Wi-Gear’s iMuffs Stereo Wireless Headphones for the iPhone and iPod

Cut the cord with Wi-Gear’s new wireless stereo headphones for Apple iPhone and iPod

Wi-Gear’s iMuffs, wireless headphones are now optimized for iPhone use. They use Bluetooth 2.0 with Stereo (A2DP), AVRCP, Handsfree (HFP), and Headset (HSP) protocol. iMuffs’ built-in rechargeable battery is lithium polymer based with a rated life of up to 20 hours of continuous music. iMuffs adapter for iPhone/iPod requires no battery, but is dependant on iPod’s battery capacity.

Read more on these wireless stereo headphones for iPhone and iPod.

Buy your MB220 Wi-Gear iMuffs Bluetooth Wireless Headphones for iPhone at Amazon.com

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Stereo Wireless Headphones & the New Blackberry Storm

A review by  Mobile Burn was done on the new Blackberry Storm 9530 which included their assessment of the use of stereo wireless headphones to which they said, “Bluetooth seemed to work quite well with both normal headsets as well as wireless stereo headphones.”  Although their review was mostly on the phone at least we know that it works well with wireless stereo headphones. Read more on their Blackberry Storm review.

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Motorola S9-HD Stereo Bluetooth Headphones

Review by Ricky Cadden

Many cell phone manufacturers are using proprietary headphone ports on their phones, but are adding Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support for wireless stereo Bluetooth headsets, such as the Motorola S9-HD. The Motorola S9-HD is the second edition of the S9 headphones and maintains the same sleek styling and supreme comfort, while adding a few key features. How well does the S9-HD stand up to the music, though?

Motorola S9-HD Stereo Bluetooth Headphones

Physical Aspects

The Motorola S9-HD is a stylish, yet subdued headset, clad mostly in a rubberized matte black plastic exterior. There are two small strips of black chrome on each side of the antenna bump on the back of the headphones. The Motorola S9-HD came to us with an AC wall charger, a handy carrying pouch, and a set of user-changeable rubber eargels. We also had an iPod connector in the package to allow for wireless listening to our iPod Touch. There are 2 sets of large eargels, with a loose outer layer that seals off your ear, to keep background noise out and the music in. The other set is smaller, and lacks the loose outer part, thus making the S9-HD a bit safer for joggers who still need to be aware of their surroundings.

The Motorola S9-HD headphones wrap easily and nicely around the back of your head, with each earpiece resting comfortably in each ear. Control buttons for the S9-HD are found easily on both sides of the headphones, and are nicely arranged in a column containing 3 buttons each. On the right earpiece you’ll find the music controls – forward, reverse, and play/pause. The left earpiece, then, provides the up and down volume controls as well as the call button.

The power button and mini-USB charging port are located at the back of the Motorola S9, on the underside of the antenna bump. The mini-USB port is covered by a rubber flap to keep moisture and debris out. The LED notification light is centered in the middle of the antenna lump, between the power button and charging port. The arms of the headset are made of slightly bendable plastic, so that it can easily stretch to accommodate users’ heads.

The Motorola S9-HD weighs in at a barely-there 38g (1.3oz), which makes a difference when you wear them for extended periods of time. I was able to wear the S9-HD for hours, listening to music without experiencing any discomfort at all. The eargels are nice and soft, and there is just enough tension in the side arms to keep a firm fit, without causing ear fatigue or giving me a headache.

Setup and Use

The LED notification light at the back of the headset flashes blue slowly while the headset is powered on and connected to a phone or device. When you first power the S9-HD on, the light will flash blue three times, and will then turn solid blue to indicate ‘pairing’ mode. If you wish to reactivate pairing mode later, simply turn the headset off, and then press and hold the power button again until the LED shows solid blue. When you’ve successfully paired your headset with your cell phone, you’ll see a blue light with 10 purple flashes.

