Jabra has been a generous provider of products to DigitalReviews Network, and without doubt their recent products have earned some well deserved praise. DigitalReviews now takes the Jabra M5390 Multiuse Headset for some serious testing and see how it performs. Again, I would like to thank Jabra for their on-going support.
Introduction
The Jabra M5390 is no ordinary bluetooth headset, it is a multiuse headset that connects simultaneously to mobiles, desk phones and PC softphones. Additionally, Jabra is one of three vendors (including GN Netcom entity) who has Microsoft Office Communicator certified headsets. Of these three vendors, Jabra has the most products certified for OCS (Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007).
Due to the OCS certification, I invited my office’s local OCS guru, Justin Morris, to roadtest the Jabra M5390 and provide his impressions as an expert user.
First Impressions
The Jabra M5390 is black with a discreet silver trim that has corporate environment firmly in mind for the design cues. The long boom is slightly curved to follow the contour of your face to place the microphone as close to the mouth as possible. Weighing in at a mere 15 grams, it is sufficiently light enough to not cause undue discomfort after a long period on the ear.
The unit comes with a matt black round base station with an indentation to fit the M5390 headset in for charging purposes. The A335W USB adapter is paired with the rest of the M5390 kit for quick connections.
In Action
In JM’s words, the M5390 is a great compact headset to use. The sound quality is very clear and the unit sits on the ear comfortably. With the base station sitting on the desk in the office and only the A335W dongle and earpiece on the road, the Jabra M5390 provided a lot of freedom whilst maintaining connection to the Office Communication Server. The button on the side of the boom works to take the Communicator off-hook and dial.
The battery life is rated at 6 hours which rates reasonably well considering the unit is designed for people who are tethered mostly to an office environment with the occasional trip.
Gripes
At the rate Jabra has been going in the last few reviews, it is almost going to make this section redundant. However, with the M5390, on occasion it can take some time to open Communicator when the off-hook button is pressed. I understand however, that this issue is already resolved with a recent firmware update.
The firmware update also rectifies the issue where the device is only being detected as a USB audio device rather than a communications device – the unit becomes the default audio output when plugged in.
Last of the gripes, the Jabra M5390 does not get bundled with a handset lifter but is offered as an option.
Specifications
* Talk time: 6 hours
* Standby time: 60 Hours
* Weight: 15 g (0.53 oz)
* Music Streaming
* Wireless range up to 70 meters
* Bluetooth technology
* Clear calls in noisy environments
* True wideband sound with USB dongle
* Compatible with most desk phone systems
* A335W dongle is compliant with PC based softphones including Cisco IP Softphone, Skype, etc.
In the box
* Jabra M5390 headset
* Jabra M5390 base + charger
* Two wearing styles: earhook and headband
* A335w wideband Bluetooth USB dongle
* Travel charger
* Power supply
* USB Connection cord
* User manual
Conclusions
The Jabra M5390 Multiuse Headset is a great Unified Communications device. With a great sound quality and seamless integration with mobiles, desk phones and soft phones, it is worthy of consideration for the corporate office. It certainly got JM’s seal of approval: works awesomely and is rad! The M5390 is available now for around USD$180 or AUD$389.
