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Bluetooth Headset Roundup

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thu Aug 07, 2003 05:01 PM
from the now-what-will-i-do-with-my-hands dept.
Handhelds Hardware
Faeton writes " HowardChui.com has 5 nifty Bluetooth cellphone headsets reviewed. Looks like we're moving towards the StarTrek Comm unit (check out the size of the Nextlink Bluespoon Digital headset!)"
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  • I liked the round-up but what matters to me most is price, and I could not find price info anywhere. How much do these things cost?

    • Re:Prices? (Score:5, Informative)

      by mfago (514801) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:18PM (#6640050)
      The Bluespoon is US $350. Ouch!

      For another review. [burn.com]
    • It's probably one of those things where if you have to ask, don't bother asking.


      The speaker fits inside your outer ear canal (your ear hole)

      Where was my ear hole again? I forget.

    • Re:Prices? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by DrXym (126579)
      If my local CarphoneWarehouse is anything to go by - a fucking fortune. Headsets cost over 100.

      Which is why bluetooth is one of those cool but rather pointless technologies. Having a mini network is kind of cool, but if the choice is between the minor inconvenience of connecting devices together with a cable or paying many multiples more for bluetooth, I'll what I'd pick former.

      I would be happy to reconsider, but I think the prices are taking the piss at the moment, probably because there are a lot of c

      • Re:Prices? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by rodgerd (402)
        It wouldn't be at all pointless for me - I'm hanging out for bluetooth equipped crash helmets. No dangling cords from helmet to motorcycle for intercom devices.

    • Re:Prices? (Score:5, Informative)

      by sootman (158191) on Thursday August 07 2003, @06:09PM (#6640460) Journal
      Huh? The prices are right underneath the purty pictures.

      Bluetake BT400 GII - $70
      Jabra BT200 v1 - $70
      Nextlink Bluespoon Digital - $350
      Nokia HDW-2 - $100
      Sony Ericsson HBH-60 - $100

  • Star Trek? (Score:5, Funny)

    by MoeMoe (659154) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:02PM (#6639899)
    I don't remember Kirk having his Phaser set to 'Outdoors' or 'Silent'

  • Can anyone explain? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Atario (673917) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:03PM (#6639905) Homepage
    What's with the Bluetooth folks? I've been hearing about this stuff for ages, yet there's so little in the way of actual products out there. What gives?

    • explained (Score:3, Informative)

      by Fubar411 (562908)
      Bluetooth is kinda like the first time you ever used a remote control for the TV instead of getting up to change the channel. (For those of you who have ever had to actually do that.)

      You make one device discoverable and tell the other to search. And if the profiles are set so that the devices can make sense of each other, they start working.

      I believe with Macs you can control iTunes with the phone (sounds cool) and others are working on getting Winzip to function.

      My experience:
      I have a Sony T68i phone

      • clicker (Score:3, Interesting)

        by sammy baby (14909)

        I believe with Macs you can control iTunes with the phone (sounds cool) and others are working on getting Winzip to function.

        The software you're referring to is called "Clicker [mac.com]," by Salling Software. It can be used not just to control iTunes, but also basically anything else which responds to AppleScript commands.

        Note - there is a non-zero chance that this is completely useless. But it's hella cool. Make sure to watch their video [mac.com] (QuickTime required).

    • I got a combination Nokia 3650 and Sony Ericsson bluetooth headset. Through T-Mobile after rebate, the Nokia phone is almost free - add a $100 bluetooth headset and you're ready. The Sony Ericsson phone is a good match too, if you don't need a speakerphone (I design/demo speech systems so I occasionally use a speakerphone).

      Having a bluetooth headset is fabulous. The Sony headset is incredibly comfortable, and you can wear it all day (I've even accidentally fallen asleep and forgotten to take it off). If
      • Even better with the SonyEricson t68i, you don't even have to push a button. the phone can listen for a magic word ("I wanna talk") then you can tell who you want to talk to!
      • Too much hype before there was even a working demo hindered its initial success.

        This is true, but Bluetooth reminds me a lot of XML. When XML was first introduced, everyone thought it would be nifty and great, but there was a long period of time where it wasn't all that useful. Now, we see more and more products utilizing XML, and it has gained considerable respectability.

