Andrea BT-200 Specs:

• Wireless: Bluetooth v2.0 hands-free
• Battery Life: 8-10 hours talk | 150 hours idle
• Special: Noise Cancellation + Boom Microphone
• Multi-device Pairing: Yes
• Notifications: LED Indicator
• Charger: USB

The headset fits snugly and securely onto your ear. Once it’s in, there’s no need to worry about it falling out unlike many headsets I’ve come across. However, as stated before, the microphone is an annoyance at times since I had to keep adjusting it so the person on the other end could hear me. Also, Andrea Electronics needs to keep up with the times. It’s not exactly fashionable any more to be walking around in public with a long wire extending from your ear lobe to your mouth. I personally wouldn’t mind using it in an office setting, at home, or possibly even in the car. The button configuration is fairly standard and simple to use. There is one button for answering and calling, another for control volume. The volume control buttons were a little stiff, but other than there, there were no issues.

Andrea advertises that the headset operates within a 10 meter range; it operated at even further distances from my testing while retaining clear call quality. Just like the Jabra BT2050, the BT-200 supports auto paring, multi-point connections, muting calls, voice dialing, redialing, call rejecting, and call waiting. Also, depending on the color and interval of flashing, the blue and red LEDs let you know when the headset is either on an active call, in standby, when the battery is low, or if it isn’t paired. The bottom line for usability is a gizmo that’s easy to setup and is friendly to use.

The Andrea BT-200 is an excellent headset and the most important aspect, call quality, meets the bar. However in a day and age where simplicity is an important aspect of style, the Andrea BT-200 falls short. And the price-point is a bit on the high end for the average consumer. If you have the cash and don’t mind the looks, I would definitely recommend this headset.

Links: Andrea Electronics BT-200

LG VX-8610 Specifications:

• Service Provider: Verizon Wireless (CDMA 800/1900MHz)
• Form Factor: Slider with attached Bluetooth headset
• Display: 2.2″ 262k Color QVGA TFT, 320×240 pixel resolution
• Imaging: 2 Megapixel camera and camcorder
• Media: MP3, WMA, AAC, and AAC+
• Other: Bluetooth 2.1 & microSD (8GB max)
• Dimensions: 4″ H x 2″ W x 0.7″ D (inches)
• Battery Life: 3.8 hours talk time & 330 hours standby
• Price: $180 with a new 2 year agreement

Body: 3/5 Stars
The LG Decoy looks sleek, with only four buttons (two programmable buttons, a “Speaker” button and a “Clear” button) and a joystick on the front. The back of the phone houses the Bluetooth headset, which makes a bulge, and to the right of the headset is the 2MP camera. The right side of the phone has a camera button, microSD slot, and a 2.5mm headset jack. I have no idea why they added a 2.5mm headset jack considering that one would purchase this phone to use with the Bluetooth headset. A 3.5mm jack for standard headphones would have been a better choice. The left side has two volume control buttons and a microUSB port. The only other folly might be that it is difficult to slid open the phone to access the keypad. There is no way easy way to slide the phone open without touching the joystick in the middle or touching the screen, unless you want to get more fingerprints all over it.

Display: 2/5 Stars
With regard to the brightness, contrast, and color representation, the display is excellent. The Decoy’s 2.2″ screen can display a 320×240 pixel resolution, which has been approximately the standard for the past few years. Unfortunately due to the high amount of “glossy-ness” of the whole front of the phone, the display becomes extremely difficult to read in direct sunlight. In addition, you’ll find yourself constantly wiping down the phone since it is literally a fingerprint magnet. But with regards to the display, if you are in doors, you probably won’t have any problems.

User Interface: 4.5/5 Stars
The LG Decoy has a slick user interface, the menu has only nine categories, however, you can dig down into the sub-categories and change and settings, send messages, media playback, recent calls, etc. The menu also has a nice feature where even after you’ve dug into a certain category you can change to a different one simply by moving the joystick left or right. The transitions to additional options when trying to, say, add another recipient to an SMS message, are subtle but create an overall better experience.

