming: it makes healthier living something you’re more consciously aware of.

We’d like to see more flexibility in the settings options and a little more intelligence in how the Sleep mode is handled, and the $130 price tag means you have to be taking health seriously in order to consider the UP worthwhile. Nonetheless, even if you’re only really approaching UP from the stance of a competitive game player, the social elements help maintain your interest. In the end, it’s a solid mixture of life-logging tools and a good example of how wearables can cross over from the stuff of science-fiction to everyday life, but approachable enough for the mass market.

The original UP first went on sale roughly a year ago, but Jawbone pulled it from the market after the initial units were plagued with faults and owner feedback dived. The wristband sensor was dragged back into the engineering labs and, after near 3m hours of real-world testing so Jawbone claims, is back with greater efficiency and new features.

Unlike other exercise monitors, such as Nike’s Fuelband, the UP is intended to be worn day and night. Together with its iPhone companion app – and the Jawbone cloud services – it can show you your sleeping patterns and break them down into light and deep sleep, in addition to waking you at what it believes is the “optimal point” for you to feel refreshed.

For daytime movement, meanwhile, UP tracks active and idle times, along with how intense those active times are, and calculates the usual pedometer-style number of steps, calories burned, and distance travelled.

However, the UP app also allows users to snap a shot of their meals, building up a food diary, and if you scan the barcode or search for the meal in the database, you can pull up nutritional information. There’s also room to keep a log of moods, which can then be compared with sleep and activity, and Jawbone makes “personal insights” with suggestions on how to feel better.

The whole thing is clad in medical-grade rubber, is splashproof, and lasts for ten days on a charge. It’ll go on sale in eight colors and three sizes from Jawbone’s own site, and at Apple, AT&T, and Best Buy stores, from today.

The talks are said to be late stage, but caution was given that the deal may not happen for numerous reasons, which were not specified. According to AllThingsD, Jawbone’s founder/CEO Hosain Rahman and Mayer both attended Standford at the same time, and are close friends. When requested, Jawbone declined commenting on the claim.

Jawbone’s products include the Bluetooth mobile speakers Jambox and the Up fitness wristband. The company specializes in “human-centered wearable technology and audio devices,” according to its website. It was winner of the 2010 IDSA Design of the Decade, and boasts its NoiseAssassin technology, which is the only military-grade noise-zapping technology in the world.

Before coming to Yahoo, Mayer was Vice President of Local, Maps, and Location Services at Google, and was recently ranked as the 14th most powerful businesswoman in America by Fortune magazine, as well as holding the title of youngest CEO of a Fortune 500. She currently sits on the board of directors of Walmart, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, the New York City Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet, and the Sanfrancisco Museum of Modern Art.

[via AllThingsD]

Given the choice between over 100 new color combinations, black and red were a basic must-have for the artwork I’ve got in my home. It works quite well with Shepard Fairey posters, that’s for certain. While there are black color choices for both the caps and the grill here in the new Jawbone color combinator interface, it was clear that there was a perfect choice for the bright red that sat in the cap set.

Grills color choices come connected to patterns, with Dot patterns, Diamond patterns, and Hex patterns being connected to each of the 13 different shades of the rainbow (and outside the rainbow, as it were). The Graphite choice in grills is attached to Diamond, and connected to Red for caps, a perfect combination was made! We hit the order button and the JAMBOX was on its way to our review lab. Of course this device having exactly the same guts as the original JAMBOX, we needed no review, already knowing that we had a high-quality product on our hands.

Have a peek at the unboxing process above and below and let us know if you’ll be considering a brand new Jawbone JAMBOX soon now that the company is offering color combinations for no more cost than the original unit has always been. Check our original JAMBOX The Remix announcement post to see all the details involved in making one of these units yours – note that the public will not be able to access the remix interface until the 28th of this month!

Also check our JAMBOX timeline below to track our coverage since the first unit arrived at SlashGear headquarters!

As you may remember from our NVIDIA TegraZone Anniversary event, the folks at Jawbone have been creating custom color combinations for large groups for a while now. With JAMBOX The Remix, you will be able to make a custom color combination you’re own. And it’s not just colors you’re selecting, it’s grille patterns as well. Some colors come with the Dot pattern, some come with Diamond, some come with the Hex pattern, and others come with Haze.