        I think (and hope) that Bluetooth will see a similar growth pattern.

  • Mastercard Advert (Score:5, Funny)

    by Hogwash McFly (678207) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:04PM (#6639909)
    Price of new mobile phone: $400
    Price of bluetooth headset: $60
    The look on that chick's face as she sees you talking to yourself with what looks like a cybernetic implant in your ear: Priceless

    • Re:Mastercard Advert (Score:5, Funny)

      by cioxx (456323) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:19PM (#6640062) Homepage
      To quote George Carlin:

      here is a group of people that are missing chromosomes and should be hurled from an airplane at 20,000 ft. these dickheads that use these hands free phones, you know they can't be away from the phone in case Henry Kistenger calls. So I say
      "Hey spaceman as long as your hands are free why don't you reach your hand over here and fondle my balls."

  • Bluetooth vs. 802.11b (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I have been doing some modifications to 802.11b notebook cards, namely to increase the potential range of receiving connections... for purely legitimate purposes, of course *cough*
    Anywho- I was wondering what sorts of antennae mods could be used to increase the range of bluetooth signals...
    A lot of the new cell phones have bluetooth connectivity, I was wondering what sort of fun could be had with a bluetooth sniffing program, or a jammer, for that manner...
    • I was wondering what sort of fun could be had with a bluetooth sniffing program

      Since Bluetooth offers a service/device discovery mode, you don't need any special software. Simply check for mobile devices in your neighbourhood. Worked like a charm at the last CeBit in Hannover: someone had a BT-Internet Access Point, no password required... I decided not to buy those WLAN voucher and happily surfed with my iPAQ. And of course you can always find a friendly phone that announces its presence and decide to d

  • filtering background noise? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by at_kernel_99 (659988) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:08PM (#6639949) Homepage
    Yeah, but which one works well when driving down the freeway in a topless jeep with the (mud) tires howling at 75mph?
    • According to the article...

      "One of the Bluespoon's selling points (besides the amazing size and battery life) is the fact that it has a built in DSP (digital signal processor) that helps cancel noise. In my fan test there was a noticeable drop in fan noise whenever I talked indicating that the noise canceling really does work. Cool stuff."
        • In any case, I'm still skeptical of these devices working in any vehicle with the windows down. Ok, maybe I should just fix the a/c, but there's something to be said for fresh air.

          I was thinking the same thing (I don't have a/c), but a fan blowing directly in your face is somewhat similar to driving with the windows down so I was hoping the noise cancellation actually does work, but it doesn't matter since I don't have the extra cash to pick up this device and a blue tooth phone.

          I guess the easy option
    • I hope your insurance is paid up!
    • How bout you not talk on the phone while driving down the freeway in a topless jeep at 75mph? With or without a bluetooth headset for your phone does not help killing yourself.
  • Looks like we're moving towards the StarTrek Comm unit
    I hope people don't start talking in klingon in public while using one of these...
  • Hi.

    Can anyone point me to links that will tell me when i will be able to use bluetooth headsets such as my jabra earphone that he reviewed with REGULAR phones. Either thru and adapter or a new phone.

    Thank you...

  • StarTrek Comm unit (Score:3, Interesting)

    by FreeLinux (555387) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:16PM (#6640021)
    A closer example of a Start Trek Comm unit would be this [vocera.com] unit from Vocera. Of course, there is also the Nextel system which both behaves and looks [nextel.com] surprisingly similar to the communicators from the original Star Trek series.
    • I believe the original comment was in respect to the comunications receiver that Uhura used. It looked like a cylinder with fins radiating perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder in a double cone shape, that leaned down and forward of the ear. Occasionally Uhura would "adjust" the frequency response, or range by touching and turning various fins.

      Personally I think the fins looked more like a heat radiator than a radio antena, but then what do I know.

      Cell phones have already looked like the individual lo

  • Jabra (Score:2, Informative)

    by tackaberry (694121)
    I had mixed results with the Jabra and a non-Bluetooth phone.

    It worked reasonable well with my Timeport, but not as well with my wife's Samsung. However, even with the Timeport, it was a pain to Accept a call, or Terminate one. I constantly had to go back to using the phone's button, rather than the headset buttons.

