After the fantastic new avatar of Nokia Lumia 800 in pristine white, we get a glimpse of  two new Lumia 800′s in a commercial featuring the Nokia’s Luna blue-tooth headset. Check out the video from their official youtube channel. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fueeKm8Tfz0

The colors have not yet been confirmed by Nokia. And the music, oh yes, its the Nokia Tune Dubstep Edition, the winner of Nokia Tune Remake. Final words, the plastic or the polycarbonate body that allows Nokia to play with colors is good but please, “green”, it certainly would have been more apt if this line of mobile devices were either created by LEGO or Fisher-price. Ain’t I correct?

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It is safe to say the mobile headphone or earphone market is massive and has been growing stronger ever since the decision was made by the mobile phone makers to agree on a universally standard 3.5mm audio jack instead of their own proprietary connector.

Another more obvious reason is the current explosion in smartphone, net-book and tablet technology. These devices have become more portable with bigger storage thus allowing us to take our video and music collections with us where ever we go. Headphones are now the must have accessory for any mobile device.

Take a look around the Internet and you will find thousands of websites selling headphones of all makes and models (Bose, Skullcandy, Sony, Sennheiser, Dr Dre etc).
Headphones come in many shapes and sizes (ear-buds, in-ear, sports, over-ear, on-ear) and some offer extra functionality such as wireless, noise cancelling, in-line microphone etc. If you do not know what you want, there are plenty of good forums allowing one to discuss, ask or post questions on headphones, not to mention many good video review sites.  If you go into any electronics or music stores there are normally areas where one can listen to different headphones with your smartphone or tablet.

But there is one area of the travel headphone market that is sadly lacking and that is Bluetooth headphones. They use A2DP or Advanced Audio Distribution Profile. This profile defines how high quality audio (stereo or mono) can be streamed from one device to another over a Bluetooth connection. You would be hard pressed today to find a mobile device or tablet that does not support A2DP.

Yet, do a search for Bluetooth headphones specifically the over-ear or on-ear headphone. You will be lucky if you receive ten model hits. Add a few common features that other good headphones have such as noise cancelling, bass boost or SRS and finally add an in-line microphone else what is the point of wireless headphones if you cannot receive or make phone calls hands free?, and the search results drop down to four or five models at the most.

I currently own two of them (the Sony DR-BT50 and the Nokia BH-905). The latter have been on my head every work day since Xmas 2009. They are incredibly reliable wireless Bluetooth headphones that meet all my headphone criteria (over-ear or on-ear, wireless and Bluetooth, A2DP support, noise cancelling, in-line microphone, a good sound across bass and treble, are fashionable and have a long lasting battery).

The above features in the few Bluetooth headphones available are not cheap, which is disappointing.  Since the choices are few and far between, the manufacturers have kept the prices at a premium. I hope this changes soon.

Here are the other three Bluetooth headphones and the prices.

• Sennheiser MM550 Wireless Noise Cancelling – £299.
• Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ Wireless On-Ear Headphones – £249.
• Nokia BH-905i Noise Cancelling Stereo Bluetooth headphones – £129.

Needless to say I will be upgrading to the Nokia BH-905i shortly. They are slightly more streamlined than their predecessors and offer extra bass boost. The Sennheiser MM550 would be my first choice if it were not for the price.

The BlueAnt Q2 Smart Bluetooth Headset is an advanced headset for demanding users that want to get more than the simple operations of making and answering calls.

The Q2 is well designed headset built with good materials that give is a solid and professional look,4 buttons (ON/OFF, Action, Volume Down and Volume Up) that allows you to make all the basic operations you need and it comes with 2 types of ear sets and in 3 different sizes (special sets to use without the ear ring which is removable/adjustable).  It also features a small light (red/white) that informs you of low battery and paired status.    This headset also has the possibility of having 2 phones paired which is a big plus for most of the users.

The Q2 is charged via a convenient Micro-USB plug which will allow you to use any common charger you have and this came handy since the package I received had an incompatible charger type with the Portuguese plug types.  Even so, I was able to charge it using my Micro-USB charger as well as my car kit or via PC (good thing that the charger is via an USB plug with a separated USB-MicroUSB connector).

Now here comes my personal experience with this headset:

- I found this headset very comfortable and I had no problem wearing it with or without the iron arm;

- Pairing with the phone was extremely easy and fast and the voice indications where a plus.  Having the headset giving me the pair status and recognizing my phone (it actually says “C7-00″) was nice;

- The sound quality is very good and loud (actually louder than I can stand) and I had no really complains from people that I called.  I did found myself speaking a bit louder than I use too while using the phone so I guess the mic sound is a bit lower than my Nokia C7 (that is a best in the class in my opinion);

- The bluetooth commands given are 99% of the times well understood by the Q2 and some of the own commands like “Recall” or “Redial” are very convenient;

- I found a bit disturbing that constant white blinking light while the headset is paired, specially while driving at night with the headset off my ear;

- I considered the battery lifetime of this headset as good as it easily last 2-3 days without intensive use.  I managed to get it last for a whole week by using it only on the car and remembering to turn it off;

- I really enjoyed the voice controlled with Text-to-speech which is good but only available in English;

- The power button is easy to use but only when you are not using the bluetooth.  While using, specially with the iron arm, it can be a bit tricky to power it up or off;

One last word to say that this headset features also an Android App that gives the possibility to read incoming messages.  Unfortunately, there is no support for other common OS like WP7, Symbian or iOS but I still hope that they will managed to extend it to other OS’s and make it compatible via the convenient firmware update that this headset supports.

Tips: If you want to know what commands you can give just say “what can I say?”.  If you ever need to reset your Q2, just push “Volume Down”+”Volume Up”+”Function Button”.

In conclusion, if you want a good headset, you can’t go wrong with the BlueAnt Q2 as this is a high quality headset.  I do think that this headset is bit US-Market oriented but, nevertheless, a great one.

MotoACTV is the newest gadget by Motorola and it’s a GPS fitness tracker and smart music player combined into a small, wearable device.  The MotoACTV can also communicate with your smartphone via an Android App and allow you to answer calls and receive text messages within the Bluetooth range.

Check this gadget demoed on video after the break.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl34MgNP3rk

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This stylish Bluetooth headset has a fun, modern design and comes in five eye-catching colours. Take handsfree calls in your car, at home or on the bus. The compact, lightweight design offers lasting comfort so you can keep on talking. Easy voice guidance tells you how to connect your headset through Bluetooth. Pair with two devices at the same time — ideal if you have separate work and personal phones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EME83yfLeQ

PhoneArena reviews the Samsung HM3600.

Road warriors beware, the Samsung HM3600 Bluetooth headset just might be the perfect solution for those who yearn for a long lasting device that is ideal for those extra-long conversations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn2jZlHfOpw

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PhoneArena reviews the Jabra WAVE. The Jabra WAVE is the Bluetooth headset that might be your savior on a windy day, or that is what its manufacturer is reassuring us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MddX6N-wd5E

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