Customers will be able to select their own color combinations via the Jawbone website through a new portal currently available only to Jawbone Insiders and Klout users from 8/21 –8/27. On the 28th – that’s a Tuesday – everyone will be able to access the ability to make their own Remix!

The selector tool is slick and entertaining in and of itself too, and combinations you make with it are able to be shared through Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and email.

For those of you not familiar with the original JAMBOX, you’ll want to see our Jawbone JAMBOX review from all the way back in November of 2010. Since then there have been some innovations and even software updates to the hardware for enhanced audio, all of this available to you in our Jawbone portal – while you’re there, don’t forget to visit the BIG JAMBOX Review as well!

Hardware

The BIG JAMBOX is more of the same in terms of design, though given how much we liked the original, smaller model, we’re not complaining. At 10 x 3.1 x 3.6 inches and 2.7lbs it’s certainly bigger than the first JAMBOX, but it’s still battery powered rather than demanding a permanent mains tether.

BIG JAMBOX Unboxing and hands-on

Externally, it’s a wrap of perforated steel capped with elastomer end panels, with the mesh finished in one of three patterns: either dotted, on the red model, waved, on the white, or honeycombed, on the graphite. The larger top panel gets three extra buttons, the talk and volume keys joined by play/pause and previous/next. A power button and a pairing button are on the right end-cap, along with a 3.5mm line-in port, a microUSB port and a charging port.

We can’t fault the BIG JAMBOX’s build quality, it being sturdy and flex-free. It’s not to big to comfortably grip with one hand, and the size sits in the sweet-spot between offering solid sound – more on which later – and still remaining portable.

Inside, there are two custom-designed active drivers paired with twin opposing passive bass radiators and a fair amount of audio DSP. Since the BIG JAMBOX can be used as an oversized speakerphone, an echo-cancelling microphone is also included. The battery is a rechargeable, non-user-accessible Li-Ion pack with its own AC adapter; you can’t recharge via a USB connection.

Connectivity – if you’re not using the wired input – is courtesy of Bluetooth, with support for up to eight device pairings to be stored and simultaneous connections with two. Up to 33 foot range is promised, though we saw more than twice that when we had line-of-sight between our iPad and the BIG JAMBOX. Unfortunately, there’s no support for the aptX Bluetooth profile for higher-quality audio, though even if there had been you’d have needed a compatible source device to actually take advantage of it.

Performance

The original JAMBOX was a great portable speaker, but fell short of bass and overall power when faced with larger rooms. That’s not a problem the BIG JAMBOX encounters: as the name suggests, it’s simply a bigger sound. That’s not to say it’s aimless, though, with plenty of clarity and distinction between vocals and different instrument types. Rock and R’n'B are suitably energetic, but trickier acoustic and classical tracks are also clean and crisp.

Meanwhile, though there’s no active subwoofer, the bass has plenty of thump to it and only begins to get muffled and imprecise at the top end of the volume range. Jawbone is pushing the BIG JAMBOX as being not only ideal for streaming music but for game audio, and sat in front of the speaker with a tablet in hand and a racing game proved to be a far more immersive experience than just the slate’s speakers alone.

Jawbone also implements its LiveAudio technology, a virtual 3D sound system. It works best, the company says, with specially processed binaural audio – where the track is recorded using two microphones positioned (or artificially post-processed) to mimic the way human ears would hear it.

However, LiveAudio also works with non-binaural tracks, working much as the virtual surround sound settings on other speaker systems we’ve seen. It’s an artificial sense of depth; more a wider soundspace than actual 3D, and it doesn’t necessarily suit all tracks. Download a few of Jawbone’s sample binaural tracks, however, and you can see what you’re missing with regular audio.

Software

Jawbone first started pairing Bluetooth gadgets with special software with its headsets, but the BIG JAMBOX also gets app support in the company’s MyTALK system. After creating a free account, and downloading the Jawbone Updater app, you can connect the BIG JAMBOX to your PC and transfer apps and new features to it.