When you have paired the Motorola S9-HD with your phone, you can simply press the call button on the left earpiece to answer or end a phone call. The play/pause button on the right earpiece can be used to reject the call. If your phone supports voice dial, you can activate this from standby simply by pressing the answer/hang up button. If you wish to simply redial the last number that you called, press and hold this button for a few seconds. While on a phone call, you can use the play/pause button to mute/unmute the headset’s microphone.

The Motorola S9-HD supports multiple connections, so that, for instance, you could connect to your cell phone for calls, but connect to your Bluetooth-enabled computer for music. To do this, first pair your cell phone with the S9-HD, and then turn both your phone and the headset off. Now turn the headphones back on and put them into pairing mode. Follow the normal steps to pair your headset with your computer (or an iPod, if using the included adapter), and confirm that they are successfully paired. Now, turn the headphones off once again, and then turn both your phone and the Motorola S9-HD back on. The S9-HD should automatically reconnect to both devices.

I was able to use the Motorola S9-HD’s multi-point feature to listen to music from my Bluetooth-enabled laptop while still accepting calls on my Nokia N95. When a call came in, pressing the answer/hang up key automatically paused the music, and when I ended the call, the music automatically resumed playing.

As you would imagine, when you have the S9-HD connected to a music device, such as either your computer or a compatible cell phone, you can press the play/pause button to launch the music player. While this worked on my cell phone, it did not work properly on my Bluetooth-enabled laptop. Either way, once your music player is launched, the play/pause button on the Motorola S9-HD will allow you to control the music. You can press the forward button once to skip to the next track, or hold it for a few seconds to simply fast-forward through the track; likewise with the back button. These music controls worked perfectly with both my Nokia N95 and Winamp running on my laptop.

Although the Motorola S9-HD is sleek and stylish, that comes with a sacrifice in battery life. Motorola claims a battery life of only 6 hours talk or music playback time, which is actually less than most smaller, single-ear Bluetooth headsets. In my testing, 6 hours of music playback was accurate, though I did notice a slight increase in music playback time when using my computer for music, as opposed to my phone, which was slightly disappointing. Thankfully, the Motorola S9-HD recharges fully in 2 hours using the provided AC wall charger, and since the headset uses mini-USB, I was able to top it off using an open USB port on my computer, as well.

The Motorola S9-HD boasts a range of 30 feet, though in experience, this is an exaggeration. When paired with my phone (using both the Nokia N95 and the Palm Treo Pro, to avoid phone-specific bias) or the iPhone Touch, I found that the audio would cut out occasionally. For example, with the phone in my front pocket the audio would drop, but performed much better with the phone in my back pocket. Jogging with the phone or iPod in my hand was a slightly better experience, though there were still rare drop-outs there as well. Paired with my computer was a much better experience, and I was able to watch a movie with the S9-HD from roughly 10 feet away easily. Based on this, it appears as though the S9-HD performs better when there is a direct line-of-sight between the headset and the device.

Audio Quality

When listening to music, the Motorola S9-HD excels at producing high-quality music. The S9-HD features SRS WOW HD audio technology, which allows you to enjoy a digitally enhanced audio experience, with more full bass and better overall quality. You can enable/disable SRS WOW HD by pressing and holding the forward button, and there is a noticeable difference in quality. I enjoyed having the option, as well, since some music is better with enhanced bass, while others sounded better with SRS WOW HD disabled. I was also very pleased with the volume of the Motorola S9-HD, as well as the ability to keep music ‘in’, and background noise ‘out’.

Unfortunately, while the Motorola S9-HD excels at music, it is an entirely different experience when attempting to chat with someone over the phone. Even indoors, callers reported a muffled sound, and there was often static on my end, even with perfect reception and using several different mobile phones. I tested the Motorola S9-HD inside a busy grocery store, and both callers simply asked me to call them back later. Similarly, the Motorola S9-HD failed the truck tests miserably, even with the windows rolled up. When using the headset for voice calls in an open area with wind, I was not able to understand the caller, and they were not able to understand anything I said, either.

