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Nokia BH-503
by vieri3217
About
Bluetooth stereo headsets are still a small part of Nokia's long list of Bluetooth accessories that include mono headsets, speakers and car kits. The Nokia BH-503 is one of them and the only one with an over the ear design.
Design
Measuring 5.9 x 2.95 x 6.1 inches, the Nokia BH-503 has a sleek ... finish design that gives the headset a smooth look. Despite the larger body, the headset feels good over the ears and is just slightly heavy. All the controls including phone calls, music play/pause, fast-forward, rewind, volume and the charging port are located on the right earmuff. The buttons are large and easy to use, and the volume rocker on the edge of the earmuff is raised for easy touch control. The Nokia BH-503 has soft foam covers over the ears instead of soft leather. Though soft, the foam covers aren't as padded as the leather covers, but they can be replaced with ease
Features
The Nokia headset supports stereo audio streaming and player control over Blue tooth A2DP, AVRCP and an inline microphone with built-in DSP for making and receiving phone calls. The Nokia BH-503 has Blue tooth 2.0 + EDR, supports both Headset and Hands free.
To pair the headset, press and hold the multifunction key (the phone symbol) until the LED flashes blue, use your phone to find the headset and pair with default pass code "0000". The headset can also store previously paired devices so that you don't have to go through pairing process again, you only need to reconnect the headset. To clear pairing info, press and hold the multifunction button and the volume-up key together until the LED flashes red, green and blue three times. If the headset is plugged in to AC while you do this, it will reset itself, which comes in handy if the headset ever seizes.
Audio Quality and Range
The Nokia BH-503 has excellent audio quality for phone calls and music playback with superb bass and treble. It is difficult to find stereo Blue tooth headsets that have great in-call voice quality, but the Nokia BH503 surprised us with excellent in-call voice and very loud volume when tested on my LG Viewty phone. The DSP functioned very well when working with most phones and the range was about 15 feet which is average for a Blue tooth 2.0 headset.
Battery life
Excellent battery life on the Nokia especially when listened to continuously. The headset comes with rechargeable battery and you can charge it with the included charger or most recent phone chargers (like the Nokia N95 and more). To fully recharge it takes around 1 hour. The expected for talk time and music playback is 11 hours with 8 days standby. The headset will go to sleep after long period of inactivity to conserve the battery.
Conclusion
The Nokia BH-503 is a joy to use for both phone calls and music playback. Sound quality is excellent. Voice calls have great sound, very loud volume and good range. The clean and sleek design also raises its standards. The price was slightly expensive for around $80 US.
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Nokia BH-501
by otalgia
The Nokia BH-501 is a stereo headphone set that connects wirelessly to a compatible mobile phone using Bluetooth connectivity. They facilitate mobile communication and music listening without the need for awkward trailing wires.
Inside the box you will find the headphones, a standard Nokia Wall Charger, user instructions and a ... warranty card.
Before you can use the headphones you will need to fully charge the battery.
The battery is charged using the supplied charger, which is a standard Nokia phone type charger. The battery takes around 4 hours to fully charge from flat. There is a Led on the headphones outer earpiece that shows red when charging and turns blue when fully charged. Unfortunately there is no battery life indicator so you have no warning that your headphones are about to fail. The headphones are powered by an internal, non-serviceable, rechargeable battery. The phone can be charged hundreds of times, however there will become a time when the headphones will no longer be chargeable and have to be thrown away.
On the subject of battery life according to the manufacturer the batteries are estimated to last around 11 hours for both music and talk time. I've not managed to match this estimate and have personally experienced around 6 to 7 hours on a single charge. As with all battery powered items the length of use can vary, I like my music loud and this would no doubt drain the battery at a higher rate. The battery, being rechargeable, also means that there will be a gradual decrease in performance as the batteries shelf-life nears.
Once fully charged the next thing you need to do is to wirelessly link your phone and the headphones together (known as pairing). This is a relatively straight forward task and involves turning on Bluetooth on your mobile phone, putting the headphones into discovery mode (by holding down a button on the left earpiece) and once "found" by the mobile entering five zeros on the phones keypad to link the devices. This process will vary slightly on different phone models but the principle will remain the same.