For instance, the DialApp allows you to customize the behavior of the TALK button on the Bluetooth speaker, while the AudioApp means you can change the voice that announces battery life and caller ID. Then there’s the Android app, the Jawbone Companion, which turns the BIG JAMBOX into a virtual personal assistant of sorts, announcing calendar events, streamlining the dial-in process for conference calls, and showing the speaker’s battery status on your phone’s screen.

Battery

Jawbone claims up to 15 hours of playback and 500 hours of standby time from a full charge of the BIG JAMBOX’s battery, with a complete recharge taking around 2.5 hours. How much you’ll actually get out of it is very much dependent on volume, of course.

We’ll need more time with the BIG JAMBOX to get a better sense of real world battery life so make sure to check back on SlashGear for our follow up article.

Wrap-Up

At $299, the BIG JAMBOX isn’t cheap, but nor is it as expensive as some of the style-focused AirPlay speakers we’ve seen for Apple devices. It doesn’t compromise on sound, either, either in terms of volume or audio quality; Jawbone positions it as a portable speaker ideal for the bedroom, garden or beach, and the BIG JAMBOX does indeed have the battery life to move between all three.

In doing so it loses a little of the portability of its $199 predecessor (which remains on sale as a smaller option) but delivers sound that’s far more suited to communal use than as a “personal” speaker. If you like your music on the move and you want to share it, the BIG JAMBOX is an excellent way of doing that two thumbs up from SlashGear. Pre-orders starts today with units available in store on May 15 with a $299 price tag. [BIG JAMBOX]

This new slightly larger version of the speaker has a model number J2011-03-US and has a 60 inch USB cable and a lovely 3.5mm audio jack included. This device has the same 33 foot range as the original and will “fill up any room with unbelievable sound” just as well as the original. We must assume that this version of the speaker will have more power than the original in one way or another aside from battery life, but you never know!

You can check out our several workings with the Jambox in the past including its updates that’ve come down the pipe since its first release. You’ll want to take a look at the future of this product as well: Jambox is a bigtime awesome speaker system from Jawbone and wont be going away any time soon. Big Jambox or Jambox BIG will be made for the home, where the original Jambox is for mobile – let’s get stationary!

[via Android Police]

Jawbone made its refund offer, giving eager customers their 100 bucks back and not even insisting that they return the band itself. It scores itself a point for that. Unfortunately it waited more than a month to react properly, rather than freezing sales within days of the first problems emerging, and more to the point it pushed out a gadget that you’d think even the briefest of quality control would have shown flawed. It loses a hundred points for that.

Software arguably has an easier go of things. There’s a case to be made that it’s better to get your product out there, in the wild, and then tweak out any bugs with timely software updates. The end result is a reluctance to bring anything out of beta, with that “it’s still in tests” excuse in hand to roll out should Bad Things Happen. Hardware, though, is a very different story. “Beta” is far harder to stomach when you’ve paid for the latest gadget and had it come up short.

Mac developer Matt Gemmell wrote recently about the low expectations of the PC industry: the manufacturers cobbling together mediocre hardware, the reviewers granting that hardware a pass, and consumers forgiving a multitude of sins because the price is so darn low. His reference point is, among others, Apple, though the Cupertino company has demonstrated how even a track record of polish can be flawed by a “beta” experiment.

Feedback on Siri has soured in several quarters, with the virtual personal assistant – or its limitations – seeing criticism for falling short of what users expect. Perhaps Apple set itself up for failure there, with particularly high standards meaning any beta has a lot to live up to, but either way you dress it there’s a sense that the product didn’t quite match up to the promise of the glossy adverts.

We have a right to expect products that have been tested, reviewed, re-tested and re-reviewed until they deliver what’s promised. However, we also have a responsibility for consistency: if we didn’t prioritize, with our purchases, the product that is rushed to market quickest, maybe we could expect manufacturers to be more considered and thorough with their quality control.

That’s a difficult thing to argue for among a group of eager geeks. I know that I certainly don’t enjoy waiting. The Verizon Galaxy Nexus “delay” – inasmuch as an undated product can be considered delayed, Verizon would no doubt like us to point out – is arguably a good example of the tense dynamic.