Media Playback: 3/5 Stars
The LG decoy supports the following codecs: MP3, WMA, AAC, and AAC+. Controls are pretty simple to use, with the joystick controlling most of the functions, such as play/pause, fast forward, rewind, next song, and previous song. The volume is controlled by the two side volume buttons, which are also used for increasing call or ringer volume. Sound quality is not exactly great when listening through headphones, but is better than the speakerphone quality. Though I would not recommend this phone as your primary music player, when on the go and nothing else is available, it will suffice.

MicroSD + Syncing: 3.5/5 Stars
The LG Decoy supports up to 8GB microSD cards, which should be more than enough space for the majority of users. Syncing music onto the phone is easy; just drag the files onto the card. You can either use a micro-USB cable and sync content using a program such as Windows Media Player 11 or use a microSD card reader to copy content into the automatically created folders on the card. The phone will automatically index the added content before beginning playback.

Speaker & Bluetooth Headset: 2/5 Stars
Looks like LG dropped the ball on the speakers for this phone. They start to crackle at about 60% volume and voices become high pitched at 100% when using the speaker phone. It was much worse than I had expected out of a phone. The Bluetooth headset, which is pretty much the defining point of this phone was utterly atrocious. It is extremely difficult to get the earpiece to fit comfortably in your ear. If it fits you’re lucky, however if it does not you are out of luck since no extra sized earpieces are included. The quality wasn’t exactly to great either. Overall the entire implementation was poorly execute. Another thing to keep in mind is that there’s a big ugly hole on the back of your phone when the headset has been removed. It looks as though something broke off your phone.

Digital Camera & Camcorder: 3/5 Stars
The LG Decoy has a 2 megapixel camera which doubles as a camcorder. Photos can be taken at a max resolution of 1600×1200 pixels, while videos can be taken at a max resolution of 320×240. The camera has many different options such as a timer, white balance, a night time mode, and even color effects such as negative mode, sepia, and black & white. There is about a five second delay from when you hit save and when you can take the next picture, so you’ll have to wait if you want to take lots of pictures in a row. The camcorder can record up to an hour of video on the microSD card, however only 30 second clips can be sent.

GPS VZ Navigator: 5/5 Stars
The VZ Navigator is probably the coolest feature of this phone, despite not being unique to the Decoy. The interface for the VZ Navigator, now on version 4.11, is simple and intuitive. The performance was surprisingly fast; it found my location in about ten seconds. It could even locate all the movies playing at every theater in my area and even show traffic conditions. The VZ Navigator also offers turn-by-turn directions with voice overs so it can be an extremely useful tool while driving.

Messaging (IM, Email, & Text): 3/5 Stars
This is not the best phone for texting since it does not have a QWERTY keyboard, but people will manage to use it for that purpose anyways. Mobile IM supports AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. Regrettably the web email function only supports MSN Hotmail, AOL Mail, and Yahoo Mail. The lack of Gmail support was disappointing. The phone lacks the Mobile Email client which most Verizon Wireless phones now have. Despite all that this is a pretty basic phone for messaging. If you are a heavy texter, you might want to consider another phone.

Conclusions:
This is a fairly mediocre phone and I wasn’t too impressed by what it had to offer. I do give them credit for begin implementing the concept of integrating a Bluetooth headset into the phone. The idea was great, however more effort should have been placed into making this a better phone. In addition a higher quality Bluetooth headset, possibly with noise cancellation, would have turned heads towards this product. For the price of $200 you can get a phone such as the LG Dare which has much more to offer in just about all aspects. My recommendation, however, would be to purchase a better phone and quality Bluetooth headset that fits your ear separately. If you are seriously interested in a phone with a built-in headset, this is the way to go. This phone is now available on Verizon Wireless’s website and in Verizon Wireless stores for $180 with a 2 year contract.

