Jabra BT800

Bluetooth headsets are becoming ever more popular. The number of people walking the streets and apparently talking to no one at all makes it virtually impossible to distinguish a jobbing plumber from a genuine nutcase (come to think of it, that was never easy).

Increased signal strength and power capacity has helped with market adoption. That, and gradually falling prices, of course. Also, the new Bluetooth 1.2 standard advances frequency handling and improves transmission quality.

Keep the Noise Down

Jabra has built this new standard into its new flagship headset, the BT800. But Jabra has gone further and the BT800 also incorporates the latest in DSP (Digital Signal Processing) technology to produce crystal-clear calls in all conditions.

This enables automatic noise reduction to suit the circumstances, and is very welcome when trying to make a call in a howling gale or on a busy street with traffic roaring in the background. Noise and echo cancelling means that there is no need for a boom microphone, which has the added advantage of preventing you from looking like a call centre operative.

Wearing it Out

The BT800 is stylish and modern in design, but doesn't immediately strike you as something you would want to wrap around your ear for hours on end. Appearances are deceiving, though, and the BT800 is very comfortable indeed. Weighing in at just 25g bad fitting snugly around the ear, you could wear the headset through a hundred-yard dash without fear of dislodging it.

The headset is designed by default to be worn on the right ear, although the clip rotates if the left ear is your preference. We conducted limited usability testing and the left ear was to everyone's preference, so they had to get used to the controls and display being upside down.

Fingerbobs

Clever design has gone into the control of the headset's features. Firstly, and unique to the BT800, there is a backlit LCD display for showing caller ID, or menu options when off hook. But at just 21x64 pixels, you need the eyes of a hawk to see it.

Two buttons on the underside (topside, if you have left-ear bias) are used to answer and end/drop calls.

On the back of the BT800 (however you wear it) is the jog wheel volume control, which is also used to page through the menu off hook. A backlit button in the centre of the wheel provides mute control.

The menu itself allows for many features common to your phone itself. For example, you can flip through call lists, dial the last number or voice dial. You can also select from any of the five built-in ring tones, use the phone ring, or set the headset to vibrate (a curious feeling when you are wearing it).

The BT800is frugal on power, even with the backlight, giving up to 6 hours talk time and 200 hours standby. A mains charger is included, as is an adapter for charging through a USB port.

Verdict

The BT800 is stylish and well made. It has good power handling and, at 10m, a decent range. But the BT800 triumphs where it matters most - signal quality. Support for the new Bluetooth standard and the DSP chip means that the headset performs to the highest limits. Put simply, the BT800 provides the best call quality I have known from a Bluetooth headset. Treat yourself.