If the issue is to do with the 4G variant’s LTE implementation, isn’t it better to hold off from launching until that flaw has been polished out? Alternatively, you run the risk of encountering bugs like the volume issue on the HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus, only with 4G being such a headline feature Verizon, Google and Samsung would likely drown in a sea of negative wailing. Should your gizmo turn out to have a hardware flaw, not something that can be finessed with a software update, woe betide if you rushed it to market.

As reviewers – whether that means on a site like SlashGear, in customer feedback at stores like Amazon, or as the “nominated geek” among friends and family – we have a responsibility to not apologize for tech that falls short. Manufacturers and vendors, meanwhile, have to recognize that early-adopters are a hungry, impatient sort, and that sating our immediate desires with products can lead to headaches all round if they turn out to be underbaked. The high-speed tech treadmill has become an addiction, and it’s one that’s crying out for some common sense.

Since that official launch, there have been some issues with the UP wristband that have some owners complaining. Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman has posted up a letter to all users of the UP bracelet to apologize for the performance issues that are keeping many people from using the device as it was intended. According to Rahman, the issue with the UP devices has been pinpointed to a pair of capacitors inside the band for the power system that are failing.

The issue with the band generally surfaces in the first 7-10 days of use according to the maker. Jawbone is taking it on the chin and is offering any UP buyer a full refund with no questions asked. They will even allow you to keep the UP bracelet and still get your money back. I would wager that a new version would be made and offered for sale. The question is will buyers still be interested after the issues that have plagued the current system.

The water-resistant band has a rechargeable battery good for up to ten days use, along with motion sensors and a vibration motor similar to what you’d find in your cellphone. Jawbone splits the functionality into three parts: first, exercise tracking, combining data from the UP wristband and the app to show where you’ve gone via GPS, how fast you got there, and how hard a workout it all was.

Then there’s sleep, with UP tracking how many hours you slept, whether you were in deep or light sleep, how much time you spent awake, and what the overall sleep quality was. Learning from that data, UP can subsequently wake you up – with a vibration rather than a blaring alarm – at what Jawbone says is the optimum time in your sleep cycle.

Finally, there’s eating smarter, using your iPhone’s camera and the UP app to track your meals and – after answering questions about how each meal makes you feel – pulling out the patterns of which foods leave you happy and which just make you bloated, miserable and apathetic. Jawbone leverages social challenges to spur you on to better behavior in all three categories.

Three sizes will be offered, along with seven different colors - Dark Black, Dark Brown, Dark Red, Bright White, Bright Silver, Bright Red and Bright Blue – to hopefully match your Lycra shorts.

AT&T has now listed the UP on its website and the device will be going on sale soon. This bracelet is interesting, but it doesn’t look like something many people would wear all the time. It does allow you to track your caloric intake using a photo of what you are eating taken with the iPhone. That will certainly make it easy for dieters.

The app can also track your sleep phases so you can be sure you are resting well and it can send you wake up alarms that others won’t hear. The app also has more than a little bit of social interactivity with it. You and friends can issue each other challenges for the most steps taken and other things for days, weeks, or even an entire month. Pricing isn’t announced just yet, but it should be coming soon.

What’ll this update give you? Two things. First, Sound Clarity. This delivers you clearer distortion-free sound when LiveAudio is OFF. To turn Sound Clarity ON, go to your Advanced Setting in MYTALK and select Sound Clarity’s ON option. This option will use an audio tuning algorithm to clean up distortion at high volume levels.

For LiveAudio, the other half of this equation, you’ve only to hold the + and – buttons until you hear a tone. When LiveAudio is ON, the max volume is not as loud. If you’d like additional volume for a special eardrum blaster of your choice, turn LiveAudio OFF and press the + to crank it up. Then turn on Sound Clarity again for the win.

You’ll be able to download this update the same way you’ve updated your JAMBOX in the past, by visiting http://jawbone.com/liveaudio and hit the download, syncing then to your JAMBOX via the MYTALK homepage – currently at http://mytalk.jawbone.com/. Note that after syncing your update, JAMBOX settings are still configured to give you the same sound quality that the JAMBOX originally shipped with. This is with LiveAudio OFF and Sound Clarity OFF. I think you know what to do!

