for the short

INCISOR
TM

range connectivity
environment

Video enabled Issue 121 May 2008

IDENTITY CHANGE FOR ULP BLUTOOTH

THIS ISSUE ADDING VERSATILITY TO AUTOMOTIVE WIRELESS
A TOUCH OF WI-FI GENIUS
NEW BEST HEADSET

sponsored by
8 www.incisor.tv
Plantronics steals
headset crown
As you can probably imagine, a lot of
Bluetooth headsets pass through the
Incisor office. They vary in size, form
factor and – crucially – how well they do
the job they are supposed to do. On this
last point, although truly awful Bluetooth
headsets are few and far between these
days, it is still the case that only a few
stand out. These tend to be the ones that
we adopt as ‘our own’. The ones you
catch us wearing.
The original Jabra BT800 may have been
a huge clumsy lump, but it was one of
the first to incorporate a DSP and you
could actually hear what the people on a
call were saying, and – praise the Lord –
they could hear you too.
Things looked up when Jabra launched
the JX-10. This was also DSP-based, but
was tiny, and light, and heck – it verged
on being stylish! But … It was so tiny we
put it down one day and then were never
able to find it again. The desk charger
sits forlornly across the room, never
again to spoon with its former mate.
Then came the Jawbone. It looks
controversial, and you wouldn’t really
give it to your girlfriend to wear (unless
you were both in the army), but does it
ever work well? Yes it does. And the
packaging probably costs more to make
than the headset. However, it drags you
back to the world of wearing a big,
heavy, conspicuous headset. We
new products
understand that a new design might be in
the making, but until then…
Now, though, there is a new contender
for the coveted Incisor ‘house headset’
title. This is the Plantronics Discovery
925. To look at, it is relatively
unremarkable, which is not intended as
an insult. It isn’t setting out to make an
‘in your face’ (Ed: On your face?) style
statement like the Jawbone. No, it is
relatively discrete, with a slim black
boom and uses what Plantronics calls
self-stabilising eartips to maintain its
purchase on the pink audio device on the
side of your head. People either get on
with this style of headset, or they don’t.
In this instance, the three different sizes
of eartip that are supplied have allowed
everyone who has tried it to be
comfortable. The 925 is light enough so
that you don’t know it is there, and what
is more, it stays on your ear rather than
falling out or needing constant re-seating.
Although our sample is finished in manly
black, Plantronics has thought about the
ladies and also sells pink or gold
versions.
Under the hood the 925 has Bluetooth
2.0 + EDR technology and supports the
Heasdset and Hands-free profiles.
Plantronics calls its noise cancelling
system AudioIQ and it certainly seems to
work. This is a headset that you and your
call partners will like. Standby and talk
times are good, and are quoted as 5
hours talktime or 7 days on standby.
Perhaps the bit that sets the 925 aside
though is the carrying case that is
supplied. It’s not the first headset to be
supplied with a carrying case, but as far
as we know it is the first to have a case
that will re-charge the headset when you
are not wearing it. Yup, charge the case
up via a mains adapter or a USB
connection to your computer and the
case holds enough juice to fully re-charge
the headset once. The case itself is
compact and leather-covered, so it looks
OK amongst the rest of the road warrior’s
trinkets. Quite how Plantronics’ US
customers will cope with the fact that the
case doesn’t include a clip to attach it to
their belts, we’re not sure.
This isn’t an entry level headset – the US
list price is $149.95 after all - but it is
very good. We like the fact that it works
well, it looks good, it is comfortable
enough to wear for long periods of time
and the ability to re-charge it from the
case is really cool.
The biggest problem we have is that we
have just one, and the fights to use it are
getting unseemly. The Head Headset
throne has a new occupant.
18 www.incisor.tv

events

DATE EVENT LOCATION NOTES LINK

May 13 - 15 2008 EURO ID 2008 EXPO XXI, Cologne, Application options http://www.euro-id-messe.de
Germany for RFID and
barcode systems

May 25 - 27 2008 International CES Dubai, United Arab - http://www.messefrankfurtme.com/

Hometech Emirates hometech/site/index.php

May 28 - 30 2008 BREW 2008 Manchester Grand “From rich media http://brew.qualcomm.com/brew/
Conference Hyatt, San Diego, to location-based brew_2008/
California, USA services to social
networking, wireless
is rapidly evolving”

June 9 - 13 2008 Bluetooth SIG Bangkok, Thailand www.bluetooth.org

UnPlug Fest 30

July 10 - 13 2008 International Qingdao, China - www.sinoces.com/en/index.aspx

SinoCES

2009

Jan 8 - 11 2009 International Las Vegas, Nevada, - www.cesweb.org

Consumer USA
Electronics Show

Feb 16 - 19 2009 Mobile World Fira de Barcelona, - www.mobileworldcongress.com

Congress Spain

April 1 - 3 2009 CTIA Las Vegas - www.ctiawireless.com

Wireless 2009 Convention
Centre, Las Vegas,
Nevada, USA

October 7 - 9 2009 CTIA Wireless I.T. San Diego Convention www.ctiawireless.com

& Entertainment Centre, San Diego,
2009 California, USA

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 for the short

INCISOR
TM

range connectivity
environment

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