Joby Zivio Bluetooth Headset Review

I swear the girls get the best schwag!  At the BlogHer 08 conference there was a Joby booth where they were giving away FREE Zivio Bluetooth earpieces.

Giving away free bluetooth headsets at a women’s blogging conference was a brilliant idea. Even if the women didn’t want theirs they could give them away on their blogs.  The combination of a $100+ item and scarce availability makes this a sweet giveaway item (sorry guys, keeping mine but Joby can send me another one to give away).

The Zivio headset its self is a pretty unique design given the current trends toward smaller devices and more technically complex noise canceling software.  The Zivio is quite noticeable when it is worn at more than 53 mm in length.  Despite its mere 13 gram weight, the Zivio conceals a retractable boom microphone that makes the unit a whopping 136 mm from top to bottom when extended.

Joby is clearly marketing this earpiece toward women.  If all of the pictures of women on their website are not enough of an indication, the very design of the Zivio caters toward women’s wireless headset concerns.

While the unit’s retractable boom microphone provides voice quality that is unparalleled by any bluetooth earpiece on the market, it also can be used to indicate that the earpiece is in use.  As a guy, I could care less if people look at me funny as I walk around talking to myself.  Women on the other hand want people to know when they are on the phone, and the Zivio communicates that silently when its boom microphone is extended.

Additionally, this unit comes with more adjustable earpieces than any other bluetooth device I have ever seen.  There are adjustments for comfort, adjustments for convenience, and adjustments for stability.  If you don’t like the over-the-ear hoop, just swap out the more robust in-ear adjustment and it stays in place with out the hoop.

Three simple buttons control the Zivio’s overall functionality – power, volume up and volume down.  The unit is relatively easy to pair with a phone as well.  That said, it was funny to watch the poor techs at the Joby booth trying to pair 6 phones and earpieces using the default settings at the same time 🙂

The headsets are not available for public purchase until late August, and I heard a rumor (unconfirmed) that they will sell for around $130.