Hardware

Outwardly, there’s little to mark the difference between the 2010 ICON and the new ICON HD. It’s the same 44.1 x 18.25 x 25 mm and 8.2g chassis with textured fascia, a springy circular ear grip and a somewhat stubby aesthetic that stands a little further out from the head than we’d prefer, a look that’s over-emphasized by the short length.

Inside there’s Bluetooth 2.1+EDR with multipoint support for pairing with two devices simultaneously along with A2DP to handle stereo sound (albeit in mono). Up to eight device pairings can be stored, and the quoted range is 10m; in reality we managed considerably more before static spoiled play.

What has changed is the HD audio support, with a 25-percent larger “wideband” speaker supporting 16kHz. With compatible services – such as Skype, YouTube or Pandora – it delivers crisper, fuller sound.

The NERD, meanwhile, is Jawbone’s oddly named USB Bluetooth dongle, a 2.1+EDR peripheral. Offering the same 10m range and eight device storage – though no multipoint – and is a reasonably compact 28mm long. Plug’n'play with your PC or Mac, it automatically picks between mono sound for VoIP and microphone applications, and 44.4kHz for music and PC streaming audio.

Performance and Battery

Setup is certainly straightforward: the ICON HD automatically pairs with The NERD, so getting it running on your PC or Mac is driver-free. It’s similarly simple with a phone, and if you’re using an iPhone or iPod touch you get a slick little icon in the status bar complete with battery meter.

Music sounds solid with HD audio sources, though obviously lacks the breadth of a proper stereo headset. Receive a call and it automatically switches over and into mono mode, then resumes when the call is over. NoiseAssassin v2.5 is onboard, Jawbone’s audio enhancement system, and it does a great job of cutting through background noise and pulling out speech in conversations without then over-processing music.

The MyTALK app is also supported, with a range of voice prompts in different languages along with control from your smartphone over which speed-dials are preset. There are also various DialApps, software loaded direct to the ICON HD and which can record voice memos, send SMS and emails by voice, or post to Twitter. Whether most users will actually take advantage of the extra functionality is uncertain, but Aliph has kept things updated. The existing ICON has seen eight software updates and fifteen new apps over the past year.

Battery life is quoted at 4.5hrs, less than some larger rivals but still enough for most people’s daily cellphone and VoIP call needs. A full recharge takes 90 minutes – you can either use the bundled AC adapter or the posable USB cable – but an 80-percent recharge takes 40 minutes.

Wrap-Up

The only change we’re not so keen on is the pricing. The original Jawbone ICON came in at $99, whereas the ICON HD + The NERD pairing is $139. Right now, there don’t appear to be plans to sell the headset separately; although the Bluetooth dongle does make setup straightforward, we can see many people relying on the integrated Bluetooth in their laptop, or only intending to use the ICON HD with their phone.

We can’t fault the ICON HD’s audio quality, and as long as you aren’t looking for true stereo A2DP support it does a solid job with both voice calls and music. If you don’t have Bluetooth support in your computer, or find yourself not using a headset with it simply because of setup headaches, then the ICON HD + The NERD bundle shouldn’t disappoint. Those looking solely for a good Bluetooth headset, however, may find themselves spending extra on hardware they don’t actually need.

What LiveAudio does is add depth, detail, and “unprecedented spacial realism” to your audio experience that works to enhance the audio you’ve got in your library right this minute as well as future JAMBOX-centric downloads. These Spatial DSP sounds can be compared to the rich sound of high-quality headphones, binaural audio recordings now blasting your face from this cool little box – the next best thing to actually being there at the live music session.

Once we had the software downloaded (you can grab the download immediately if not soon by heading to http://mytalk.jawbone.com/) all we had to do is press and hold the “-” and “+” buttons on top of the JAMBOX unit itself and BAM – LiveAudio. Generally we’ve found the effect of the patent-pending digital signal here in the LiveAudio update works best inside a 2-foot radius, outside this radius and you’re talking essentially the same audio quality as before the update – but note, this quality is certainly still high quality.