Buy Now (Limited Time): LG Decoy for $99 with 2 Year Contract (via Amazon)
Links: Verizon Wireless LG Decoy

“In creating the new Jawbone we focused on improving our audio performance beyond the marketing leading noise solution that we already had, and elevating the design to a point where it would appeal to a broad range of consumers who would love to wear it,” – Hosain Rahman (CEO)

In numbers, the new Jawbone weighs just 10 grams, offers 4 hours of talk time, can last on standby for 8 days, retain a connection up to 10 meters from a bluetooth device, takes 1 hour for a full charge, and runs on the Bluetooth 2.0 protocol. The headset comes with different sized ear buds and ear loops to ensure a sung fit for your ear. From personal experience I can testify that the original Jawbone was quite impressive and if what Aliph claims is true regarding the new model, this might just be one of the best headsets on the market. If you are interested in purchasing the new Jawbone, it is available in AT&T retail stores and online at Jawbone.com for a price of $129.99.

Links: Jawbone.com | Aliph Technology Demo

P.S. I’ll try to get a hold of a unit soon, so check back soon for an in-depth review.

Kensington recently released new Bluetooth Stereo Headphones and as promised here’s our review. The headphones, also entitled the BT3071, sports the Bluetooth 2.0 protocol and uses the A2DP profile to wirelessly steam audio from any compatible device. These stereo headphones are fairly affordable and function a whole lot better compared to the previous generation of Bluetooth headphones.

Device Compatibility – 5/5 stars
From some tests, I found the Bluetooth Headphones to work seamlessly with the array of devices I paired it with. It was compatible with the Bluetooth built into a Sony VAIO running Windows XP, a Dell XPS M1530 running Windows Vista, and a Apple iMac running OS X Leopard. In addition it played nicely with the LG enV and LG Muziq mobile phones. And to top that, it also worked with the Sony PlayStation 3! If you’ve got a fairly modern Bluetooth-enabled gadget, chances are that you won’t have any problems.

Headset Functions – 3/5 stars
The Stereo Headphones also feature a built-in microphone allowing it to double as a wireless headset.. This means you’ll be able to answer calls when paired with a mobile phone and can be used for VOIP when paired with a computer. The downside might be that the audio to contained a bit too much static, which I didn’t experience with other Bluetooth headsets. It shouldn’t be much of an issue for taking calls occasionally, however you probably would want to get a different headset unless you wish to irritating the person on the other end of the phone.

Physical Controls - 4.5/5 stars
The headphones sport a few neat little controls right on the headset including a pause/play button and a track back/forward toggle on the left side and volume controls on the right side. The controls worked without any issues with Vista’s Media Center, Windows Media Player, and Apple iTunes. They worked with cell phones as well. The only issue was the lag in responsiveness of the controls. Most people will often end up clicking again causing something unwanted to occur. From my experience, be patient and wait a second or two after clicking on a key.

Wireless Range – 5/5 stars
The Kensington Bluetooth Stereo Headphones are officially benchmarked to offer a 66-foot (20 meter) range. From my experience going any further than 30 feet from the paired device would result in cracking sounds. Any obstructions such as walls severely crippled the range. I found there were no issues as long as I was contained within the four-walls of an average-sized room. Overall the range is more then enough to have freedom to move around without being tied to your device.

Battery Life – 5/5 stars
The battery life was quite impressive since it lasted about a week even with a couple hours of use each day. It is officially advertised at 23-hours of stereo music playback and 19-hours of talk time. These Kensington Headphones probably had the best battery life I have seen on any of the bluetooth headsets. The BT3071 has a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery which can be re-charged using a standard USB to mini-USB cable. An AC Adapter was not included, but fortunately just about everything we own these days has a USB port which should do the job.

