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Hot on the heels of our review of the Invisio G5 Bluetooth headset comes the Jabra Bt8040 Bluetooth headset. The BT8040 is unique in that it’s a single-ear headset that supports A2DP, the Stereo Bluetooth profile. This allows you to listen to music through only one ear, leaving the other alert to outside sounds. More to come on this later in the review.

The Jabra BT8040 is another extremely small headset, at a featherweight 9.9g (.35oz). The BT8040 is only 38mm (1.5″) long and offers a talk time of up to 6 hours, which I can verify it accomplishes easily. Using a small rubbery ear gel, the BT8040 attaches to the inner part of your outer ear much like the Invisio G5 does, though the Jabra has a loop rather than a long tail. Included in the sales package is an AC power adapter, a USB charging cable, and a total of 6 changeable ear gels in three sizes, with 2 of each size.

The Jabra BT8040 has three buttons, just like most Bluetooth headsets. The main button, located on the outside of the headset, is small and round, with a raised edge making it easy to find without looking. The back end of the outside of the headset is where you’ll find the volume up and down buttons, with the multicolored LED situated between them. The buttons on the BT8040 are entirely too small, however, and the placement of both the main button and volume buttons is extremely poor. The main button is one length too close to the front of the headset, and pressing it feels as though you’ll dislodge the whole headset. Similarly, the volume buttons being on the top of the headset, rather than the sides, gives the feeling that you’ll either shove the whole headset straight into your ear or dislodge it completely.

Powering the Jabra BT8040 on is as simple as pressing and holding the main button for about 5 seconds, or until you see the LED light activate. Quite confusingly, the LED will flash either green, yellow, or red upon powering up, depending on the level of battery. However, a nice touch is that the first time the headset is powered on, it’s automatically in ‘pairing mode’ and can be quickly paired with your headset. You can re-enter ‘pairing mode’ later by pressing and holding the main button until you see a blue light.

A purple LED indicator light signifies ‘music mode’, as the BT8040 supports the A2DP stereo profile. The headset can also be connected to 2 different devices at the same time, which is convenient if you have Bluetooth-enabled MP3 player, for instance. Music is automatically paused for an incoming phone call, and resumes naturally when the call is ended. Using this paired with my Nokia N95-3 offered tremendous sound quality, and I did not have any issues with static or sporadic sound loss.

Having a single-earpiece A2DP-Bluetooth headset is extremely handy, as it offers enhanced sound quality. I find it to be more convenient when using my phone as an MP3 player while grocery shopping or jogging, as it enables me to also be aware of outside sounds.

Audio quality on the BT8040 is pretty phenomenal. Digital Sound Processing and intelligent volume equalization are both equipped and together reduce the amount of background noise carried through the headset. I was able to use the headset in noisy and outdoor situations with ease. Since the Jabra BT8040 has an open microphone, however, it was unable to cope with me standing in an open, windy area. Noisy warehouse environments and driving with the window down and the headset on my right ear were not a problem. Callers were able to recognize that I was using a headset, but it did not affect call quality enough to end the call.

Overall, the Jabra BT8040 is a great little headset if you’re one who enjoys a soundtrack to your day through a music phone, and if solid call quality is important to you. However, be wary of the buttons, and if you’re planning to use your headset at the soccer field or while hunting in an open environment, you may want to look for another headset.

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