[aziandevil]

Hi Z10 community,

I have an Aliph Jawbone2 bluetooth headset (https://jawbone.com/support/jb2) that I've used for well over a year with my 9810 and 9900... never had any issues. Now, that I've upgraded to the Z10 (AT&T, STL 100-3, 10.0.10.88), I would like to use the same headset. Unfortunately, I am having some trouble here. I apologize if there's already a forum topic covering this but I could not find it. In any case, when my Jawbone2 (JB2 going forward) is connected and in-use during phone calls, the call audio volume is very low (like a whisper). I can barely hear what the other party is saying. The other party can hear me clearly/loudly, so it's just on my end. This is not an intermittent issue and has happened with every phone call I've made while using the JB2 with the Z10.

I have checked and tried the following:
1) Checked to make sure that the headset is not damaged. I tested it with my 9900 and it works as expected.
2) On my Z10, Settings->System Volume->Master Volume is at maximum level (i.e. all the way to the right).
3) Under the same settings, I have toggled the "Headphone Audio Boost" to see if there were any improvement. There was no improvement.
4) Under Phone->Phone Settings->Call Audio, I have toggled between "Bass Boost", "Default", and "Treble Boost". There was no improvement.
5) During actual phone calls, I have used the side buttons to manually control the volume (up and down) and have verified that at Maximum level, the inaudible issue persists.

At this point, I'm hoping that either someone has come across this issue and has found a solution and/or if Blackberry has acknowledged this issue and will patch this in an upcoming software update. If there are no imminent workarounds/fixes, I guess it would be great if any AT&T Z10 + Jawbone owners could let me know what Jawbone headset they use and if they've had any issues (call volume or not).

Thanks in advance to all who reply

P.S. I do know that the above still might be an Aliph issue so I will be calling their support line (wish me luck) to see if they have any reported cases in parallel. Will update this thread with any useful info.

[mkelley65]

Hi Z10 community,

I have an Aliph Jawbone2 bluetooth headset (https://jawbone.com/support/jb2) that I've used for well over a year with my 9810 and 9900... never had any issues. Now, that I've upgraded to the Z10 (AT&T, STL 100-3, 10.0.10.88), I would like to use the same headset. Unfortunately, I am having some trouble here. I apologize if there's already a forum topic covering this but I could not find it. In any case, when my Jawbone2 (JB2 going forward) is connected and in-use during phone calls, the call audio volume is very low (like a whisper). I can barely hear what the other party is saying. The other party can hear me clearly/loudly, so it's just on my end. This is not an intermittent issue and has happened with every phone call I've made while using the JB2 with the Z10.

I have checked and tried the following:
1) Checked to make sure that the headset is not damaged. I tested it with my 9900 and it works as expected.
2) On my Z10, Settings->System Volume->Master Volume is at maximum level (i.e. all the way to the right).
3) Under the same settings, I have toggled the "Headphone Audio Boost" to see if there were any improvement. There was no improvement.
4) Under Phone->Phone Settings->Call Audio, I have toggled between "Bass Boost", "Default", and "Treble Boost". There was no improvement.
5) During actual phone calls, I have used the side buttons to manually control the volume (up and down) and have verified that at Maximum level, the inaudible issue persists.

At this point, I'm hoping that either someone has come across this issue and has found a solution and/or if Blackberry has acknowledged this issue and will patch this in an upcoming software update. If there are no imminent workarounds/fixes, I guess it would be great if any AT&T Z10 + Jawbone owners could let me know what Jawbone headset they use and if they've had any issues (call volume or not).

Thanks in advance to all who reply

P.S. I do know that the above still might be an Aliph issue so I will be calling their support line (wish me luck) to see if they have any reported cases in parallel. Will update this thread with any useful info.

I use the same Jawbone with my Z10 with no problems. Is there a different Rev or firmware for them?

[reggwick]

Are you sure the volume is controlled via your Z10? I think most headsets control the volume locally on the headset itself.

Posted via CB10

[aziandevil]

I use the same Jawbone with my Z10 with no problems. Is there a different Rev or firmware for them?

Good suggestion. Since I have not upgraded the firmware for the JB2 since I bought it nearly 2 years ago, I'll login tonight and see if there's a FW update. If so, I'll apply the update to the device and give it a try. I have not received a response to my support email to Aliph/Jawbone.

Thanks!

[aziandevil]

Are you sure the volume is controlled via your Z10? I think most headsets control the volume locally on the headset itself.

Posted via CB10

Hi Reggwick, there are no volume controls on the JB2 headset itself. It definitely relies on FW/SW control, so per my previous response, I will see if there is indeed a FW/SW patch from Aliph to resolve this. If not, then I guess I'll be creating a trouble ticket requesting one.