Audio Quality – 3/5 stars
Any audiophile will surely laugh at the sound quality of these headphones, however the majority of consumers probably won’t notice anything unless its mentioned to them. Setting aside frequency range which lacks on most levels, the quality is plentiful for most people. One thing that everyone will notice for sure is the occasional chops and breaks due to the wireless component. I personally found these great for listening to podcasts or watching TV shows on my laptop without disturbing others and having the freedom to move around and do other things without being tied up.

Overall I feel the Bluetooth technology still has some quirks to workout, but despite that, these headphones make the best of it. I originally felt the headphones were uncomfortable, however it wasn’t an issue after a few days of use. The majority of those who purchase this will probably be satisfied with these. The Kensington Bluetooth Stereo Headphones are available for purchase now and are much cheaper than Bluetooth Headphones were last year. These headphones have a MSRP of $79, however if you shop around you’ll be able to find them for as low as $65!

Buy: Kensington Bluetooth Stereo Headphones – $65 (via Amazon with NO TAX + SHIPS FREE)
Links: Kensington.com BT3071 Product Page

There’s been a lot of stereo bluetooth headsets being released over the past few weeks, especially since many phones now support the technology. I had a chance to play with iSkin’s CERULEAN F1 Bluetooth Earphones this week at MacWorld. iSkin’s gizmo can be paired with both an iPod and a Cell Phone at once, allowing you to listen to music and answer calls without removing your earphones. To offer further freedom, the F1 has volume, playback, and answer/end controls embedded in the headset. The earphones will pair with any device such as laptop which has Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support. The headset weighs just 35 grams yet has a fairly powerful 15mm driver for crisp and clear sound. According to iSkin the earphones will work up to 33 feet away from your device and with the built in controls, you won’t even have to touch your iPod. The CERULEAN F1 should also work with VOIP application such as Skype, eliminating the need of multiple bluetooth devices for different devices.

The headset offers 6 hours of music playback and 10 hours of talk time. The gizmo can be charged using USB cable with a computer or with an included DC wall charger. Both the Cerulean F1 and the TX iPod Adapter are available for purchase from iSkin’s website (iSkin.com). The earphones themselves cost $129, however if you would also want an iPod adapter it will cost $189. We’re trying to get a hold of one of these, so check back for a in-depth review soon!

Links: iSkin CERULEAN | iSkin Store

Last week Kensington announced a slew of new accessories, one these being a new wireless bluetooth stereo headphones. The headset can be used to listen to music and with built in microphone, it can also answer phone calls. The Kensington Bluetooth Stereo Headphones (K33436US) has built in “easy access buttons” to play/pause or skip tracks as well as to answer/end phone calls. In addition the headset can be paired with a Windows or Macintosh machine for use with applications such as Skype. The device will pair with any Bluetooth 2.0 device that supports the A2DP protocol. According to Kensington, the Bluetooth Stereo Headset will work up to 66 feet away from your wireless device and will offer an impressive 23 hours of music playback and 19 hours of talk time. The headphones have a MSRP of $79.99 and are available for pre-order, however it wont hit retail stores until March.

Pre-Order: Kensington Bluetooth Stereo Headphones – $79 (no tax + ships free)
Links: Kensington.com – (Product Page)

Every bluetooth headset hitting the market today seems to be getting new wild features, for example an LCD display for Caller ID. All the average consumer honestly needs is the ability to talk. foneGear has taken this approach with their Mini Blue (fG876) lightweight headset with no unnecessary extras. The Mini Blue isn’t exactly the most innovative feature-packed unit, but it’s simple and it works!

foneGear Mini Blu (fG976) Specs:

• Battery: 4 hrs talk | 75 hrs idle
• Range: 30 foot wireless range
• Wireless: Bluetooth 2.0 EDR+
• Weight: 0.4 oz (11g)
• Charger: AC Adapter

The layout of the Mini Blu is as simple as it can get. It’s got a multi-function button on the front which acts as the talk/end button as well as turns on/off the unit. On the side, you’ll find a plus and minus button to control the volume level. The volume down key doubles as the redial button as well as the mute control. Even after testing the headset with multiple phones, we still had issues getting the redial and mute functions to work properly. An LED indicator can be found on the front, which lights up red while charging and flashes blue while it’s on. The audio quality was decent, but not too great. The audio would crackle and the listener would also have a hard time hearing us if we turned up the volume too high. Despite this, the quality of voice calls on the Mini Blu is more than enough for most consumers.