    Another problem was determining whether or not it was still in Active mode or on Standby. There is a sound tone which goes up in pitch or down in pitch when you turn it on/off. Most of the

  • Cheaper hands free kit.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Hogwash McFly (678207) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:19PM (#6640059)
    If you want to talk hands free when you're out and about on you mobile and you don't have the cash to spend on Bluetooth headsets, these things [pibmug.com] are ideal

  • No difference (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Stashia* (695757) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:20PM (#6640078) Homepage
    These devices will not do much to lessen the distraction drivers have when talking on their mobiles.

    The issue is the immediacy of the mobile phone conversation. It diverts the attention that a driver needs to be placing elsewhere.

    http://cartalk.cars.com/About/Drive-Now/scientif ic -evidence.html

    Studies have shown that there is negligible difference in the increased accident probability for users of these devices as opposed to hand-helds.

    If you need to take a call on your commute, do us all a favor and pull over!
    • If you dont have to look at and press buttons how is it any more distracting than conversing with someone in the passenger seat?

    • Very interesting study. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by FreeLinux (555387) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:36PM (#6640208)
      I saw this article [newsday.com] today and found it very interesting. For all the screaming about the dangers of driving while using cell phones (obviously there are dangers), the AAA study found cell phones to be much lower on the list of problems than one might expect. Far more problems were cause by some very mundane things that I am sure we are all guilty of at some time or another. Notice the statistics at the bottom of the article.

  • On HowardChui.com... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Atticu5 (693001) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:23PM (#6640097) Homepage Journal
    As an aside, I find that HowardChui.com is a very informative resource for all sorts of cell-phone tech. Definately worth adding to your bookmark list!

    (PS. If someone wants to buy me the Bluespoon [howardchui.com], I'd be much obliged...)
    • Sure it looks neat but the interface is really stupid. To turn it on, you have to hold both buttons then release one of them after a certain amount of time, or something like that. It was easy to miss the timing window either. Very stupid UI IMO.

  • Interoperability (Score:3, Interesting)

    by neglige (641101) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:27PM (#6640127)
    A major problem Bluetooth is currently facing is interoperability. During the test it seems that some of the headsets were paired with different phones, but they were mostly Nokia phones (which supposedly do not differ too much when it comes to the BT implementation).

    Buying one of those earpieces and trying to pair it with your [fill in brand here unless Nokia] phone could be difficult. Not to mention the BT dongle for the PC. If you were hoping for a hands-free headset that gives you more Counterstrike kills, you'll probably find that your dongle does not support the necessary profiles [palowireless.com].

  • bluetooth is INSANE! (or is it me?) (Score:5, Funny)

    by wfmcwalter (124904) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:30PM (#6640160) Homepage
    Bluetooth needs a new slogan:

    Bluetooth: erasing the descernable difference between people with really nice cellphones and those with advanced delusional schizophrenia.

    Is that person mubling behind you on the train really an important businessman, or does he just think he is? Worse, is that CIA agent who just dialled your number real, or is he just one of the voices? With bluetooth(tm) there's essentially no way to know!

    Next thing you'll be thinking you're living in some kind of futuristic hi-tech paradise where people communicate with lightning-powered machines. Yeah right - you're really still back at the pigfarm on Jutland and it's still 1282. Get used to it.

  • No figures for this anywhere. Do you need a tin foil hat to use one?

  • Error in article (Score:3, Informative)

    by Jeremiah Blatz (173527) on Thursday August 07 2003, @05:58PM (#6640358) Homepage
    The author notes that the Nokia comes with a removable NiHM battery. He then complains that NiMH's suck, because they have memory effects. This is not the case. NiCd batteries have a memory effect, not NiMH's.

      • Reference? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by morven2 (5718) * on Thursday August 07 2003, @08:27PM (#6641287)
        If so, why does documentation from the manufacturers themselves often warn of this? Did they fall for the UL too?
        • What documentation, exactly? Panasonic's docs [panasonic.com] for one, mention no such thing as a memory effect, neither do Sanyo's [sanyo-energy-europe.com], both of which are incidentally the leading manufacturers of NiCd cells. I came across this article on EDN [reed-electronics.com], which doesn't give many details, though, but this this usenet thread [google.com] sums the issue up pretty well, particularly the last sentence of the last post.

