The iPhoneis undoubtedly the most talked about gadget of the year, with itsinnovative touchscreen design and attractive good looks. To match theiPhone's high-end style, Apple has also introduced the Apple iPhoneBluetooth headset to go along with it.
Apple iPhone Bluetooth headset
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
And it certainly does match theiPhone, in elegance, simplicity and style. But like the iPhone itself,it falls short in features. Each iPhone Bluetooth headset goes for £79, a rather steep price.
Design
Shaped like a skinny black stick, the iPhone Bluetooth headset measuresclose to 50 by 12 by 5mm if youcount the earpiece (It's about 3mm thick without the earpiece).The headset is also remarkably light at 6.5g, and weadmit that we quite like its metal construction, glossy finish andsmooth, clean lines. Certainly, it looks more like art than a simpleheadset.
The controls are dead simple -- in fact, there's only one button foreverything. It's not obvious at first, but the multifunction button islocated on top of the device. The button has a slightly curved feel andgives easily to pressure.
On the back of the headset is the earpiece,which is designed to fit inside the ear, much like the old-school iPodearbuds. It fits very nicely in the ear and we found it to be quitecomfortable. However, the lack of an ear hook may make some people feeluneasy since it doesn't feel as secure. Also, we really would've likedto have volume controls on the headset itself. If you need to adjustthe volume, you'll have to change it with your phone.
Features
Maybe part of the reason why the iPhone Bluetooth headset is so priceyis that it comes with its own iPhone charging dock plus a USB travelcharger. The charging dock has two slots -- one for the iPhone, and onefor the Bluetooth headset.
Similarly, the USB cable is designed withtwo slots as well. Pairing the headset with the iPhone couldn't beeasier -- simply pop in both the iPhone and the headset into the dock,and voila, they are paired to each other. This is probably the easiestpairing process we've ever experienced.
Another neat advantage to usingthe charging dock is both the iPhone and the headset's battery statusshow up on the screen, so you always know how much battery life is lefton the headset.
The iPhone Bluetooth headset is simple in design as well as features.You get the regular abilities to answer and end calls, but don't bet onanything like last-number redial or call mute. You can also switchcalls back and forth from the headset to the iPhone and vice versa.Also, we should note that you can indeed use the iPhone Bluetoothheadset with other phones, but the pairing process won't be as smooth.
Performance
Here's another note: though you won't be able to use the iPhoneBluetooth headset for voice dialing with the iPhone (since the iPhonedoes not support voice commands), you will be able to use it with otherphones that do have voice command support. We paired the iPhoneBluetooth headset with the RIM BlackBerry Pearl and used it to voice dial flawlessly.
Call quality was surprisingly good. We had heard numerous tales ofquestionable performance, but our experience told us otherwise. Yes,there is no noise-reduction technology, and voices didn't sound verynatural, but we could still carry on a conversation without anynoticeable static or hiss.
We do have to say that the sound qualitydoes not compare to that of the Plantronics Voyager 520 nor the Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth headset,but by normal standards, the iPhone Bluetooth headset sounded justfine. Just don't expect quality sound in an especially noisy or crowdedenvironment since, as we mentioned, the iPhone Bluetooth headsetdoesn't have any noise-cancellation technology.
The iPhone Bluetooth headset has a rated battery life of 5 hours and 29 minutes of talk time and 3 days of standby time.
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday