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.
Congrats on being a lawbreaker! Why? Because it will earn you a US$20 discount on a new Jawbone Bluetooth headset thanks to a new promotion Aliph is running on their product website. Not a fan of the Jawbone? No worries–Headsets.com is giving away a free Plantronics Discovery 925 (a US$149.95) headset to the first 734 applicants who have been busted by the long arm of the law. Apparently crime does pay! [Jawbone via Boing Boing Gadgets and Headsets.com]
Plantronics just announced their new Discovery 925 earpiece which breaks away from the utilitarian design of most Bluetooth ear pieces and injects some style into the hardware — similar to the MotoPure H12 headset. The Discovery 925 sits in the ear without a loop that wraps around the back and comes with a matching carrying case that doubles as a DC charging dock for juice on the go.
Bluetooth headsets are two-a-dollar nowadays, but Plantronics’ new Explorer 370BT is like the ugly one that ran away from home and joined the Army. Designed so it’s rough’n'tough enough to meet military standards, the 370BT is rubber-coated and resistant against water, dust and impacts. Sure, it won’t actually save you if you take a bullet in the ear, but at least its “windscreen” noise-filtering technology will ensure that your callers can hear you against the sounds of battle/the great outdoors. It’s got a beefy eight-day standby time, allows seven hours of talk, and goes on sale in March for US$79.95 [Mobilemag]
The last of our batch o’ Plantronics headsets, the 365 is all about teh gamerz. Two things strike me pretty – the auto fit headband which sits very comfortably, and the deep cans. For good audio, particularly spatial gaming audio, it’s all about the deep cans. Semi-open backs are also a personal favourite too, but that side can come down to personal preference. My all-time favourite gaming headset is the Steelsound 5Hv2, and this set is very similar in style to those. The Steelsound has an edge with its awesome mic design, which stows away into the can and completely out of the way when you don’t need it. They’re $149.
The Plantronics 365s retail for around $60-70, less than half the price of the 5Hv2s. Excellent price point, good performance. A very tidy option indeed. [Plantronics]
I know plenty of people either love or hate the behind the head styled headphones/headsets, but for me I think this Plantronics headset really sits nicely. The 645 USB is also one of the smarter USB headsets I’ve seen, with the USB acting as a dongle rather than an integrated element. This means you can opt to go analogue or digital, depending on what suits the machine you’re on. The cable has in-line controls for volume and mic sensitivity (high, low, and mute).
Why USB? Maybe you’ve never encountered a computer with terrible on-board audio, but sometimes it is great to control the audio as a digital process rather than accept whatever the machine can handle. The best example on this front is gaming, where pro gamers will always use USB headsets. No matter what machine they sit down at, they know the audio I/O will be managed by their own drivers. The 645 USB is both PC and Mac compat, so no dramas there. At $59.95, I’d say they’re a pretty good deal. [Plantronics]
We’ve been playing with a few headsets from Plantronics .Audio range over the last few weeks. We’ll mention a couple more soon, but the 480 stood out here as a really interesting take on the portable headset. We’re basically talking about a set of earbuds with a mic attached on the left bud. A little weird, but the whole thing works a treat – good passive isolation, super portability, and good, reliable mic tech (the Plantronics speciality) so you can take calls anywhere. The boom is flexible, so it will sit comfortably wherever you want it. The cable has inline volume and mute, too.
The double earbud arrangement means it all doubles nicely as earbuds for music playback and phone headset, or even a really portable gaming headset. No device switching, of course, so the double duties part won’t work for most people, but if you have jumped to a combo phone that does both, this is a sexy little number. It’s just such a great concept in ultra portability for a headset, and you can get a standard jack connector version or a USB version, depending on your need. They’re priced at $119.
Plantronics’ latest headset, the Voyager 855, may look like a normal headset, but it actually allows you to be twice as dorky-looking with an add-on earbud attachment to turn it into a stereo headset for music. That’s right, the 855 supports A2DP, and you can activate stereo mode by just plugging in the earbud cable, wrapping it around your neck and sticking it in your other ear.
This Plantronics Calisto Pro set takes your standard Bluetooth headset and adds in landline and Skype dialing, which means you get the big three (Skype, home, cell) all in one dorky-looking device. The base station has a USB connector to hook into your PC for Skype and Yahoo calls, a DECT 6.0 handset to handle landline calls, and the headset to connect to both these plus a cellphone. The price for all this convenience while you work at home in your underpants? $279 starting September. [PRnewswire via Web Worker Daily]
Plantronics’ new CS70N hands-free headset boasts the usual suite of Plantronics perks and a noise-cancelling mic for rowdy office environments. It also works with both standard and IP phones.
But what (almost) makes it worth the $330 price tag is that with the touch of a button it lifts the phone off of the cradle to answer it and routes the call to the headset, so you don’t have to be anywhere near your desk to answer the phone. Push the button again and it sets the phone down. Extended coffee break anyone? Shot of the phone lifter after the jump.