Unfortunately, if there aren't a lot of customers that use this same combo, then most likely a FW/SW patch will take "too" long to come out and I'll be "persuaded" to upgrade to the Jawbone Era headset. =(

Thanks for the response

[aziandevil]

I use the same Jawbone with my Z10 with no problems. Is there a different Rev or firmware for them?

Hi MKelley65,

Sorry, may I ask when you bought your JB2? If your unit has no issues with the Z10, then I'm SURE that there is a FW/SW patch that will resolve this for me. Also, which Z10 model are you using? STL 100-?.

Thanks again

[Gatmyer]

I have a similar problem with a jabra. I swear it only happens if i recieve a call while it is in the holster. Works fine otherwise. Still trying to trouble shoot it.

[aziandevil]

Good suggestion. Since I have not upgraded the firmware for the JB2 since I bought it nearly 2 years ago, I'll login tonight and see if there's a FW update. If so, I'll apply the update to the device and give it a try. I have not received a response to my support email to Aliph/Jawbone.

Thanks!

Please note that this update is probably more interesting to JAWBONE owners than anyone else... skip to <tl;dr> if you don't own a Jawbone product.

UPDATE #1: Checking to see if there was a Firmware (FW) update for my JB2.
1) Aliph has an online updater called "MyTALK" (http://mytalk.jawbone.com/jb2/mytalk/?6). Unfortunately, this only works for Jawbone ERA, Jawbone ICON, and the JAMBOX... NOT the JB2. Ugh! So, there is no way for me to easily update the FW if there is one available.

2) While trying to locate my serial number for my headset (which I needed to file a support ticket), I quickly realized that I actually have a "JB2 Plus" (JB2+) and not a JB2 as I originally described in my original post. The JB2+'s serial number is on the side of the earpiece barrel and not on the top of the earpiece barrel where the JB2's serial number is located. Please see this page: https://jawbone.com/kb/articles/100.html#a7
[side-note: By the way, I could not read the serial number with the naked eye. There was just no way... so I took the Z10, switched on the camera, zoomed in, and took a snapshot. All I could say was "WOW!" The picture was amazing. The focus was PERFECT and all I needed was just one snapshot to capture the image cleanly. I would post the pic, but since it has my serial number in it (and I don't want to doctor such a beautiful image)... probably not a good idea at this time. Regardless, the Z10's camera is amazing. Coming from the 9000, 9800, 9810 and (yes even the) 9900... this was just so impressive].

3) I did do a soft-reset of my Jb2+ headset per this page: https://jawbone.com/kb/articles/92.html However, it did not improve the call audio problem.

3) My support ticket with Aliph is still open and I have not received a response from them. However, I did browse their forums and to my dismay I saw the following:
jawbone 2 sound - JAWBONE COMMUNITY

<tl;dr>
As I expected, more often than not... small electronics manufacturers are quick to have customers ditch their older devices with problems and buy their latest/greatest device. Somewhat pessimistic that Aliph can do much for me at this point since there does not appear to be an easy way to upgrade the FW for the JB2/JB2+. Annnnndddd... the Z10's camera is truly, truly awesome.

Next update will be the response to my support ticket from Aliph. For now, I am making do with the wired headset that came with the Z10.

[mkelley65]

Hi MKelley65,

Sorry, may I ask when you bought your JB2? If your unit has no issues with the Z10, then I'm SURE that there is a FW/SW patch that will resolve this for me. Also, which Z10 model are you using? STL 100-?.

Thanks again

I don't remember when I bought the JB2 but I suspect I got it with my Curve 8310. It's been that long. The Z10 is STL100-3.
By the way the JB2 does indeed have volume control. You press the noise assist button to cycle through volume levels. The JB2 must be on your face and that little Noise Assist knob has to contact skin. The Noise Assist button is the one near the center of the JB2.

[aziandevil]

I don't remember when I bought the JB2 but I suspect I got it with my Curve 8310. It's been that long. The Z10 is STL100-3.
By the way the JB2 does indeed have volume control. You press the noise assist button to cycle through volume levels. The JB2 must be on your face and that little Noise Assist knob has to contact skin. The Noise Assist button is the one near the center of the JB2.

Yes, that's right. Since my headset's volume cycle has been at the loudest setting for a long while, I didn't change the setting between pairing with the 9900 and the Z10. When I paired with the 9900, the volume was loud and clear. Then I paired it with the Z10 and got the "whisper" again.

