Cell Phones, iPhone, Reviews, Peripherals
Hands-On With New Motorola H15 and H780 Bluetooth Headsets
Motorola unveiled two new Bluetooth headsets today, one of which -- the H15 (pictured, above) -- is about half the size of a thumb and fits discreetly inside your ear via adjustable earbuds. Available in October for $129, the H15 is a souped-up version of the equally tiny H5 Miniblue headset that came out way back in 2006, and incorporates Motorola's CrystalTalk noise-cancellation technology and EasyPair pairing technology, which reduce outside noise on phone calls and make pairing with phones a snap, respectively. Motorola also announced the H780 Universal Bluetooth Headset, which is slightly bigger and offers more battery life (about 7 hours) than the H15 (about 4.5 hours), but only costs $99.
Both headsets also have multipoint technology, which means they can pair with two phones at once --- handy for those who like to double-fist their phones (such as this writer, who tends to carry an iPhone, for fun, in one pocket and a BlackBerry, for work, in another).
We got a chance to play around with both headsets in New York City's cavernous, echo-y, and conversation-filled Grand Central Station, as well as at our local Starbucks and on city streets, with satisfying results. Both friends we called thought we were either in a "Lincoln Town Car" or a "box" (whatever that means), even though we were walking down noisy streets. To be fair, one friend heard the church bell in the distance on one call, while another could hear the a muffled version of the roar of the cappuccino machine at Starbucks, but overall both of these headsets seemed kind to callers' ears on the other end. We also found them both to be easy to pair -- in fact, the H15 automatically goes into pairing mode when you flip out the U-shaped mic, which means never having to remember how to get a headset into pairing mode again (one of our big pet peeves that makes us easily tire of Bluetooth headsets in general).
Both the H15 and the H780 are due out in the 4th Quarter, which probably means early October since they've already started shipping to stores.
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