The headset can be worn on either ear and was quite comfortable. The actual speaker portion is surrounded by a soft rubber, therefore will be easy on the ear even after hours of use. The headset is fastened to your ear with a thin plastic around-the-ear hook. With this hook, it is close to impossible for the headset to fall off even if you are actively moving. This can not be said for other headsets we’ve reviewed such as the Samsung WEP200, which is quite hard to keep in place.

In the package, you’ll find that foneGear includes the Mini Blu headset, a ear hook, and the charger. This isn’t exactly a high-end headset, but is a solid performer and is great budget headset. The fG976 Mini Blu is available on foneGear’s website for just $20! At that price, there shouldn’t be any complains for what this does offer. This is a great headset for teens and first time buyers. (Even works with the PS3!) And as we mentioned previously it does exactly what its suppose to do, allow making voice calls. If you are looking for a better headset, we suggest checking out our review of the Jabra BT5020. As for the Mini Blu it is available for purchase online.

Links: foneGear Mini Blu
Related: Jabra BT5020 Review

Logitech has just announced two new bluetooth based accessories for Sony’s PlayStation 3: the cordless Vantage Headset and MediaBoard Pro. The new wireless headset is a lightweight behind-the-head design and has can be worn on either the left or right side. The reachable headset, with its noise canceling features, offers up to 12 hours battery life. The new black MediaBoard Pro has been specifically designed for the PS3, therefore supports just about any feature the console offers. In addition, as an upgrade to the its predecessor, the keyboard now includes the PS3’s triangle, X, square, and circle buttons. With the improved touch pad and action buttons, there is no need for an additional mouse or to have to fiddle around with a controller in addition to the keyboard. The MediaBoard functions from up 30 feet away from the PlayStation 3 and provides over 200 hours of battery life.

The Logitech Vantage Headset will be available in November 2007 for a retail price of $79.99, while the MediaBoard will hit stores as early as next month and will also cost $79.99. Logitech’s accessories are high grade quality, however are often expensive. In this case, this headset’s price is more than usual because of its extremely long battery life and noise cancellation technology. If you wish to spend the cash it will be worth it. However for the majority of people bluetooth headsets such as Jabra BT5020 or Samsung WEP200 will do just fine. We would recommend the keyboard though!

Links: Logitech Vantage Headset | Logitech MediaBoard Pro

The Jabra BT5020 is arguably one of the best headsets on the market, offering a powerful set of features and remaining at a low price. Other than it’s ability to connect to two devices at once, the headset also boasts a whooping 10 hours of talk time and 300 hours of standby.

Jabra BT5020 Specifications:

• Wireless: Bluetooth v2.0 hands-free
• Battery Life: 10hrs talk | 300hrs idle
• Weight: 0.6 oz (16 g)
• Multi-Point: 2 devices max
• Notifications: LED / vibrate
• Charger: AC Adapter or USB Cable

Just like any other headset, the BT5020 is easy to control as it only has a few buttons: Volume Up/Down, Power, and Talk/End. The volume keys are a bit sticky and difficult to press while wearing, but shouldn’t be an issue once setup properly. With one simple twist, the headset can be adjusted to be worn on the left or right ear. Since the earbud slides up and down, the headset fits most people. Once placed over the ear properly, the headset stays in place quite well. When compared to other wireless headsets on the market, the BT5020 remains comfortable to wear even for extended periods since it’s extremely thin and light weight. Also since unit resides behind the ear, it isn’t too apparent.

