Alright, it is finally time for me to share my experience about the Jabra Rox Wireless. If you’ve read my unboxing article, you will have a good idea on how it looks like and what are inside the box. The price of this Jabra Rox Wireless in-ear handsfree is RM 469 in Malaysia. Now, let’s take a quick look at the specifications of this device :
- Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0, AVRCP (Audio Video Remote Control Profile), auto pairing, NFC, music and call support.
- Speakers – HiFi frequency, Digital Sound Processing (DSP).
- Microphone – Omni Directional/noise filter microphone,
- Microphone sensitivity – Standard (E-STD).
- Talk time – up to 5.5 hours.
- Standby time – up to 432 hours.
- Music play time – up to 6 hours.
- Charging mode – USB (Micro USB port)
- Weight – 19 grams.
To turn on the device, you just need to press and hold the multi-function button (the round thing which is in between + and – sign) until the LED indicator starts blinking in green. If you need to pair the Rox Wireless with a new device, just continue holding the button until the LED indicator turns blue (and blinking).
If the LED indicator starts blinking in red while the device is on, that indicates that the Rox Wireless is running low on battery and you need to charge it immediately. If you need to turn off the device, press and hold the multi-function button again till the LED indicator blinks rapidly in red and then completely stops.
After the Rox Wireless is connected to a device, the LED will go off and whenever you play a music or watch a video, the LED will start blinking slowly in blue colour.
NFC – the Jabra Rox Wireless also supports NFC pairing. To pair via NFC, you just need to tap the control area (the box where the + and – sign is) facing the NFC area of your smartphone / speaker / other NFC enabled devices. I’ve tried tapping the other side of the control area (as in the picture below) and it does not get connected.
Voice indicator – there is also a voice indicator which gives you instruction on what to do while the device is on pairing mode. Once you’ve set up the device, the voice indicator also gives an indication whenever your Jabra Rox Wireless connects to or disconnects from your other device (let’s say smartphone). If you need to know the battery level while using the Rox Wireless (as you can’t see the LED indicator while wearing it) you can just press the + or – sign once and you will hear the voice saying, “battery full” if there is still enough battery. Of course, you can’t do this while listening to music because it will adjust your music volume then.
I wish that there is a voice command feature on this Jabra Rox Wireless as how it is on other Jabra devices e.g. the Jabra Storm. Whenever you receive a call, you can say “yes” to answer the call or “no” to cancel the call. Unfortunately the Jabra Rox Wireless does not have that function. At first I thought that I’ve missed that function when I realised that the Jabra Storm has it. So I tried the Rox Wireless again to make sure that I do not miss anything and I can confirm that the voice command function is definitely not available for this device.
On my iPad, the battery level of my Jabra Rox Wireless is shown at the top right of the screen, just next to the Bluetooth symbol. Unfortunately I don’t see that when I connect the Jabra Rox Wireless to any of my Android or Windows Phone devices. Well, this is not an issue related to the Rox Wireless. So Jabra can’t do anything about it.
Connecting to more than one device – you can connect the Jabra Rox Wireless to a maximum of 2 devices at one time and if you connect 2 devices to your Rox Wireless, there will be a voice saying, “two devices connected”. However, I don’t really recommend this unless needed. I’ve tried it and had some problems with it. Nothing major though. Most of the time it worked well unless you try doing something on both smartphones at the same time e.g. listening to music on one smartphone and receive calls on the other smartphone.
Music and call – While you are listening to a music via Jabra Rox Wireless, you can increase / decrease the volume, change to the next / previous track, play or pause the music without taking out your phone from your pocket. Those functions are available in the control area of Jabra Rox Wireless.
To play or pause a music, press the multi-function button once. If you need to increase or decrease the volume, press the + or – button accordingly (I hope I do not need to explain on what is + and -). To change to the next track or to the previous track, press and hold the + or – button for 2 seconds. As for the volume, I realised that when I increase or decrease the volume via the Rox Wireless, the main volume on my iPad changes too (e.g. let’s say while I am watching a YouTube video). However on an Android device, it doesn’t affect the main volume of the device. So if you are listening to music on an Android device, you need to check the volume on your device as well if it is still very low after adjusting the volume on your Jabra Rox Wireless. By the way, to quickly mute the volume, you can press both the + and – button at the same time.
Siri or Google Now or S-Voice – you can also activate voice assistant such as Siri on iOS or Google Now on Android via just pressing and holding the multi-function button until you hear a beep sound. Don’t press too long or your Rox Wireless will shut down.
Battery and charging – there is a Micro USB connector on Jabra Rox Wireless. At the side where you see the indicator, you can actually open the cap (it is a magnetic cap) and inside there you will find the Micro USB port.
Charging from low battery to full battery took me about 2 hours 15 minutes. I used my laptop to charge the Rox Wireless using the USB cable that was provided inside the box. How to determine if your Rox Wireless is fully charged? While charging, the LED indicator will be in red (not blinking) and once it is fully charged, the indicator will turn to green (not blinking).
