headsets

I was quite impressed with the Jabra Halo stereo Bluetooth headset when I first saw it at CTIA 2009 in Las Vegas. It looked thin and lightweight, and promised to be the first wireless stereo headset with dual-microphone noise cancellation. Indeed, it was our cream of the crop nominee for best accessory at the show.

Now Jabra has made the Halo official, announcing that it'll be available for sale in Best Buy retail stores next week. Other features of the headset include multipoint technology, eight hours of talk or music time, Zirene Power Bass, and a 3.5mm cord … Read more

Plantronics on Thursday announced the Plantronics Discovery 975, which it touts as a luxury fashion-forward Bluetooth headset built with premium performance. It's the successor to the Plantronics Discovery 925, and it shows--the Discovery 975 inherited that skinny hairpin-like design, right down to the square diamond base.

However, the Discovery 975 carries the brains of the Plantronics Voyager Pro, with its AudioIQ2 noise canceling and WindSmart wind-noise reduction technologies.

We had the opportunity to put the Discovery 975 through its paces the past few days, and we have to say we're very impressed with it overall. Even though not everyone will appreciate the skinny pin design and the tiny controls leave much to be desired, the sound quality is really very good. Indeed, it matches the Voyager Pro in outgoing sound quality. We even tested it in windy conditions, and our callers managed to hear us loudly and clearly. They said our voice sounded natural and not at all robotic or machine-like, and the wind noise that they did hear sounded more like rain on the roof. … Read more

Samsung has announced three new Bluetooth headsets: the WEP870, the WEP850, and the WEP470. The WEP870 is a mono headset that is able to stream music thanks to A2DP compatibility. It has an LCD screen that displays battery level and connection status, and it comes with a stereo earbud lanyard. Of course it also has dual microphones and features noise and echo cancellation. It's available for $89.99 retail.

The WEP850 is another headset with a decent minimalist design and features multipoint connectivity plus noise cancellation as well. It's available for $69.99. On the lower end is … Read more

Darrell Huff, a 51-year-old automotive technician from Centreville, Md., wanted his quadriplegic son, Joshua, to be able to make calls on a cell phone. Unfortunately, all cell phones require button pushes, so Huff quickly thought of Bluetooth headsets as a solution.

He was especially intrigued by the BlueAnt V1, which has a unique voice-control interface that lets you make and answer calls with voice alone--there's even a voice-guided tutorial if you need some guidance. (The V1 is the predecessor to BlueAnt's more recent BlueAnt Q1).

But even the BlueAnt V1 wasn't 100 percent hands-free; you still needed to press the button to activate it. So Huff set out to find a way to activate the switch without the need for hands.

"I tried different things," Huff said. "It occurred to me a mercury switch might work, but my research soon showed that mercury is all but banned in the U.S. and I also began to worry about the user's perception... I tried using a roller ball-type tilt switch, but it is difficult to find one small enough and my experiments showed the connection with this type of switch was erratic."

After a lot of trial and error, Huff finally decided to use a magnetic switch.

"I opened the headset and replaced the push button switch with a magnetically controlled switch," Huff explained. "The modified version of the headset has a switch that is closed when in the presence of a magnetic field. So when the headset is not near a magnet, the switch is open...If you move the headset near a magnet, then the switch closes--this is like pushing the button."

In case you need to push and hold the button, you would just keep the headset near the magnet for a few more seconds. Huff is careful to note that the switch itself is not magnetized; it just responds to a magnetic field.

Now all Huff had to do was mount a magnet so his son could move his head conveniently to activate the headset. He created one that is on the end of a 29-inch long and flexible rod that can be mounted to a wheelchair. At last, Huff had created a genuinely "hands-free" Bluetooth headset. … Read more

On Thursday, Logitech announced two new PC gaming accessories, a successor to the G5 Laser Mouse and a behind-the-head gaming headset.

The G500 Gaming Mouse refreshes the current G5 Laser Mouse with improved sensitivity and a new design. The mouse will also come with up to 27 grams of weight that you can add on to tune the overall feel of the device. How's that for customization?

The mouse's onboard memory also allows you to switch from game to game without having to remap a button scheme. Better yet, this feature doesn't require any software installation (though … Read more

Welcome to the 411, my new Q&A column answering all your questions about cell phones and cell phone accessories. I receive plenty of questions about these subjects via e-mail, so I figured many of you might have the same questions, too. At times, I might solicit answers from readers if I'm stumped. Send your questions and comments to me at nicole.lee@cnet.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, let me know in the e-mail.

Will you please explain to me the difference between 2G and 3G phones? Thank you ever so much in advance.--Michael, … Read more

There's nothing like good, old competition to keep tech prices in check. Case in point: earphones. The headphone market is heavily saturated, and that's why there are so many worthy earbud contenders in the sub-$100 price range. Klipsch is one company in particular that has impressed us with earphones in this price range, and its latest entry is no exception. The Image S2m is a stereo headset with an integrated mic and call button that sells for a very reasonable $60. Like its Editors' Choice award-winning sibling, the Image S4, these 'phones offer impressive sound for the … Read more

Novero has just launched a new Bluetooth headset today, dubbed TheFirstOne. It has a rather stylish look with white and silver accents all around. It comes with a car charging cradle, a desk stand, a necklace, a wearable clip, and seven interchangeable ear loops. Features include dual-microphone noise cancellation, three-way calling and voice dialing with one button press, and a talk time of up to 4.5 hours. Nothing too different here, and the name is a tad cheesy, but it does look quite attractive. TheFirstOne is available for $149 from novero's website and Amazon.com.

Ever since we heard about the Invisio Q7 bone conduction headset at CES 2008, we've looked forward to it finally coming to market. The headset promised a way to translate the vibration of the jaw to actual speech without the use of a microphone, thus eliminating noise. But a year had now gone by, and we had not seen any sign of it, leading us to believe it was vaporware.

Yet, it appears it may have been reincarnated as the Motorola Endeavor HX1. Motorola has mentioned that it was working with the Invisio folks to come up with a … Read more