Conclusion

As more and more cell phones support A2DP for stereo Bluetooth headsets, I’m glad to see Motorola attempting to streamline and stylize these headsets into something that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to sport in public. The Motorola S9-HD is just that, with great music quality, extremely comfortable design, and easy to use controls. Unfortunately, the S9-HD falls a bit short when it comes to battery life and, more importantly, call quality. The S9-HD is mostly unusable for voice conversations. Based on this, we give the Motorola S9-HD a “Recommended” rating, with the warning that while they make tremendous music headphones, they shouldn’t be relied upon for voice calls.

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Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

By Bill Ray

Review: Sony Ericsson has a lot riding on these tiny wireless headphones. Barely bigger than wired earbuds, they’re a flagship product for a company known for its quality peripherals, and SE wants these boys to cement its reputation.

Sony Ericsson’s HBH-IS800: tiny ‘phones

As Bluetooth stereo ‘phones really are very small. The buds fit into the ear canal and stick about 1.5cm out of it, so each headphone is about twice the length of a regular bud earphone and slightly bulkier towards the back. In use, you wouldn’t get a motorcycle helmet on over them, but you’re not going to look like Uhura, either.

The sticking-out bits house the electronics – the battery on one side, the Bluetooth circuits on the other – and the bulge in the wire holds the microphone, the single control button and an LED that isn’t used much. One of the earpieces conceals a hard-to-remove cover – decent nails are needed – behind which lurks a proprietary power connector unlike anything previously seen. Don’t expect to be able to charge this set up using your existing transformers.

Once charged, the headphones need to be paired with a phone – the HBH-IS800 supports auto-pairing, which means that the device automatically goes into pairing mode when powered on, so you turn on the headphones and then search for them using your cellphone or Bluetooth-enabled music player. If your player supports auto-pairing then the connection is instant, otherwise you’ll have to enter the passcode.

We tried both, and while connecting with a Sony Ericsson handset was smoother, pressing zero four times wasn’t too taxing.

Barely bigger than wired ear-buds

When paired, the earphones reconnect to the last-used device each time they’re powered on. They worked seamlessly with a range marginally superior to other Bluetooth earphones we’ve used, though not by much.

The HBH-IS800′s single button is held down for a couple of seconds to switch it on and off, with a shorter press answering – or making – calls.

The HBH-IS800 comes with three separate rubber sleeves, to suit a variety of ears, and once fitted they feel snug enough, which is important as the friction against the ear is the only thing that stops these earphones ending up in the gutter.

Still needs a cable, for the mic and the control key

The chaps at Sony Ericsson, who are all sporting HBH-IS800s these days, have a nice clip in the middle of the wire for attaching the set to shirt collars, but our model lacked that, and it would only be useful if you were wearing a collar anyway. If your workout is rowing or cycling then you should be fine, but anyone planning to jog might want to invest in a cloths peg or risk extending their run as they return to collect their earphones every now and then.

But if your exercise features fewer impacts then the sound you’ll get over the HBH-IS800s is very good. Bluetooth stereo is, of course, dependent on both the headset and the handset supporting the same codecs – the standard only mandates a very basic wireless stereo coding, so manufacturers tend to implement their own but are generally reluctant to talk about it for fear of confusing consumers.

The difference was audible when we tested the HBH-IS800s with a Sony Ericsson Walkman handset and with out, non-SE phones, but the quality was very acceptable with Nokia and Samsiung handsets we used.

A premium product in a natty black case

SE claims the set’s battery life is around four hours for playback or 11 days on standby. We found those numbers to be slightly conservative, achieving four-and-a-half hours continuous playback before the ‘phones shut down after giving several audible warnings. During phone calls, the microphone faired well – it tends to hang near the mouth so call quality wasn’t a problem.

Verdict

The HBH-IS800 is close to perfect – if you want wireless stereo then there’s little reason to chose any other product. The only drawbacks emerge if you’re planning to go jogging, or are very cost sensitive. (final price is still unknown, but this will be a premium product). Everyone else will be happy to see wireless headphones as they ought to be seen: compact, comfortable to wear and as user-friendly as wired ‘phones.

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