Innovi's nice low-priced Bluetooth headset

Innovi BluetrekBluetooth has been one of the "next big things" for a couple of years now. And while it certainly isn't quite as ubiquitous as the microwave oven, it really is starting to gain some significant exposure now. One of the things that supports this view is the growing number of Bluetooth headsets that are coming on to the market. For a long time Sony Ericsson was the only real player on the market, and they still are the biggest by a large margin. But now the other companies are following suit. Motorola already has it's first headset available (Jabra's BT100 unit is based on the same design). Nokia scrapped their first model, the HDW-1, but recently introduced a new model named the HDW-2.

But the real interesting story is with the headsets coming from companies outside of the mobile telephone industry. Old time analog headset companies are rolling out Bluetooth headsets, like like Plantronics and their M1000. And then you have new smaller companies coming onto the market.

Such is the case with the BlueTrek headset by Innovi Technologies of Hong Kong.

The BlueTrek is one of the least expensive Bluetooth headsets on the market. Or at least it will be come November 1st when it will start being available through retail channels. At $119/115?, it is considerably cheaper than anything else on the market. But a cheap price doesn't mean a cheap performance.

On the contrary, I have found it to be fairly strong in most regards. In fact, in terms of straight line range, it managed to be effective at it's rated max range of 10m. This is about twice the range I was able to coax from the Sony Ericsson HBH-30 when using the exact same T68i phone. Take that, Sony Ericsson.

Sound quality was also pretty good. While I think the sound quality was a bit better on the HBH-30, the BlueTrek was certainly equals with the HBH-15 and HBH-10, both of which are quite usable. At times the tones that the BlueTrek generates, such as the connection signal, sound a bit rough, but when it comes to the actual call sound quality, I really had no problems at all except when approaching the 10' range limit. Volume levels are also adequate.

Battery life seems to be decent. It ran on standby for about 48 hours with some moderate use. I can't vouch for the talk time capacity because I am not willing to run up my mobile phone bill for a couple of hours. The German magazine Connect reported an hour and a half of talk time in their tests, but since they only got 24 hours of standby out of the device (half of what I did), they might have had some sort of problem. The manufacturer claims over 48 hours of standby time and two hours of talk time. I have little reason to doubt them.

One of the unique aspects of the BlueTrek is its physical design. It looks difficult to put on, since there seems to be no obvious way to fit it around your ear. But in fact, once you play with it for a short while you realize that somehow your ear really can easily slide in there. And once it is on, it is not going anywhere. This is not to say that it is tight and uncomfortable. In fact, it is very comfortable. I wore it around the apartment for a few hours just to test that. In general I don't find headsets comfortable (like the HBH-10, or typical ear buds), but in this case not only was the BlueTrek comfortable, but it always managed to feel stable. While running around the apartment cleaning for those few hours (yes, cleaning, I'm serious!), never once did it feel like it was going to fall off. It also survived the flailing head-banging-of-doom test. It just won't come off by accident. But when you want to remove it, it slips right off.

The initial setup of the device was pretty easy. After pulling the unit out of the box and attaching it to the charger (which requires no special cradle), I turned it on by holding down the on/up-volume button. Actually, I even guessed correctly as to how to get it to go into discoverable mode - you just hold down that same button for a longer period of time, just like the Sony Ericsson models. So I started a device discovery with my T68i and entered in a PIN code of "0000" (another good guess on my part) and we were all connected. I must admit that I was unable to turn off the device without looking at the manual, though. You need to hold down the on/up-volume and down-volume buttons at the same time for a few seconds. Oh well. That's why they give you a manual (in English, French, German, and Italian).

You'll notice that so far I have only mentioned two buttons. That's all there is. Hold down either for a second and you will here a tone indicating that the headset is trying to connect to your phone. If it works, you will here a tone back from your phone in a second or two telling you that it is waiting for a voice dial command. Once you are in the call you can adjust the volume up or down with normal presses of the two buttons. When you want to hang up, just hold either of the buttons down for a second again. Very simple.

Another nice example of simplicity in design has to do with the fact that the device is symmetric. The ear piece and boom are the same on both the left and the right side. As such, you can mount the headset on either ear without adjusting a thing. The ear piece also moves back and forth a bit to facilitate a good fit. Simple, but effective.

In the end, headsets should be fairly simple things. That is the case here. Put it on your ear, press a button or two, and there you go. And while many might not consider the BlueTrek a work of art, it is in any case a work of functionality. It won't set your pocketbook on fire, either.

More images are available on the following pages.