Jabra BT3030


Jabra’s BT3030 is a neat combination of high-street fashion and hi-tech. The BT3030 is a Bluetooth adaptor shaped like a metallic dog tag that you wear around your neck. It also has a standard 3.5mm audio socket, into which you plug a conventional set of earphones. The little earbuds supplied with the BT3030 sound a bit tinny – which is hardly surprising given the cost of the device – but the use of the standard audio jack means that you can plug in your own headphones if you want. There’s also a small microphone built into the dog tag part, and it can automatically fade out your music whenever you receive a call on your mobile.
Price £40
Available from Amazon
Reg Rating 85%
Motorola MotoRokr S9

The S9 is an extremely lightweight set of headphones, constructed out of water- and sweat-resistant plastic, which makes it a good choice for people who want to listen to their music or take calls while they’re working up a sweat at the gym. The stereo output is very good – a clean, clear sound with quite pronounced left/right separation – although a little more volume might be nice for those occasions when you’re really going for the burn. For an extra £10, you can buy the ‘S9 Universal’ version, which comes with a separate Bluetooth adaptor for an iPod.
Price £90
Available from Motorola
Reg Rating 80%
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Nokia BH-604
COMMENTS
Can someone please explain to me..
Can someone please explain to me the point of the bluetooth headsets that have wires?
Forgive my simplistic views but a Bluetooth headset, when compared to just a pair of headphones, have the disadvantage of requiring power, the added weight that power requires, and potentially poorer sound quality for the price (e.g. my £20 Senheisser PX100's sound better than my £21 Jabra BT260s). The ONE advantage is the absence of wires.
So, the ones WITH wires have all the disadvantages of bluetooth headphones whilst forgoing the one advantage. If someone can explain, please do.
Incidentally, whilst a bit big and Ugly, the Jabra BT260s, at £21 incl delivery from play.com, sound just as good as the s9's and a lot better AND louder than the Nokias and also come with one of those iPod thingies - handy if you happen to be one of Steve Jobs' soulless minions. The battery also lasts nearly 10 hours - a lot better than most and a major consideration for bluetooth headsets that this group-test seems to have ignored.
HP with active noise cancellation; Philips hi-fi
As I feared, this list omits a new contender: Hewlett Packard's GW470AA, a stereo BlueTooth 2.0 headphone with active noise cancellation. I just bought a pair. I can't vouch for the BlueTooth sound quality, for I can't get it to work with my HTC 6800 (Verizon XV6800). But wired, it sounds decent. Haven't yet tried the noise reduction. I bought it in the U.S. for a bit over $100 shipped.
The best-sounding of all may be Philips' new top-end entry, the SHB9000. It was promised for the Spring 2008 and is available in Europe. But in America, it's nowhere to be found.
Wires ? No thanks
For me the whole point of using Bluetooth is for those times when the wires get in the way and a dongle round the neck negates this. Most phones/mp3 players are small/light enough that they can be worn round the neck with wired phones that are usually better quality and cheaper. I want true wires free while Im working so that Im not constantly catching a wire and pulling an earpiece out.
@Headset with wires
If you plan to do Kata or other exercise routines while listening to something that doesn't fit in your pocket it does have some logic to it.
Kinda like why have an adaptor to plug your mp3 player into your car stereo when you could get an in-car mp3 player.
jabra
I have the jabra 3030. Sound quality is excellent, though it could use a bit more volume (that could be the phone I was listening to the music from, though).
One other great feature that wasn't mentioned in the review. It supports two Bluetooth devices concurrently. Listen to music on one device, and if a call comes in on the other, it interrupts your listening to take the call. Excellent feature.