Once charged and paired the headphones are now ready for use.
The headphones are extremely light and sit rather comfortably on your head. They mount in a rather unconventional manner and hang over your ears with the main brace sitting on the back of your head. How comfortable these would be for somebody with a mass of hair or maybe a ponytail remains unanswered, fortunately I am thinning! The grip is good and the headphones don't slip due to little hooks that rest over your ear lobe. Probably not ideal for joggers though.
My only concerns about the headphones are the build quality. They have a lot of plastic joints and parts that could quite easily be broken if dropped or mishandled. Before purchasing these headphones I discovered that this is a common concern/complaint of the headphone owners.
The headphones have three buttons on the right ear pad. The main functions of the buttons are for turning the headphones on and off, answering a phone call and changing the earpiece volume.
When listening to music the controls on the headphones are solely for adjusting the headphones volume and unfortunately there is now way of changing the song being played or navigating your music library. With this in mind I found that making a play list on the mobile phone in advance to be invaluable. You can of course change your desired song from the mobile itself if required. As the only controls on the headset is volume up and down then any EQ changes to tone will also need to be made from the mobile handset.
Despite the lack of functionality the sound of the headphones is really good with quite deep bass tones and bright crisp treble. The volume is quite impressive too and can easily drown out external sounds such as traffic.
With a compatible mobile phone handset you can also use the headphones to make and receive calls. An incoming call can be answered or rejected by pushing the headset buttons or the usual handset buttons. The earpiece has an integrated microphone so you can answer your calls hands free. The quality of this microphone is rather good though it can also pick up distractive sounds if in a loud and busy location. Outgoing calls however need to be dialled in the usual manner from your handset.
So to conclude, a really good sounding set of headphones that are comfortable to wear, and have a good battery life. The only downsides are the lack of track selection function button, possible build issues and the non replaceable batteries.
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Logitech PC Headset 120
by herumi
After months of relentless nagging from my friends, I recently heaved myself out of the Dark Ages and downloaded Skype. Having a laptop with no built in mic, I got one of these headsets for Christmas, and what a great present it was!
Having a quick look round now, I see it retails at around £11-£12, a lot cheaper than some of ... the other Skype headsets I've seen. But reassuringly, it comes with the Skype logo on the front, so it's fully certified.
It's very easy to set up- the black plug goes into the headphone hole in your computer, the pink plug into the microphone hole. The lead I would guess is around 6 foot, which is quite convenient for moseying around the room while you're chatting.
The headset itself is one of those behind-the-head ones, which you slot over your ears. I find it stays on pretty well; the headphones are large enough to cover my ears, although the band around the back is very wide, leaving a gap of about 2 inches between it and my head. Now, I'd say my head is about average sized for a woman, so it would probably fit a man's head better. While the headset does stay on thanks to the pressure of the headphones themselves, when I tried to lay my head back, the headset was pushed forwards, so the headphones came right off my ears! So it's not great for reclining and chatting. The mic is on the left hand side, and is very flexible so you can position it wherever suits you.
Soundwise, this is excellent. Chatting to my sister yesterday, she said she could hear me loud and clear, with no background noise. I guess this is an advantage of having a small mic that's specifically placed next to your mouth. She was using the built-in mic on her computer, and I could hear a lot of fuzzy background noise coming from her end.
The only slight problem I have with this (apart from the size of the headband) is that every time I speak, it blocks out the voice of the other person. So every time I laugh, or make a comment, the other person's voice is silenced and I have to lipread for a few seconds! It's not a major problem, but it is an irritation and I do find myself having to ask people to repeat things. Maybe this is an issue with all headsets though.
All in all, I've been very pleased with this headset so far. I can't vouch for its durabililty, but at the moment it's doing the job it needs to do- enabling me to talk on Skype with a great quality sound. And it comes with a two year warranty. I've taken a mark off for its poor fit, but apart from that, I'm happy!
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