May 29th, 2008
Review roundup: Hands-free headset/speaker solutions from Etymotic, Aliph, Nokia and Spracht
In just over a month, you will not be able to use your cellphone in your automobile in Washington State without some kind of hands-free solution. Hands-free laws are in place now or coming soon to many other states and areas of the world so now is a good time to take a look at some of the solutions available to you besides the standard wired hands-free kit included with your cellphone purchase.
I had the opportunity to personally evaluate the Etymotic hf2 wired iPhone stereo headphones, Etymotic EtyBLU Bluetooth headset, Aliph’s new Jawbone Bluetooth headset, Nokia BH-903 Bluetooth stereo headphones, and Spracht Aura Mobile BT Bluetooth speakephone. They all have their strengths and weaknesses and it really comes down to your own personal preference when selecting a hands-free kit that fits your specific needs. However, I did find a new personal favorite in the bunch that I plan to use myself now that I can no longer just hold my phone to my head and drive. Check out my product photo gallery and then read through the rest of my review to see which solution I chose.
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| Image Gallery:People are starting to look for hands-free solutions as laws require them in many U.S. States and you can check out five possible solutions that may help with your purchase decisions. |  |
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My friend Buzz introduced me to the very nice folks at Etymotic Research at CES 2008 back in January and a couple of weeks ago I received samples of both the Etymotic hf2 and EtyBlu headsets to evaluate. The Etymotic hf2 is a wired stereo headset primarily designed to replace the iPhone headset included with your iPhone purchase. The EtyBlu is a wireless Bluetooth headset designed to work with all of your devices.
Etymotic hf2: I first took a look at the Etymotic hf2 headset because I was interested in finding something better than the headset that came with my iPhone since I don’t really like the way the Apple earbuds rest unsecurely in your ears. I have also been using my slightly modified US$250 Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 headphones (I had to shave back the rubber a bit to fit into the iPhone) to listen to music and podcasts on my iPhone and was hoping these Etymotic headphones would serve two functions.
The headset consists of a 4 foot cable with a straight 3.5mm plug end that goes right into the current generation iPhone. The great thing about the cable is that it is covered with that same great soft-touch rubber present on new mobile phones and it seems to be virtually tangle resistant. The cable and earbuds have that modern non-slip rubber coating found on many mobile devices today. The right side cable that splits off and goes to your ear is a couple inches shorter than the left side. You will find the mic and call answer button controller (just over an inch long) in the right side cable. Farther down the cable below the split you will find a detachable clip that can be used to hold the headphone cable close to your body.
There is a single button on the controller below the mic opening and you can use this to play/pause your music or even track forward (requires a quick double button press). The button is also used to answer and end calls with a single press. If you are on a call and another comes in then pressing the button once puts your current call on hold and answers the new call. You can then quickly switch between the calls by pressing the controller button. The iPhone has no voice dialing functionality so there is no way to perform that function with the headset.
The hf2 headset comes with three pairs of ear plugs (two rubber, multi-level flange pairs and one foam pair) that can be attached to the end of the earphones. I have rather large ear canals so I used the gray rubber plugs (there are smaller blue ones). You will also find a small metal tool and some extra filters that you can use to replace the existing filters as they age and plug up with ear wax. A small carrying case with a zippered top is also included to hold your earphones when you are not using them.
The plugs were easy to insert and felt quite comfortable in my ears for long periods of time. Sound quality was very good and almost as good as my Ultimate Ears (which is great given the fact that the Ultimate Ears serve a single function and cost about US$100 more). I actually can only have the iPhone up to a max of 75% or else my ears get completely blown out in a quiet environment. On the train and walking around Seattle, I cranked up the volume to about 90% because of all the background and street noise.
Callers stated that I sounded good in most conditions, but they could tell I was on a headset. If you are listening to music, it fades out when a call comes in and then fades back in after the call is ended and this functionality works very well.
The box states that you can use the headphones with other devices, but I haven’t had that great of luck with the mobile phones in my collection. The 3.5 mm plug works just fine with MP3 players, but it needs the 4 contact port on your device to work in phone mode. I first tried my Nokia N95-3 and error message popped up stating this accessory was not supported by the device. I then tried plugging the Etymotic hf2 into the Nokia stereo controller and they worked for audio. However, when I made a call neither the mic on the hf2 or on the Nokia controller (or the N95-3 itself) would work so the caller could not hear me. I then tried the headset on an HTC Advantage and it worked well with the phone and media player, but was a bit on the quiet side and could have been louder. When I plugged it into the Nokia N82 I just heard loud buzzing that almost blew me away and a pop-up appeared stating to use the phone microphone. These really are designed for the Apple iPhone and I recommend only iPhone owners look at this headset as a hands-free solution.
The Etymotic hf2 headset is a great accessory for Apple iPhone owners and if you own an iPhone then you may want to give these serious consideration. The headset actually keeps me using my iPhone more than I probably would without the headset. They are available for US$179 and come with a 2-year warranty so you can rest in the fact that your are purchasing a high quality product that is backed by a long warranty.
Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 05/29/08