Jawbone JAMBOX explained (from our our original review):

What makes this speaker system awesome is, beyond the sound quality of course, the whole ecosystem surrounding the hardware. The MyTalk system alone adds major value as it offers a whole collection of apps ready for download on your mobile device that’ll work in a totally optimized way with the speaker system. What JAMBOX is announcing today to add MORE value to the situation is 7 new AudioApps including Mobster, Arcade, Baseball, her & hers Valentones, New Years, and holiday. Three new separate software updates are also available immediately if not soon including battery announcements, quiet power on/off, and mic-mute.

As all current owners of the JAMBOX should know, this update will be available to you soon, for those of you purchasing the JAMBOX in the future will have the update available for download immediately as well, and just as free as it is for current owners of the unit. Also if you’ve got any questions on how the JAMBOX works, sounds, or feels, head to our original review or ask away here!

As we’ve seen from other such tracking systems, the bracelet itself is a basic collection of sensors – Jawbone isn’t specifying exactly what, but we’re guessing an accelerometer figures prominently – along with a battery inside a waterproof housing. Both pink and blue designs are shown, along with an iOS app for your iPhone.

That app will gobble down all your movement, sleep and nutrition information, and then work with “an open platform” (yet to be specified) to “motivate you with personal and social recommendations and challenges tailored to your goals.” We’ve seen similar systems from Nike with the similarly iOS-dependent Nike+, that aggregates your exercise data into an ongoing log, as well as more complex systems that can measure stress and other factors.

Jawbone says that the UP will launch later in 2011, though hasn’t said exactly when or for how much.

The additional funding Jawbone secured will bring their total investment to date close to $100 million, making them one of the largest venture capital-backed consumer electronics companies in the world. Already distributing to over 20 countries worldwide, this new venture support will allow the company to further expand their mobile products and services portfolio.

Press release:

Jawbone Secures $49M in Funding from Andreessen Horowitz
General Partner Ben Horowitz Joins Jawbone Board of Directors

SAN FRANCISCO – March 16, 2011 – Jawbone, a leading innovator of products and services for the mobile lifestyle, today announced it has secured $49 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz.

The funding, which brings total investment to date in Jawbone close to $100 million, will allow Jawbone to expand and innovate on its portfolio of premium mobile products and services which are available today in over 20 countries worldwide. Jawbone is one of the largest venture capital-backed consumer electronics companies in the world.

“Jawbone builds a family of products that take smartphones and tablet computers and brings them to life,” said Ben Horowitz, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “Hosain Rahman is the clear thought leader in his industry and makes Jawbone the easy investment choice for us in this market.”

Jawbone’s evolution into a mobile lifestyle company has resulted in unprecedented demand for its products and services on a global scale. This financing will bolster Jawbone’s ability to develop entirely new categories of products, bring existing products to market internationally, and continue to outperform competitors.

“We believe the future of consumer tech is about unlocking the full potential of the mobile lifestyle,” said Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman. “We all carry photos, movies, music, email, games and apps in our pocket every single day. Now that mobile is our new hub, our vision is to create ways for people to get the most out of those experiences. Andreessen Horowitz believes in our vision, and Ben has been a mentor to me for several years. Having him on the board will undoubtedly help us scale in entirely new ways.”

Jawbone first made its mark in the industry by creating an entirely new class of Bluetooth headsets. Its award-winning Jawbone ICON was the first to add NoiseAssasin® technology and the recently-launched Jawbone ERA is the first to include HD audio and motion sensors. The company has expanded its products for the mobile lifestyle beyond headsets as well. The JAMBOX wireless speaker was one of the best-selling speakers at Apple stores this holiday season and Jawbone recently introduced THOUGHTS – an entirely new way for people to communicate.

Andreessen Horowitz has made similarly-sized investments in companies including Facebook, Groupon, Twitter, and Skype.

About Jawbone
For more than a decade, Jawbone has developed products and services for the mobile lifestyle unparalleled in their innovation, ease-of-use and sophistication of design. The company is the creator of the award-winning and best-selling premium ICON Bluetooth headset; the inventor of NoiseAssassin® technology, the world’s first and only military-grade noise-eliminating technology; JAMBOX, the first intelligent wireless speaker and speakerphone; as well as THOUGHTS, a free mobile service that allows users to utilize their voice in a new way. A 2010 IDSA Design of the Decade winner, Jawbone is committed to delivering innovative products that improve the mobile lifestyle through ever-changing software and wearability. Jawbone is privately-held and headquartered in San Francisco.

