A headset is a headset is a headset. Not. In the past, it used to be that the more wired we were the better it was. No longer, I guess. Enter the Bluetooth headsets. It must have been about five years ago when I got my first Bluetooth headset. It was a Jabra. At the time I did not know much about Bluetooth headsets but I thought that it was as good a time as any to give it a try.
Back then, there were a few linking problems I had with the Nokia Cell phone I was using. But, when I recently got another Jabra Bluetooth headset the protocol links were fixed and all the kinks in connecting were gone.
“The brand that most consumers will recognize is Jabra,” says Shaz Khan, president and managing director, Asia Pacific, GN Netcom, the mother company of Jabra.
Jabra is one of the top brands when it comes to headsets for cellphones and telephones. The call centers here are large users of Jabra headsets, too.
I have noticed more and more that the cellphone headsets by third-party developers are becoming quite popular. I blame that on the fact that most cellphone companies are busy looking to perfect their cellphones so they tend to package them with crummy, basic headsets. And, mind you, the Bluetooth headsets of the major cellphone companies aren’t much better either; I guess cellphone manufacturers still live in the dark ages when it comes to headsets — they still design them with the square, not-too-chic businessman in mind.
Then there’s Jabra, whose business it is to develop the best headsets. The company has focused on making sure their customers not only get the best headsets, but they also offer very fashionable and hip headsets to boot.
“In the lifestyle space, we have office solutions like the N5390,” added Khan. “This Bluetooth headset makes use of the high technology that you see in high-end headsets.”
Khan further explained that what they have been able to do with the 5390 is make headsets that perform much like the bulkier sets used in call centers. This means that using the Jabra headset is just as good as talking on a landline, says Khan.
“It has wide-band sound which means that you can hear your voice clearer than you can hear it on the standard phone line even if you are on a cellphone,” adds Khan.
But it is being able to link gadgets together that is the beauty of a good headset. And that is what Jabra does, allowing our worlds to converge — our gadget worlds, that is.
Khan says that Jabra has created an all-in-one device in the 5390. When you walk into your office it automatically detects where you are so that when the phone rings on your desk it will ring in the headset. You enter your car and your cellphone rings — in the headset. And when you get home and connect it to your PC, the headset actually works with Skype.
Neat. Really neat.
Khan says this is exactly what the users of Jabra like about the headsets. People no longer want one headset for each gadget; rather, they want one headset that fits all gadgets. And with Jabra, they get just that.
The 5390 has a base station similar to the cordless phone that sits in the house or in your office. The headset detects the station and responds as it should.
“This is what we call the convergence of the world,” said Khan. “We have a lot of models depending on technology and design.”
The Jabra JX 10 is a stylish-looking headset that people who like to look good in their headsets will enjoy. The headset was designed by Jacob Jensen in Denmark.
What about the bad effects that too much cellphone use might have on our health, we ask?
“We have studies that show that Bluetooth technology emits far less EMS waves than a standard cellphone does,” said Khan. “Basically, it is a lot safer to be using Bluetooth than having a phone right next to your ear.”
In the past we were warned that cellphones were not made to be used for over 10 hours at a time. But in today’s fast-moving world most folks use the cellphone like it was a landline.
And that is why technologies like Bluetooth headsets are great; they allow us to keep our hands free while we talk on the phone. And it keeps the phone away from our ears.
“It makes one’s lifestyle very seamless,” quips Khan.
“Consumers are more demanding than ever before. Every vendor in the world is focusing on how to make it easy for consumers to do what they want to do wherever they want to do it. With Jabra, we are doing just that.”