| Author |
Bluespoon experience: returned mine |
rkvptse
Joined: Oct 30, 2002
Posts: 5
PM |
While this is my first post to this forum, I have been following the various Bluespoon threads since early summer. I'm not looking to be flamed, but I am disappointed by my Bluespoon Special Edition. For those that have not yet bought one, I thought I would share my reasoning. Note, I am not suggesting that people should not buy it. While I have returned my current one, I expect I will get one as they improve. I would most certainly buy one with a jawbone microphone and custom molded earpiece even at a significantly higher price should such models ever become a reality.
As an introduction I use wireless headsets extensively. I own an HBH-10, HBH-15, and GN Netcom 9020. I have a headset on my ear for at least three hours a day. Usually the GN Netcom for a couple of hours in the office and actively talking on the HBH's or now Bluespoon for at least an hour a day when outside the office. My bluetooth phones have been R520, T39, and a T68m (now upgraded).
I should open by saying that my disappointment is really in terms of the Bluespoon not being the significant improvement over the HBH-15 for which I was hoping. I expected this device to essentially have strict dominance over the HBHs and for that matter all other headsets. The killer feature that would have made it compelling is the jawbone mic, without that it is a mixed bag. If you own an HBH-15, the compelling reasons for buying the Bluespoon are size, styling, secure fit (see comfort issue below), or battery life should these issues be critical to you.
The positive aspects of the Bluespoon headset are it's size, volume, styling, secure fit, and battery life. None of which I find compelling reasons given my usage patterns, principally in a vehicle as a handsfree capability. The volume is great, in that you can be in a noisy environment (London street with bus going by) and still hear the caller, however this does not mean that they can hear you. On the styling front, the bluespoon is really great. I think I prefer the original design, but accepted delivery of a special edition because I was tired of waiting. Unfortunately, the big styling flaw for the Special Edition is the blue LED. In my unit at night this will light up the interior of a car as if there was an emergency vehicle behind you. At one level, the Bluespoon is far more discrete and less geeky than the HBHs. Unfortunately, at night the LED is worse than the prop HBH in Tomb Raider. While the special edition blue is more appealing in the flesh than on the website, if you ever wish to use it at night, other than as a strobe in a dance club, I think the blue LED has to go.
Jan has said the panther has a much more muted led due to the black casing. If this is true I would recommend that color. I think they should just disable the 20 second flash. The red LED is not an issue and having the blue flash to indicate the changes in operational states is not an issue it's the repeated flash when the unit is on and in your ear that I think pretty much out geeks any other headset I've seen.
Jan, I would be interested in whether the panther is better than the painted original in terms of the amount of light emitted by the LED's?
The fit is very secure. You can walk around with this without the fear of it falling off. The battery life is great, although I don't personally have an issue with having to recharge every couple of days, which is what the HBH-15 requires.
My disappointments are the sound quality, controls, fit/comfort and some SE operation quirks.
I've run side by side comparisons with the HBH-15. Literally, I had the Bluespoon on one ear and the HBH-15 on the other and would use the phone transfer function to switch the conversation back and forth. I've done this with live listeners soliciting their feedback as well as with recordings to voice mail so that I could make my own assessment. Basically it is a toss up with the HBH-15 being slightly ahead. As previously noted much of my usage is either in my own car or a London Taxi. In the later, particularly the older model cabs, I find the HBH-15 to be significantly better. Note this is principally due to my verification that my voice is clearer relative to the background noise on the HBH-15. If I were just listening in on a conference call then the Bluespoon would win out due to much louder volume.
My original enthusiasm for the Bluespoon was in part due to the promise of a jawbone mic. Yes, we've known for some time that this configuration was going to be delayed. However, the result is that this headset is no more usable (with respect to sound) than others. At this point I would not subject a listener to the background noise one would hear on the street with any of the headsets I have owned. In windy conditions they are all terrible. A peculiarity with the Bluespoon is that I hear a constant background hiss when it is connected to a call. I have a suspicion that this may be there on other headsets but it is more noticeable with the Bluespoon due to the quality of the seal with your ear. This is most evident to the user of the headset but it can be heard by the other party if you are speaking from someplace quiet, such as an office.