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.

If recipients have the app themselves, then the THOUGHTS message pops up in there; if not – say, if they’re not using an iOS device – then they get a link to it via text or email. You can send messages to one or multiple recipients, a little like group PTT.

Video demo after the cut

While the app itself is free, transcription is not; you get ten voice-to-text transcriptions bundled with THOUGHTS, but if you want any more after that then you’ll have to make an in-app purchase. Maybe not a reason to buy an ICON, but if you’ve already got one then it could be handy.

[youtube rKlB0lRZBAg]

Press Release:

Jawbone THOUGHTS Combines the Power of Voice with the Efficiency of Text

Jawbone’s New iPhone App Lets Users Send Voice Messages Instantly Without Calling

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Dec. 9 – Jawbone, the leader in personal mobile technology, today unveiled Jawbone THOUGHTS, an iPhone application that allows users to easily send quick voice messages to individuals and groups, without typing or calling. The application combines the speed of texting, the group collaboration of email, and the emotional quality of voice all in one. Available as a free download in the Apple App store, THOUGHTS is the latest innovation from Jawbone.

“We live in a world that is 100% mobile, 100% connected and unfortunately 150% distracted. Reading and typing doesn’t work when you need your hands and eyes to navigate the physical world. While there has been a tremendous amount of innovation in text based messaging, all of it lacks the richness of voice,” explains Travis Bogard, Vice President of Product Management and Strategy at Jawbone. “THOUGHTS is our solution to these realities by integrating all the things we love from text-based communications with the power of voice. We think it’s a really powerful way to share ideas quickly.”

With Jawbone THOUGHTS, users can send a “Thought,” which is a voice message up to one minute in length, by simply selecting a contact or group, speaking into an iPhone or Jawbone ICON headset, and tapping POST – no more stopping whatever you’re doing, no more typing long messages on cramped keyboards. And because Jawbone THOUGHTS sends messages in the user’s own voice, there’s no need to re-explain or run the risk of a message being misconstrued.

Sometimes messages are better spoken than written. THOUGHTS reintroduces emotion and personality into mobile communication. Users can sing a birthday song, congratulate a colleague, joke around with friends, coordinate a dinner, or share big news with all the people they care about, such as “We’re having a baby!” Nothing conveys information more personally and sincerely than the human voice.

Jawbone THOUGHTS is the ultimate collaboration tool that allows a user to send a message to anyone in their phone’s address book. Contacts with the THOUGHTS app will receive the message in THOUGHTS and recipients without the application will receive a link to the audio message via text or email. The asynchronous design of the application allows the sender to share a Thought at the time of the idea and the recipient to listen and reply when convenient for them. THOUGHTS’ interactive interface allows users to hold multiple discussions at once – automatically organizing conversations as users reply and allowing recipients to quickly and easily see who said what and when. Additionally, for situations when a user may prefer to read a message (in a restaurant or meeting), THOUGHTS can transcribe the audio message instantly into text.

Jawbone THOUGHTS is free to install and available online at the Apple iPhone® App store and at mytalk.jawbone.com. To learn more about Jawbone THOUGHTS, go to Jawbone.com/thoughts.

Verizon Wireless will give you a Jawbone Icon Hero headset for free with the purchase of select phones. That headset normally sells for $99 at Verizon. We reviewed the Icon a while back and ended up liking the thing pretty well.

In its infinite wisdom, Verizon has not offered details on exactly what phones come with the free Icon headset. A quick perusal of their website didn’t reveal any other details either. I guess you have to go into the store to see which phones qualify for the free headset.

Be sure to check out our full review of the Jawbone JAMBOX from a little while ago. We not only take a look at it and crank it up, we take it apart a little bit too. Very sassy, very nice.

Hardware

The JAMBOX manages to be both reasonably minimalistic and distinctive in its design, a sturdy, blunt-edged block available in blue, black, red or grey. The top and bottom sections are molded rubber, which stops the speaker from sliding around a desk but does tend to pick up dust and fluff quite readily, while the remaining four sides are clad in a single, folded sheet of mesh with a pressed diamond pattern. Jawbone says their push for using single components rather than multiple sections means there are fewer parts to vibrate and a more durable device; we certainly couldn’t hear any buzzing from the JAMBOX’s chassis, and we feel pretty confident it could survive a fair few journeys dropped into a rucksack.