If you are continuously listening to music, the battery can last for about nearly 6 hours as claimed by Jabra in their official page. However, it did not touch 6 hours but went a bit more than 5 hours 40 minutes. Overall I am very happy with the battery life. Of course, the battery is not enough if you need to complete a marathon (and if you are a slow runner) but for day to day use, it will be sufficient.
Outdoor activities – I tried the Jabra Rox Wireless while jogging at the park. I couldn’t get to test whether it is water resistant because it was not raining during that time. Some of you may ask, “why not just chuck it into the water?”. Please take note that it is water and dust RESISTANT. It is not water proof or dust proof. So you need to still handle it with care. Well, I sweat a lot and the Jabra Rox Wireless is still working fine after getting soaked in my sweat. As for dust, I think it handles dust issue very well too because my house is usually very dusty and sometimes I can see the device covered by a thin layer of dust. Fortunately, the device still works like a boss.
To be frank, I am not a fan of in-ear type of earphones. The simple reason is because it doesn’t fit into my ear lobes and I don’t like when it always drops while I am listening to music. I didn’t have that problem with Jabra Rox Wireless, thanks to the set of EarWings provided together with the handsfree. They hook up inside my ear area and fit very well there. At first, I felt that the Jabra Rox Wireless will still fall off while I am running or shaking my head. To test it out, I purposely tried shaking my head a little hard but it still did not fall off.
As for the wire, some of you may find that it is just too long. Don’t worry because inside the box, you will also find the FitClip, a small plastic which you can attach to the wire and tighten it so that the wire is not hanging behind your head.
Jabra Sound app – This is an app made specially for selected Jabra devices, including Jabra Rox Wireless. You can download it from App Store or Google Play but to use it, you need to enter a code which you will find inside the box. For me, it is not worth downloading this app because you can live without it. Well, it has some equalizer function which you can customize but there are a lot of other music apps out there which have similar functions. Don’t get me wrong. It is actually a decent app but there is nothing extraordinary about this app.
That small bag comes together with the Jabra Rox Wireless. It is a protective bag for your Rox Wireless inside. I don’t know whether it provides some kind of protection from e.g. water because the surface is a little rough and doesn’t look like a normal cloth type of bag.
Do you know that the Jabra Rox Wireless is made of a magnetic earbud? Look at the image above and you will realise that the earbuds are attached together. Those magnets have a function. When you attach them, the device turns off and when you detach the earbuds, the device turns on. In your daily use, you will definitely appreciate this function because you do not want to press the multi-function button whenever you are not using the Rox Wireless and press it again when you need to use it. By having this function, you can easily save the battery whenever you don’t need to use the handsfree. Look at the images below. You can easily hang the handsfree around your neck when not using it.
Now, what do I think about this device? Music wise, it is not comparable with some good wired headset in the market but you need to take note that it is a bluetooth handsfree. It is wireless and comparing it with a wired headset will not be right. For a bluetooth handsfree, I think the Jabra Rox Wireless is doing a great job. It delivers decent music and you will definitely not hate it (unless your expectation is too high). If you are serious about music and have high expectations, then no wireless bluetooth headset in the market which can satisfy you.
As for calls, I can listen to the other party very well. No problem with that. The other party feels that my voice is louder than how it is when I just talk on my phone. However, the voice is not as sharp and clear on the Rox Wireless compared to when I speak directly on my phone. I don’t know how to explain this but the voice is like as if I am in a closed room where my voice reflects back. It is like there is a mild echo in the background.
Well, I won’t say that the call quality is bad. It is just that it is not as good as how it is when I don’t use a headset. The other party was still able to hear what I was saying without any problem. To figure out what the problem was, I first searched for the microphone placement on the Rox Wireless.
The microphone’s placement is just next to the earbud. So basically the microphone will be near your ear when you speak. Seriously, that is a little far from your mouth if you ask me. I did a test on this where I got the microphone nearer to my mouth while talking (which means that I was just listening to my conversations via one ear) and the sound quality was great. So if the other party couldn’t hear you well during a conversation, then you have to do like how I did. Again, don’t worry much about this. The quality was not that bad actually. It was still decent overall. So take it easy and stop panicking :p.
Overall, the Jabra Rox Wireless is one of the nicest bluetooth music handsfree that I’ve ever used. There are some other devices that I’ve used and they are just so heavy that I didn’t use them anymore after that. Jabra Rox Wireless is very light and friendly to your ears. You will not feel the weight to the extend that it bothers you while you are listening to music while e.g. going for a jog.
I wish I can get one for myself (yes, this is a review unit, thanks to Jabra Malaysia). I will consider buying one when I start doing some serious outdoor activities.
If you have any questions regarding the Jabra Rox Wireless, feel free to post your comments at the comment box and I will reply as soon as possible.
