Plantronics Discovery 640 Headset

This headset was a VERY pleasant surprise. I didn't expect to like it and thought I would not like it. Here is why I like it.

1. Long battery life
2. Multiple charging options (adapters allow charging with Mini USB as well as others)
3. Backup charger (comes with an alkaline battery charger, useful in emergencies!)
4. When it is in the charger or belt clip, the belt clip vibrates to signify call
5. Connects quickly to the phone
6. Very light

Cons:

1. Not quite as stable as it sits on the ear. But it is so light that it doesn't really affect it. Also comes with an external clip so you can clip it behind the ear to help stabilize, and this make it very stable for me. Your mileage may vary.
2. Somewhat bulky with holster

The sound quality has been surprising good on this unit. You can hear intelligbly the far end, and they can hear you. I have yet to find out what they use to reduce wind and background noise, but it seems to work effectively.

I like this unit and would give it a 8-9 rating out of 10.

$100 Plantronics Discovery 640 = 8.5
$50 Plantronics Voyager 510s = 8
$80 Motorola H700 = 8.75
$50 Jabra BT250 = 7
$80 Jabra BT250V = 7.9
$40 Office Depot PBH-8W = 3.5

These are the approximate ratings and approximate prices. Prices can be higher or lower in your area and are approximate (not the best prices I've seen). I wouldn't mind using any of the headsets on a daily basis with a rating over 8.

What to Look for in a Bluetooth Headset!!!

Bluetooth 1.0, 1.2, 2.0?
Class I, II, III?
Profiles supports?
Wind resistance?
Volume?
Stability?
Charger?
Vibrating Ring!
LCD Display?

Bluetooth 1.0, 1.2, etc are bluetooth revisions. Generally, the higher numbers are better and backwards compatible.

Class I, II, III define the power standards of the devices. Class 1 = 100mw, Class 2= 2.5mw, Class 3 = 1mw. Distance Class 1 = 100m, Class 2 = 10m, Class 3 = 10m. These are best case scenario distances.

Profiles for headsets generally include headset (oldest, lowest common denominator), handsfree (better with call control and generally a button to activate voice activated dialing), SAP (sim access profile so that you use the host's RF system and controls), and several others.

Wind. This is a big problem outdoors or while you're walking. I like headsets with windscreens over the microphone, either molded in (Logitech and Plantronics), or some older Plantronics which use an attached piece of foam (works well but falls off). Some such as Motorola and Jabra use DSP noise cancelling technology to remove the wind noise. While this is effective and works, I feel a combination of both or the physical wind screens work better. It's easier to mitigate the cause rather than use post processing. Most other headsets (Jabra, GN Netcom, Motorola, Plantronics, etc) don't have any kind of wind screen and pick up a lot of wind noise. Even air blowing from walking down an indoor hallway or from the vents of your car can cause extreme wind rustling to the far end person.

Volume, most don't get loud enough. The ones that sit in the ear (Jabra BT250v, Plantronics Voyager, etc) tend to do better as they channel the audio directly into the ear.

Stability - Most feel like they're going to fall off (H700 is extremely light weight, but extreme movements make it feel loose). Using in an office, in a car, or while walking at a slow pace are not a problem. The Plantronics Voyager and Jabra BT250V sit in the ear and loops over the back of the ear making it much lower profile and stable to the ear. They have the benefit of channeling sound directly into the ear as well.

Charger - I like most of the Motorola units as they use connector for charging. As such, you can use the same charger you use for the phone or laptop to charge the headset, eliminating the need to carry an extra charger. Motorola also sells a charging Y cable so that you can charge your mini-usb charging phone and headset at the same time bringing only 1 charger. The Plantronics Voyager 510s uses a proprietery charger, and the Jabra BT250v is worse requiring a special charger AND a charging doc to be carried. However, the charging doc also doubles as a belt clip to carry and transport the headset when not in use.

The Vibrating Ringer is an often overlooked item. I like them very much. That way if I am not wearing a headset and can't hear it ring, I can still feel it ring. Or sometimes it's noise outside and you don't feel or hear the phone ring in your pocket on vibrate and ring, and so noise you don't hear the ring on your ear, you can still it vibrate on your ear.

LCD Display - Generally a gimmick. Most of the time, the headset is on my hear and I'd have to take it off it's sweet spot to look at the caller ID. HOWEVER, a battery life indicator IS nice, whether this is with LED, color, or the best, an LCD power level remaining indicator.

Bluetooth Headsets - Motorola H700 and Plantronics 510s Voyager

These have been some of my favorites in the past year. With a vast majority of phones, they connect at a decent speed (the Moto H700 is a bit quicker than the Plantronics).

They both are pretty clear without the static noise that many Jabra products have (BT250 which is quite picky). They Moto H700 works well with the dial by voice of the Motorola Krzr. It rings pretty quickly without too much lag, and has generally decent audio quality (in the past, I've heard complaints the headset wasn't loud enough, but the 'C' version seems to be louder). The active mic boom that turns it on and off is AWESOME and one of the best features, making it easy to turn on and off the headset and to transfer audio back and forth betwen the handset and headset. Also, very nice in that it uses a mini-usb charger jack.

The Platronics is my general favorite. It's not quite as convienent as the H700 to turn on/off and transfer between the handset and headset (you have to hold down a button to turn it on and off), but it feels much more stable on my ear and the adjustable microphone seem to have slightly better audio quality. The fact that it sits in/on the ear not only makes it stable, but helps cut out external noise so that you can hear better as well. Finally, make sure you get the newer silver version with the molded windscreen over the microphone. This makes it so that you can talk with walking.

The two headsets use two different approaches to wind noise. The H700 uses DSP and the 510s uses a physical wind barrier. Both work well. Being an audio purist, I prefer a wind screen to eliminate the noise rather than using DSPs to cut it out. But both seem to work surprisingly well. I'd have to give the nudge to the 510s in terms of outgoing sound quality to the far end.

Motorola KRZR K1M and Samsung M500

Both on the Sprint PCS service appear to be good phone with a good ability to hold on to a signal in tough areas. The Samsung M5 is also very light, thin and small. Good configurability where you can configure the external and internal LCDs. Battery life is decent and voice dialing and command works great.

The Krzr has been doing me good. Good reception as well and good audio quality. I'm getting some crackling noises with a bluetooth headset (Plantronics Voyager 510s). This has been one of the clearest headsets with good range and reception on almost all other phones I have used (including the problematic Treos). However, it gets static with the Krzr.

Not happy with that, I picked up a Motorola H700 (very good headset). And this also has static on the Krzr via bluetooth. I thought that a Moto phone with a Moto headset would do better but alas not.

Slingbox on MotoQ

Slingbox Windows Mobile Smartphone client seems to work just fine on the Motorola Q on EvDO. Image quality is surprisingly good. However, battery goes quick on the Q, and lately I've been getting out of memory errors so I'm in the process of uninstalling some applications...

Previous Weekend (Not Last Weekend) Pearl Reset

The prior weekend, I woke up Saturday morning to find that the BlackBerry 8100 had reset. The PIN and key were still there, I could still send and receive emails. However, all the emails in my Inbox and all the calls in my call log had been cleared. Weird. I don't know if the device somehow ran out of memory or what, and then reset those areas or what happened. However, everything seems to still be working a week later.