May 8, 2007 11:44 AM PDT
Sony Ericsson introduces shiny new stereo Bluetooth headset
Sony Ericsson HBH-DS980
(Credit: Sony Ericsson)Sony Ericsson just released the HBH-DS980, a brand new stereo Bluetooth headset that is a slight upgrade from the company's HBH-DS970. The pendant-style headset features a hidden OLED display underneath the device's smooth mirror finish that only lights up when activated. Other features are pretty much identical to the HBH-DS970--they include digital noise cancellation and echo reduction, plus it comes with three sizes of soft silicon ear buds for a better fit. It has a promised talk time of up to six hours and will be available some time in the third quarter of this year.
Nicole Lee is an associate editor for CNET, covering cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, and all things mobile. She's also pretty geeky--she likes World of Warcraft, comic books, and shiny gadgets. E-mail Nicole.
So far, I have 4 devices, 2 cell phones, my laptop, and my Insignia Pilot NS-4V24 MP3 Player. I have been able to receive all my calls from both cell phones even during my video or music listening connection with the computer or MP3 player.
The complete unit is very compact, the ear pieces are very comfortable and they provide spare ear pieces. The range of the headset did well. As of this writting, I was in a hotel and ventured into the hallway about 15 feet away before I begin receiving noise and partial signal loss.
The unit has a wall charger (wall wort) and charges the unit well. Out of the box the unit was 3/4 charged and let me set it up and test it before charging.
It has alot of features on the headset, such as accessing you cell phone phone book, voice dialing, muting the mic during a call, true stereo sound and remote control to pause, move forward, reverse, and able to adjust the volume of the ringer.
It has a hidden OLED display behind the mirrored face to provide you information such as song title, battery status, and caller ID. Those are just a few with much more.
For me, it is about time this happened, a very portable, simple but intelligent headset able to listen to whatever I have that is bluetooth compatable.