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Last time we checked, the world's tiniest Bluetooth headset wasn't quite as diminutive as the piece Jim and Pam used to keep in minute-by-minute contact last night, with hilarious (and, oh boy, disastrous) results. I'm heading out to the Village now, Pam, if you're reading this--tell me where to go. And also, you are adorable. [The Office]
Posted by Nick Broughall at 1:00 PM on October 28, 2008
The press release for the Jabra BT530 USB reckons you can use it to call your bookie on Melbourne Cup day from the noisiest lunchtime piss-up. But we'd like to see if it actually works after being accidentally dropped into a glass of champers, not to mention the unpleasant projectile vomit that tends to accompany most Melbourne Cup functions I've ever attended (thanks to hospitality for putting me through university and shattering my faith in humankind).
Still, if it does survive the baptism of alcohol Melbourne Cup will give it, the BT530 USB looks pretty good - it features two microphones to drown out all ambient noise, weighs just 10 grams, and comes with a USB plug that allows you to pair the headset not just with your mobile phone, but also your PC for VoIP calls as well. It measures in at 48 mm x 18 mm x 12.5 mm, has a talk time of 5.5 hours and standby of 250 hours, and costs $218.90.
SouthWing and AT&T have paired up to offer a Bluetooth headset specifically catering to news junkies and evasive people. If your SouthWing SH241 earpiece is connected to an AT&T phone, it'll pipe the latest finance, weather, sports and other info straight into your head. Sure, an FM radio feature would probably do the same thing--but does FM radio also come with an "Instant Alibi" feature that lets you call yourself, so that when your blind date starts weeping softly about his second failed marriage, you can invent an emergency situation to get yourself the hell out of there? Yeah, didn't think so. It's available for $US40 from any AT&T store. [Into Mobile]
Posted by Nick Broughall at 11:30 AM on October 10, 2008
Rather than be disappointed by the paltry 10 metre range most Bluetooth headsets offer, I quite like it. Why? Because it means I never leave my phone behind. Walking 70 metres away from my phone, like the new M5390 headset from Jabra allows, means that I'll probably end up leaving my mobile on my desk or in my car whenever I go anywhere.
Fortunately, the M5390 also offers the ability to connect to a couple of devices at the same time, like a PC or office phone, without being a double douche. And with six hours talktime, 60 hours standby, and weighing just 18 grams, you get twice as much connectivity without sacrificing too much. It costs $389.
The Navigation aid for the Blind headset is a GPS device, which not only works through speech recognition, but also uses obstacle detection technology that alerts the blind of any sleeping bums or other obstructions he could trip over as he is being guided to his destination.
A seriously odd announcement from camera maker Nikon, the Media Port UP300 and UP300x video headset approaches wearable PC territory. The device, which honestly looks like a pair of headphones with a small display tacked on, actually has a pretty impressive spec sheet: up to 8GB of flash memory for videos, audio and file storage, Wi-Fi connectivity, a full-featured internet browser and on the 300x model, even motion control. Browsing would have to be frustrating on a setup like this, but the Wi-Fi connection can also be used to download audio and video content directly to the device.
The Gadget: The Dragon Bluetooth headset from Callpod gets redesigned, with improved incoming and outgoing call quality, two new exterior finishes and a pivoting ear hook.
One way to increase the potency of Bluetooth headsets as social poison is to wear them while affecting strange, inexplicable and constant head movement. With Plantronics' new movement-charged headset design, that may become a necessity. The device relies on a small flywheel that, when rotated in a magnetic field, draws enough current to power the headset. Plantronics claims that the system would harvest enough energy to power the headset during constant use, which is actually pretty impressive.
The official PlayStation 3 Bluetooth headset will be arriving in the US on October 14 for US$49, or a bundle price of US$59 if you want to buy it and SOCOM Confrontation together. The headset itself has a "High-Quality" mode, which activates its dual mics and apparently uses "high bandwidth" to make you sound better to the other dudes on your team. There's also auto-pairing with the PS3 when you connect the headset via USB, and a speaker mode when you dock it in the desk charger. The problem with this "high-quality" mode is that it's only available for the PS3, not for your mobile phone. Our guess is that HQ-mode takes up more power, or it'd be on all the time.
As you know from our recent Battlemodos, we love Shure's SE line of in-ear headphones, especially when paired with the Music Phone Adaptor that gives you a microphone and control button for your iPhone. Previously, the MPA was a US$50 add-on and the cheapest phones you could get it with were the US$120 SE110s, but the new SE102MPA set adds the SE line's modular design to the low-end (but still great) SLC2 phones from Shure's "Pro" category and adds an iPhone adaptor for US$100, total. And on top of that, they've bundled the MPA with the whole modular SE line for even more deals.
