The original Jabra Stone ($129.99, 2 stars) had some serious problems, including dismal battery life and a bizarre two-piece design. The company went back to the drawing board and came up with the Stone2, a modestly improved Bluetooth headset with longer, but still too-short battery life, and the same clunky design. Unfortunately, it's still far from acceptable, and the Stone2 doesn't even sound that great.

Design, Setup, and Call Quality
The Jabra Stone2 is made entirely of black plastic; glossy on the front, matte on the back. This model is available exclusively at AT&T. A leather-covered model is available from Verizon Wireless. Both versions measure 2.3 by 2.0 by 1.0 inches (HWD) and weigh 0.3 ounces. The Stone2's rubber gel tip sits a bit inside the ear, but it's not as intrusive as some other Bluetooth headsets with similar ear tip designs. Jabra packs three other gel tips in various sizes in the box along with a plastic belt clip. A single multi-function button—essentially, the entire edge of the device—lets you answer and reject calls, as well as check battery life when you're not on a call. To adjust the volume, you swipe your finger over the main body of the headset up or down; this was a little fiddly in practice, but it generally worked well.

The cradle acts as a charger that also stores additional juice. You can fast-charge the Stone2 three times using the cradle alone, with no AC power; each fast charge takes about 20 minutes. There's no power switch; pop the Stone2 out of the cradle, and it turns on. Replace it, and it turns off. Remove the Stone2 for the first time, and it automatically enters pairing mode and you can pair it with a second device simultaneously. For this review, I paired the Stone2 with a Samsung Captivate, a Sanyo Innuendo, and an LG Optimus V without issue.

The voice-based interface works in two directions, though it's not as receptive to voice commands as the BlueAnt Q2 ($129, 4 stars). The Stone2 lets you answer or reject calls using your voice, but those are the only two voice commands it accepts. On the other hand, the voice guided interface keeps you posted as to current battery life, as well as who is calling.

Voice quality was mediocre overall. Voices sounded clear enough in the earpiece, and there was sufficient gain available for noisy environments. But on the other end, my voice sounded somewhat muffled. It was intelligible, but it didn't measure up to the Aliph Jawbone Icon ($99, 4 stars), I had on hand for comparison. Bluetooth range was average at about 15 feet. Voice dialing worked fine over Bluetooth with the LG Optimus V and the Sanyo Innuendo.

Noise Cancellation, Battery Life, and Conclusions
On the noise cancellation front, the Stone2's dual-mic design allows it to record and filter background noise while preserving the sound of your own voice. In practice, it just didn't work. In a series of tests using a high-speed 20-inch office fan, you could hear the fan in the distance along with my voice from as far as eight feet away. By the time I got to four feet away from the fan, my voice was already bordering on unintelligible, with intense wind buffeting sounds overpowering it. Compare that with the Jawbone Icon, which let me sound crisp and clear, if somewhat processed, even as I stood just one foot away from the fan.

But the biggest problem with the Stone2 remains its short battery life, just like the first version. Actually, the first model didn't even make it through an hour of talk time. The new one extends this a bit; the Stone2 began emitting "low battery" voice warnings in my ear after 1 hour and 4 minutes of talk time, and eventually shut down 39 minutes later. That's still way, way too little. Jabra contends you're supposed to carry the cradle along with the Jabra2; this way you can fast-charge it and get three more charges before you need to plug it into the AC adapter. But that makes it a two-piece design, which as we noted the first time around, means one more piece you're likely to lose. Worse, you'd still be left with a decidedly average six hours of total talk time, which a good number of Bluetooth headsets can match or beat all by themselves. And you must keep popping the Stone2 into the cradle in order to top it up after every few calls.

The Jabra Stone2 isn't a bad headset, but you're committing yourself to hearing "low battery" reminders much more frequently than you do with competing devices, even if you do carry the cradle everywhere. Instead go for the Plantronics Voyager Pro+ ($99, 4 stars), the older Plantronics Voyager 520 ($49, 4 stars), or the Motorola H17txt ($99, 3.5 stars), all of which last about as long on a single charge as the Jabra Stone2 does on four charges. Our Editors' Choice headset remains the Aliph Jawbone Era ($129, 4.5 stars), which lasts about 5 hours and sounds much better than the Stone2 in all kinds of environments.

Benchmarks
Continuous talk time: 1 hour 43 minutes

More Headset reviews: