Jabra Halo Smart
AN AFFORDABLE ENTRY PASS INTO BLUETOOTH’S PEARLY GATES.
DESPITE THE IMAGES on the front of the box looking like these Bluetooth headphones have been designed for the urban professional, we’d generally consider the Jabra Halo Smart as being more suited to sporting applications. e simple black neckband is embellished by a neon blue, red or black pair of cables that extend up to matching earbuds, making it visually a little loud for your general work get-up... unless you intend it to be the standout feature of your out t, of course. Furthermore, the ‘splashproof’ IP54 rating means that it’s more than capable of being worn during exercise.
In addition to audio cues that’ll tell you how much of the Halo Smart’s rather-generous 15–17 hour battery life is le , you can optionally install the Jabra Assist smartphone app (for Android and iOS) to keep more detailed tabs on exactly when you’ve used the battery over its lifespan, along with handy options to read incoming messages, emails and noti cations to you, there’s even an option to ping the Halo’s speakers to help you nd the headset if you misplace it.
Paired with a Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone, the Bluetooth 4.1 connection worked excellently up to a range of around 8m before it became unusable. at range was signi cantly reduced, though, when we attempted to play music directly to the Halo from a Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch, dropping out regularly at distances of around 50cm, but we assume this was more due to the smartwatch’s Bluetooth Low Energy connection than the wireless headphones themselves — note, however, that your milage may vary depending on the playback device.
e quality of the Halo’s audio itself was generally good — very full and bassy — but does leave a little to be desired in places. e max volume is reasonably conservative, for example, and music had a tendency to distort above about 70% volume — though that wasn’t quite bad enough to be noticeable while exercising. On the whole, at less than $90 on the street, the Jabra Halo Smart makes for an excellent pair of Bluetooth headphones that come in at a highly competitive price.