I really dislike the control surfaces. In part this is linked to comfort, in that I find that my ear is somewhat sensitive to the device. Deflecting the casing in the area of the hidden switches requires too much force. It is far more force than the mechanical switches on my other headsets. Additionally, my ear canal is a bit sensitive to the size of the ear piece, it is hard and not comfortable for me. I suspect this was a styling choice, but I would very much prefer separate switches that had a very light touch.
When adjusting the earpiece volume during a conversation, the other party actually hears you deflecting the casing. The upside is that I don't play with the volume as much due to the quality of the seal with one's ear. Most of the time the need to increase volume is due to background noise and the Bluespoon does a much better job of letting you hear in noisy environments. My dislike of the controls is such that I tend to answer and hang-up the phone from my t68 rather than using Bluespoon controls. With my other headsets I use the earpiece controls almost exclusively, thus the Bluespoon is not quite as much handsfree as the others.
My comfort and fit issues are probably due to my ear. You basically screw the device into your ear. After an hour, I find my ear is sensitive to touch. This is of course further irritated by the amount of pressure one needs to exert on the control surfaces. Note, I'm playing with the different springs. They do make a difference. While the documentation is very nice, I would have liked it if it speak more directly to changing the ear springs or adjusting the device for comfort. There is almost no guidance on these matters in the documentation. There are some videos on the Nextlink website under their radio headset.
As to the operational quirks with my t68, the Bluespoon is noticeably less reliable than the HBH-15 in terms of not synching up with a t68 and dropping the connection. Note HBH's also drop their connections so I'm not saying one is free of any problems. I do find that the Bluespoon drops more frequently, probably three times as much. Once a connection with the phone is dropped the Bluespoon appears to have more difficulty re-synching without power cycling than the HBHs. While power cycling worked 100% of the time you don't want to be doing that in the middle of a phone call. Again I found that I had to use the phone more frequently. Note, I keep the phone in my pocket or line of site from my ear and less than one meter away when driving. I've always been mystified by bluetooth connection drops. I would be interested in whether anyone knows the cause, I've assumed it might be more the fault of the phone not handshaking properly since it's the device with more software running on it. Clearly their shouldn't be a problem with the radio signal being interrupted at such short distances. Additionally, 2.4ghz wireless phones, have much better range and never loose their connections at the distance a bluespoon device will drop.
Apologies for having been so long winded on this one. I think the Bluespoon is an interesting device, has much promise for the future. For the time being, I do not believe it strictly dominates other headsets particularly in the area of sound quality for actual conversations. Although depending on your usage patterns, the fit could be a dominant factor. I hope Nextlink really is working aggressively on the jawbone version. Some of Jan's posts have led me to believe that they may not be rushing it due to the success of the current model. While styling is important, ultimately many customers will judge them on the functionality which is realized. The current Bluespoon does not deliver on the promises of the early press for this product. It is a very good piece of technology which is incrementally better in some areas and weaker in other areas relative to the other headsets which are out there. Nextlink could make it the killer headset, hopefully they will stay focused on delivering that one.
-Richard | |
|
[MDS]
Joined: Oct 09, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: U.S.A.
PM, WWW
|
WELCOME, to esato and thanx for this conclusive review... now i don't regret buying na hbh30, the only thing i would like to be improved is the size, cause it does look geeky, but thanx a lot. very eye oppening...
www.mythstudios.com |
GregB
Joined: May 29, 2002
Posts: 21
PM |
I second the thanks for an excellent review of the BS. It removes a lot of the "what if..." anxiety I might otherwise have had following my decision not to get one.
Still very happy with the *cheap* and good Jabra Freespeak! | |
|
Access the forum with a mobile phone via esato.mobi
|
Posted: 2002-11-02 13:04
