If the Jawbone is a bit rich maybe the i-Tech is a better bet and it ia brilliant value- also works flawlessly with the P1i.
Bluetooth headsets come in all shapes and sizes- some are super sleek and cost a fortune, others make you look like a total noob and some claim to do all sorts of fancy things such as cancel out the environmental noise and display the incoming number (useful when it is on your ear?).
Mine latest one broke the other day and once again due to battery failure so you can imagine that after 5 in a year I was not particularly intent on spending lots of money on a replacement. My local Orange shop was selling the i-Tech Clip 2 which I have always liked, mainly because it is a half breed between a standard Bluetooth headset and a wired unit. All you need to do is clip the main part of the unit to a front pocket or anywhere else on your shirt and stick the other part in your ear. The rest of the set up was extremely easy and pairing was completed in a minute. All in all the set up and go effect of this accessory is excellent.
You do not get much with the headset- simply an a/c charger, 2 white earbuds and that’s your lot. To be fair I don’t really need a fancy box, smart carrying case and a desktop charger so I was not too bothered.
In use the sound quality is very good and much better than my previous headsets and most of that will be down to the fact that the speaker does sit in your ear. People on the other end of my phone calls also said that the quality was pretty good and for once a conference call done in my rather noisy car was not a waste of time. It is too early to tell how good the battery life is but my previous i-Tech headset (a Clip 1) lasted for ages on a charge. The quoted time is 4 hours talk and 160 hours standby. Charging takes 3 hours from empty to full and low battery warnings are given via a beep every minute and the LED flashes red.
Incoming calls are notified by a sound in the headset and a buzzer which is useful and there are only two buttons on the unit- a volume key on the front and an MFB (multifunction button) on the earpiece. You press the MPF to answer and end a call and pressing the volume key once when the headset is ringing will stop the buzzer but leave the normal ring in the earpiece playing. Voice dialling is also catered for- press the MFB button and say the name and away you go. Finally, pressing MFB twice will redial the last number. All in all the feature set is enough for most people and crucially easy to use when in situations that require ‘easy to useness’
In the first few days of use I have not had one problem with the headset and I am impressed with what some would call a basic Bluetooth headset.
It is fairly basic but the sound quality, battery life and build quality are very good. There is one feature that takes this accessory way up my lift of favourite accessories- when I asked the shop assistant how much it was I was surprised to hear ‘GBP12.99′. For the price it must be close to impossible to buy a better value headset than this. Available from Orange shops- availability will vary though.
