TreoCentral's James Hromadka reviews the Motorola H700 bluetooth headset.
Read on for the full review.
Last year, I reviewed the Motorola HS850 Headset [Review|Buy] and loved its retractable boom mic that made it easy to turn the device on/off. The company has an updated headset called the H700. Is it a worthy update?
Features
Rarely will you find the words "Bluetooth headset" and "fashionable" in the same sentence. After several years, there are still headsets on the market that are a cross between Robocop and a Borg from Star Trek. Not with the H700, which comes in two flavors: your typical dark gray headset and a fancy Dolce Gabbana Gold headset. Bling Bling!
The two are essentially the same, so I chose to review the DG one since there is a dearth of gold headsets in my expanding collection. The headset has shiny gold chrome on the front, and matte gold accents on the mic and ear rest. The "DG" logo is next to the action button, which has an LED circling it. The LED flashes blue while in use and green when the headset is fully charged. Speaking of charging, the H700 came with four different electrical plug adapters, so this is a headset that's ready for international travel.
The box of the Dolce Gabbana H700 is shiny gold also, and makes for an "Ooooh" feeling as you remove the headset and materials from it. I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I'm not going to include a photo of it in this review, but the amount of thought that went into the box's presentation is rivaled only by Apple and its products.
The volume controls are on the top and bottom of the headset. The earloop is easily removable in order to switch the headset to fit either ear.
Usability
My favorite feature of the H700 is the folding boom microphone. Flip it open to quickly turn the device on, and when you're done, flip it closed. One of the problems I have with headsets is forgetting to turn them off (yes, even with the annoying lights). The H700 erases that issue. I don't even know why it needs to have blinking lights at all when the device is in use. When folded, the H700 is small enough to toss in a purse or pocket.
The earloop is made of comfortable rubber - remove it and flip it around if you want to switch over to the left ear. The H700 headset is very light, so it is easy to forget that you are wearing it. When doing the "shake head violently back and forth" test, the H700 bounced against my head but never fell off.
I was impressed with the sound quality of the H700, particularly when I was outside. Noise cancellation is sometimes one of those hit-or-miss features, but on the H700, when I was outside and talking to someone, they couldn't hear any of the background street noises. Audio was clear and crisp on both ends of the call.
I was very impressed with the Dolce Gabbana H700 Headset. Its clear audio and diminutive size make it a great headset for everyday use. If you know someone that has a DG RAZR phone, this headset will complement it nicely. If you don't care about fashion or are more price conscious, the Gray H700 is an excellent, less pricey choice.
| Ratings (out of 5)Design: 5Usability: 4Sound Quality: 4Cost/Benefit: 3Overall: 4 | ProsInnovative folding boom micInternational plug adaptersGreat sound qualityConsDolce Gabbana version comes at a price |
(First posted at TreoCentral on Oct 17, 2006)