Controls are split between the top and the side panel. On top are the multifunction button, and volume up and down controls, while on the side there’s the power control, a 3.5mm stereo input for using non-Bluetooth sources, and a microUSB port for recharging. Behind the grill there are two speakers and a microphone for hands-free use. In the box Jawbone include a protective case, the AC adapter, two lengths of USB to microUSB cable and a 3.5mm audio cable.

Jawbone JAMBOX unboxing & demo:

Inside there’s a Bluetooth chip supporting A2DP stereo, and pairing is as straightforward as other Bluetooth headsets and speakers we’ve seen. When initially turned on the JAMBOX automatically goes into pairing mode – the default passcode is 0000 – and we had no problems hooking up our iPhone and other Bluetooth devices. Jawbone are particularly proud of their acoustic layout; for instance the battery is housed inside the passive radiator, so that its weight adds to the power of the bass.

Software

A software section for a Bluetooth speaker might seem unnecessary, but Jawbone is using the same MyTALK platform as with their ICON headset to bring new functionality and apps to the JAMBOX. MyTALK is an online portal through which Jawbone offer firmware updates and other functionality – on the ICON, for instance, there are different quick-dial apps, voice prompt accents, and optional directory enquiry shortcuts – and while it’s early days for add-ons to the JAMBOX it does mean there’s more to the speaker than what it does out of the box.

Everything on the speaker is communicated via voice prompts, since there’s no display, from pairing status when you first power-on, through battery warnings, caller ID of incoming calls, call functions available during conversations, and other prompts. Personalization is possible via MyTALK, including alternative language support. It all works well, though we’d like to see Jawbone offer a companion app for smartphones running iOS or Android, as rivals Sound ID do.

Performance

Small speakers usually mean small sound, so the JAMBOX is a pleasant surprise. Despite its relatively compact chassis, the audio is similar to what we’d expect from a bigger setup. It’s not just power with no refinement, either: the top end has some decent shimmer going on, while the mids are nicely spaced and lack the muddiness you can sometimes find from smaller cones.

Jawbone JAMBOX explained:

It’s the bass that’s the real surprise, and whether it’s Jawbone’s battery-vibrating system, their DSP or some other magic, the end result is real heft to the low-end that you can actually feel shaking the table and the air around the JAMBOX. It obviously depends to some extent on the quality of your source recording – insipid, low-bitrate MP3s are always going to sound lackluster – but there’s little of the squeakiness or tinniness we’ve come to associate with most portable speakers.

Hands-free as a speakerphone, meanwhile – with calls automatically pausing the music playback, if your cellphone supports it – and the JAMBOX makes for a decent impromptu conference call setup. There’s no multi-microphone noise cancellation, and its positioning behind the front grill rather than on the top means it can be somewhat directional in its pick-up, but it still managed to handle several people sat around a table.

Wrap-Up

Bluetooth speakers – like headsets – can be pretty inexpensive these days, and so manufacturers need to offer something significantly more interesting if they want to charge a premium. The Jawbone JAMBOX’s RRP of $199 is no small amount, but the payoff is audio performance that belies its size and portability. While we’d like to see a companion app for modifying settings, the MyTALK companion site does mean Jawbone have room in future to introduce something like that, lending the JAMBOX greater longevity than its cheaper rivals. If you’re serious about speakerphone and mobile music, the combination of flexibility and above-average sound quality makes it tough to beat.

The Jawbone JAMBOX goes up for pre-order at the company’s site from today, with Apple and Best Buy store availability from November 16 2010.

The headset connects to both a mobile phone and to Cisco Unified IP phones at the same time to allow the user to move around the office and remain connected. The office phone or mobile can be answered without needing a different headset for each and the headset will move between endpoints as the user changes location.

The headset is also upgradable with new features as the features are released. The headset has noise cancellation features with NoiseAssassin 2.5 and it shops with different ear tips for a better fit. The headset uses Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and will work with PC and Mac computers as well.