Just to validate, I JUST paired my JB2+ with the Z10, made a phone call and tried to cycle through the volume settings (i.e. pressing the NoiseAssassin Button to cycle through the multiple volume levels). The volume went from "whisper" to "silence" to "near silence" to "feint whisper" to "whisper". =(

Thanks for reminding me about the built-in volume control on the JB2.

Still no response from Aliph though...

[mkelley65]

Yes, that's right. Since my headset's volume cycle has been at the loudest setting for a long while, I didn't change the setting between pairing with the 9900 and the Z10. When I paired with the 9900, the volume was loud and clear. Then I paired it with the Z10 and got the "whisper" again.

Just to validate, I JUST paired my JB2+ with the Z10, made a phone call and tried to cycle through the volume settings (i.e. pressing the NoiseAssassin Button to cycle through the multiple volume levels). The volume went from "whisper" to "silence" to "near silence" to "feint whisper" to "whisper". =(

Thanks for reminding me about the built-in volume control on the JB2.

Still no response from Aliph though...

After doing a little research it seems the early versions of the JawBone 2s were using the Bluetooth 1.2 standard. Z10 is using 4.0LE. Many devices have compatibility issues with 1.0, 1.0B and 1.2. I don't think firmware is going to fix this issue. It might be time for a new JawBone. All Bluetooth is supposed to be backward compatible but we know how that hardly works with anything in the real world. The LE in 4.0LE is for Low Energy. I suspect this is the issue you are experiencing. It's odd that I am not but my JB2 is not the + model and I hardly use it unless I forget my JawBone ERA somewhere. I can confirm it does work when I have tried it.

[aziandevil]

After doing a little research it seems the early versions of the JawBone 2s were using the Bluetooth 1.2 standard. Z10 is using 4.0LE. Many devices have compatibility issues with 1.0, 1.0B and 1.2. I don't think firmware is going to fix this issue. It might be time for a new JawBone. All Bluetooth is supposed to be backward compatible but we know how that hardly works with anything in the real world. The LE in 4.0LE is for Low Energy. I suspect this is the issue you are experiencing. It's odd that I am not but my JB2 is not the + model and I hardly use it unless I forget my JawBone ERA somewhere. I can confirm it does work when I have tried it.

Thanks again MKelley65! I was unaware that BT4.0 (LE) was not completely backward compatible with 1.2. So yes, FW won't do it. Guess, we'll chalk it up to technology evolution and I'll pick up an ERA. Speaking of which, I am assuming that you are quite happy with the ERA with your Z10. So, would you recommend it?

Still no reply from Aliph... probably won't get one.

Thanks for your contribution,

[newtosmartphones]

mine is loud.......

[aziandevil]

Final Update: Response from Aliph/Jawbone... as expected, they want me to upgrade to an ICON or an ERA. Guess there's no point to holding onto "2 year old" technology.

George G. (Jawbone Support)
Apr 11 10:31 (PDT)

Hi Oliver,

Thank you for contacting us, I’ll be more than happy to assist you!

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing this volume issue with your JAWBONE 2 Plus, but don't worry I can help you with that. Based on the very detailed information you provided; thank you for that by the way, I believe that the issue will be compatibility between the devices.

This is because with your BlackBerry 9900, the JAWBONE 2 Plus works as it should and you've also already covered all the possible troubleshooting on both your BlackBerry Z10 and your JAWBONE 2 Plus. If the issue was originated on the JAWBONE 2 Plus, the low volume would be present when used with the BlackBerry Z10.

I do not believe that the headset is dying, rather that the software of your BlackBerry Z10 is not compatible with the firmware that controls your JAWBONE 2 Plus, and since it is not up-datable, then it might be a good idea to purchase one of our newer headsets, for example:

- JAWBONE ICON.
- JAWBONE ICON HD.
- JAWBONE ERA.

Here is a link that will let you compare them side-by-side: https://jawbone.com/headsets

I hope that this information is helpful to you Oliver.

Please let me know if there is anything else that I can gladly assist you with. Have a great day!

Your Ticket number is: 916536


George,
The Jawbone Support Team
http://www.Jawbone.com
1-800-JAWBONE
Mon - Sun, 6AM-7PM (Pacific)
========================

[mkelley65]

Thanks again MKelley65! I was unaware that BT4.0 (LE) was not completely backward compatible with 1.2. So yes, FW won't do it. Guess, we'll chalk it up to technology evolution and I'll pick up an ERA. Speaking of which, I am assuming that you are quite happy with the ERA with your Z10. So, would you recommend it?

Still no reply from Aliph... probably won't get one.

Thanks for your contribution,

I am quite pleased with and recommend the ERA. I read your response from Aliph. It seems they confirmed my suspicion.