More and more cell phones are coming
out with Bluetooth. This makes wirelessly syncing to your computer,
transferring files and interfacing with accessories possible. With
Bluetooth headsets, you can answer your phone and make calls without
even touching your phone or getting tangled up in wires. Very cool?
Yes, as long as you’ve got the right profile!
In the world of Bluetooth enabled cell phones,
there are two Bluetooth headset profiles, which will ultimately
determine which headset you can use with your phone. The Handsfree
profile is supported by many Sony Ericsson Bluetooth handsets
and the Nokia 3650, while the
Headset profile works with the rest of Bluetooth enabled phones.
At the moment, only two Bluetooth headsets support Handsfree
profile, one being the Nokia brand Bluetooth headset and the
other one is Sony Ericsson HBH-60 reviewed here. We should see
more choices soon: quite a few BT headset makers claim that they
will come out with their own Handsfree profile BT headsets in
the coming months.
Compared to the Nokia BT headset, Sony Ericsson’s
HBH-60 is considerably smaller in size and is lightweight. This
stylish headset combines black and silver colors, and is smaller
than 3” with an ear hook that can be installed for either
the left or right ear. The action keypad in the middle of the
headset is very easy to access for accepting or ending calls.
There are two volume buttons to adjust the ringtone or voice
up or down.
The Sony Ericsson HBH-60 supports voice
dialing, answer and reject incoming calls and has a connecting
range to your phone of up to 30 feet. The voice quality through
this headset is better than the OEM ear-bug wired headset.
When we tested the range, 30 feet range seems very easy to
achieve for this headset. Even though the headset does not
need line of sight, the voice quality however does show degradation
with walls and floors between your phone and the headset. Sony
Ericsson claims the HBH-60 has 2.5 hours of talk time and up
to 70 hours of standby. We found that the talk hour seems on
target though the standby time seems shorter than 70 hours
per charge.
Pairing up with the Nokia 3650 and Sony
Ericsson P800 via Bluetooth was painless. Follow the
instructions in the User’s Manual to charge the battery
and turn on the headset. Press the call handling button with
the unit off until the indicator light flashes red and green
alternately, and you’re ready to pair with your phone.
Once the connection between your phone and the headset is
established, the light on the HBH-60 will be steady green.
Now you are ready to use the headset. If you want to use
the voice dialing, it’s a generally a good idea to
record your commands using the headset instead of speaking
to your phone directly.
The HBH-60 supports the Hands
Free Bluetooth Profile
The small lightweight design, stylish looks, good quality
and easy pairing make the HBH-60 headset a big winner. While the ear
hook makes it easy to wear the headset for long period of time, it does
get in the way if you wear glasses. My solution is to put the headset
on first, then my glasses. Not a perfect solution but works. The HBH-60
headset is currently compatible with the Sony Ericsson T68i, T610, P800,
T39m and T68, and Nokia 3650. It comes with a charger and a black fitted
carrying case.
