The Gadgets Page

Ms. Jen over at Black Phoebe has a fantastic review comparing her bluetooth headset to her new Nokia H-43 Headset:

• Bluetooth vs. Wired: The Nokia Headset Wars – Black Phoebe :: Ms. Jen

Here are her reasons for loving the Nokia wired headset far more than her bluetooth:

1. Wires. Good old fashioned copper covered in plastic & cloth makes for a better sonic / audio experience.
2. Stereo. Hey, novelty! I can hear sound, be it music or spoken voice, in both ears!
3. No need to remember charge the wired headset.
4. Friends and family can hear me speak during a phone call much clearer with the wired headset, even when I am walking along the beach in a stiff breeze. Hello, Seal Way, the killer of all phone calls, you don’t kill my calls now.
5. Oooh, baby baby… the best feature of the HS-43 wired stereo headset is the one that seems most bizarre when you first pull it out. It does not look or act like your usual wired headset, as the back/top is not a headband but a 1/4 inch wide black fabric that is about 6 inches long that have two lanyard style clamp/unclamp at each end. Thus, when the danged thing gets all tangled up into a wad of wired hell, you just pull the two clamps apart and YAY the tangles are gone. If you by accident attempt to pull it out of your purse too fast or out from under the dog and you think, “Oh Crap! I have just broke the headset!”, oh no you have not, the clamps release and you can pull it out nicely and reclamp it.

I feel EXACTLY the same way about my V-Moda Vibe Duo Headset for the iPhone. When I’m having trouble hearing, they are BETTER than just talking on the phone because I hear the other person in both ears and the earbuds block out some of the ambient noise. They can hide in a tiny case in my purse forever until I need them and I never have to worry about charging them.

In fact, I’ve never owned a bluetooth headset BECAUSE of the charging issue. When I was a real estate agent and I was on the phone enough to warrant a bluetooth headset, the battery would have conked out halfway through the day. After I stopped being on the phone enough to use a headset, I stopped REALLY needing one. When I’m driving, I prefer to not talk on the phone at all and letting the call go to voice mail. I use my V-Moda headset to listen to music far more often than talking on the phone. In fact, I use it for phone calls when I’m in a noisy environment and I can’t hear the other person on the line. Those earbuds are amazing for blocking out noise.

In the end, bluetooth headsets seem like a transitional technology to me. For now, I agree with Ms. Jen. I’d MUCH rather be wired.