Ericsson HBH-10 Bluetooth Headset

SonyEricsson HBH-15 Bluetooth Headset

If you are using one of the new Bluetooth phones that are now available on the market, you certainly must be looking for a Bluetooth device to play with.

A wireless Bluetooth headset is an obvious first choice for many people, as wired headsets are already a very popular accessory for mobile phones.

We have all seen a person standing in the middle of an empty elevator or street corner seemingly talking to the air in front of them, only to notice the cord hanging from their ear - the sign of a mobile phone. Well, with this device from Ericsson, you can do that one better. You can talk to yourself without any tell-tale wires.

The best part will be when you turn to face the person and they see a device that looks just like the one that Laura Croft wore in the Tomb Raider movie.

Aside from the obvious Gee-Wiz factor, this device has a lot of practical value. I have used this headset extensively with both an Ericsson R520m and a T39m while driving. It is brilliant to not have wires getting in the way of the controls.

The headset is very easy to put on and take off without removing your eyes from the road, and it is comfortable enough to leave on for the entire evening commute without bothering sensitive ears (like mine). It comes with two swappable, reversible ear pieces. Use the one that fits you best, and put it on for either right or left ear use. Very easy to do.

The controls are also quite easy to use. There is a single jog-wheel style control (like those common on modern Sony devices). You push the control up to increase volume, down to decrease volume, and push it in to either initiate, answer, or end a call. When you are in a call, the volume level controled is the volume of the other person´´s voice. When you are not actively in a call, it controls the ring volume in the headset. Hold in the button for a few seconds to turn the device on and off.

Very simple, very intuitive.

I mentioned that you can initiate a call from the headset. You can, if your phone supports voice dialing (the Ericsson Bluetooth phones all support voice dialing). You simply push in the control button, wait for the beep, and then speak the name of the person that you previously configured the phone to respond to. I must mention that the headset makes the phone´´s voice recognition software work a bit harder. You must be more exact with your commands than when you are speaking directly into the phone. But it works.

While most portable Bluetooth devices on the market, like the HBH-10, are rated for a 10m (30´´) range, this is a best case rating. In practical application, this isn´´t possible. Walls and desks and briefcases shorten the effective range of Bluetooth. This is not to say that you can´´t leave your phone in your briefcase under your desk while you work. You can. It does mean that you probably can´´t make it to the water cooler around the corner and still get a usable connection.

Setting up the connection is pretty easy if you aren´´t afraid of transversing your phone´´s menus (or maybe even looking at the phone´´s manual). Without explaining the workings of Bluetooth itself, let me explain the process like this. You turn the headset off. Then hold down the control button for 10 seconds. This will make the headset ´´discoverable´´ by other Bluetooth devices. You then tell your phone to search for new discoverable devices. It will find the headset (and refer to it by name), and ask you if you wish to ´´pair´´ with it (or ´´bond´´). Select yes.

That is pretty much it. When you have Bluetooth enabled on the phone it will make use of the headset if it is in range.

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