  • Screw cell phones (Score:4, Interesting)

    by droleary (47999) on Thursday August 07 2003, @06:11PM (#6640471) Homepage

    Am I the only one that would love a Bluetooth headset for my computer? I use Mac OS X and have a number of speakable items, and it would be a great boon if I could I use a headset as the exclusive input/output for spoken commands. Why do I never see a single one of these things even make an effort at breaking into the desktop market?

  • Against BlueTooth Headsets (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Keith Gabryelski (65602) on Thursday August 07 2003, @06:19PM (#6640544) Homepage
    yeah, i look like like a 6' 3" shaved head borg with the sony/ericsson ear piece (which is priceless) but... man what a pain in the butt.

    you have to recharge the thing... and i don't know about you -- but i barely get the time to charge my phone as needed. it's also unfortunate you can't chain together charging devices like this -- but that is a whole different gripe.

    you have to work with a new interface on the damn ear piece to answer the phone (or send the call back to phone) which is a hurdle. yeah laugh away smart boy... try three of these devices and for a few months and drop one important call and you will never use it again.

    because of artifacts of digital transmission (jitter buffers and individual buffer sample size) the use of blue tooth headsets increases the end to end delay over a sometimes already intollerable cellphone network delay.

    the price is insane.

    reception with the phone is not perfect. I don't understand everything about interference but there is a lot of it... and, again, if you are on an important call you and can't hear the other person you are likely to just drop this thing in the trash.

    blueTooth's transmission wave length is in the range of microwaves (i.e. water heating range). why would anyone want that radiation near their brain.

    to sum up: save your money...
    • blueTooth's transmission wave length is in the range of microwaves (i.e. water heating range). why would anyone want that radiation near their brain.

      Your phone's signal is hundreds of times stronger than any bluetooth headset, yet I don't hear you complaining about having a mobile phone near your body.

    • I have a Nokia 6310 and use the Sony Ericsson HBH-30 headset. I have used this combination for about 6 months.

      I have found the combination to work brilliantly. Once the devices are paired, to reconnect and disconnect is quicker and easier than it was with a "wired" handsfree headset. The ability to answer calls and hang them up from the headset is great, and the lower EMR output (compared to the phone) puts my mind at ease (whether or not I'm deluding myself ;).

      I have never had a dropout, and once I

  • A perfect example of why BT is retarded (Score:5, Interesting)

    by macemoneta (154740) on Thursday August 07 2003, @08:10PM (#6641207)
    Let's see... the lowest cost unit in the roundup is $70, and it's replacing:

    - 3 feet of wire,
    - an earphone, and
    - a microphone,

    which is available at my local dollar store. Yes, for one dollar (cash American) I can get the same wired earbud/microphone that came with my Motorola phone (free), except without the logo.

    WiFi at least keeps people from having to ruin a perfectly good weekend or two, drilling holes in walls and fishing cables. But Bluetooth???

    I've never understood why someone would want to replace a high security, exquisitely simple, low cost device with a complex, battery consuming, expensive, insecure device. It's not like you have the option of running SSH or IPSEC over Bluetooth, even if you wanted to.

    Besides, earphones are cool! You wear them with sunglasses and you look like a narc. :-)

    • Re:What I want... (Score:5, Funny)

      by joe_bruin (266648) on Thursday August 07 2003, @06:03PM (#6640411) Homepage Journal
      ... is a bluetooth headset that doesn't make me look silly.

      this is not possible with current technology. the way bluetooth works is by creating a localized field of ionized nerd particles, that is then used as the carrier medium for bluetooth signaling. nerd particles are generated by things such as pda's, usb data sticks, certain ringtones, linux, and watches with calculators in them, and they naturally dissipate into the atmosphere and decay into harmless forms such as boba pearls. however, bluetooth acts as a concentrator, keeping the nerd particles from collapsing and creating a short range distortion field, making thing within it seem extremely nerdy. engineers are still working on resolving this issue, although an interim solution is to have a really hot girlfriend.

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