On the tech side, the Jabra sports Bluetooth v2.0 which supports features such as auto paring, multi-point connections, muting mic, voice dial, redial, call reject, and call waiting. The LED light provides info about the battery life as well as flashes blue/green when receiving a call. It is easy to be notified of an incoming call in loud areas since the BT5020 vibrates in addition to beeping. The performance was quite impressive as the call quality remained clear even about 25 feet away from the paired phone, but began to crackle after 35 feet. Another neat thing Jabra did was to include a USB cable to charge the headset in addition to a standard AC adapter. (keep one at home and one at work)

For people who need to make long important calls, this is probably the best and most affordable way to go since the voice quality is clear, offers 10 hours of talk time, is comfortable to wear, and costs about $50. Other headsets near the Jabra BT5020’s range include the Plantronics Discovery 665 and the Aliph Jawbone, however these cost around $100-150 and offer background noise-canceling features. This headset will work great for most people, is quite durable, and it isn’t too expensive to keep people from using. As we mentioned, the BT5020 is available online for just $53.

Buy Now: Jabra BT5020 – $53 (no tax + free shipping)
Links: Jabra.com (BT5020) | Related: Samsung WEP200

Since the advent of Bluetooth, the sizes of the headset that have accompanied the wireless technology have begun to drastically shrink. This is arguably the greatest strength of Samsung’s WEP200. This is a typical wireless headset for cell phones and other bluetooth compatible devices.

Samsung WEP200 Specs:

• Wireless: Bluetooth 2.0
• Battery: 4hrs talk | 70hrs idle
• Weight: 9 grams
• Size: 1.5 x .75 x .75 inches
• Keys: Multifunction and Volume

The WEP200 has 3 basic buttons: a multifunction on the front and an up/down volume control buttons on the side. The device stays in one’s ear as a typical stereo ear bud, but Samsung includes a unique rubber loop to help prevent it from falling out. The device’s failure to stay secure in one’s ear is quite arguably the unit’s only major downside. As opposed to other headsets which have a piece of plastic that loops around one’s ear, the WEP200’s atypical ear bud design is very cumbersome to fasten properly. However, if it is properly secured, normal movements of one’s head does not seem to disturb its position to any great extent.

The included plastic case is about twice the size of the actual headset and it also serves as a charging base for the unit. However the downside of the case also doubling as the charger is that if the case is misplaced there is no longer way to charge the headset. Samsung provides a charger cable along with the headset, but if you happen to own a recent Samsung phone, the same power supply cord can be used to charge both the headset as well as the phone. This was quite convenient since it allowed me to leave one charger cable at home and the other at work.

The overall performance of the unit was impressive, possibly even surpassing our expectations. In a straight sight line, the unit was able to maintain clear connection with the phone for over 15 yards. However anything past that, the connection began to crack and the fidelity decreased rapidly. The multifunction button functioned as expected, press it to pick up or disconnect a call. However, with a complimentary Bluetooth 2.0 cell phone, the true advances began to appear. By simply tapping the multifunction button, a command section can be accessed that will either recognize a name in the phone’s address book or even dial a specific number. The voice recognition was fairly responsive, recognizing specific numbers over 80% of the time on the first try and picked up common Caucasian names with easy.

The Samsung WEP200 is quite affordable costing only $39, although it is available for as low as $30 online. There are plenty of more expensive devices which offer a longer talk time and better voice quality available, but for this price it is quite reasonable. While its signal was very strong, its size was much less awkward than the traditional design, the in -cooperative- ear piece will lead to much frustration until you can figure out the best method of getting it in. The stylish WEP200 is probably better purchased for those who own phones with Bluetooth 2.0, otherwise even cheaper traditional models will provide the same hands-free experience.

Links: Samsung WEP200