The Best of Both Phone, and Tablet
Entered CNET Catalog: 01/31/2007
SKU: 093745
Manufacturer: Blueant Wireless
Manufacturer description
Marketing description is not available.Product summary
The good: The BlueAnt Wireless V12 LCD Bluetooth headset has an LCD for viewing caller ID and battery status, and can store up to 10 contacts. It fits comfortably in the ear and has pretty good sound quality to boot. It also has a vibrating alert and a micro USB lanyard so you don't have to wear it on your ear all the time.
The bad: The BlueAnt Wireless V12 LCD Bluetooth headset is rather bulky, has a boring design, and comes with tiny volume buttons on its side.
The bottom line: The BlueAnt Wireless V12 LCD Bluetooth headset solves some of the problems that come from wearing the headset on the ear by providing a micro USB lanyard to wear around the neck plus a vibrating alert feature. Although it is bigger than most headsets, we still think it has a comfortable fit and good audio quality.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 03/09/2007
Aside from the occasional headset such as the Jabra BT800, there aren't too many Bluetooth headsets with an LCD. Since you can't really see the screen when the headset is worn on your ear, we didn't think it made much sense. Yet, the BlueAnt Wireless V12 LCD Bluetooth headset seems to have solved that issue by including a lanyard for wearing it around your neck. Sure, you'll look a little geeky, but you'll actually be able to see the LCD when you receive a call. And in case you prefer to wear it on your ear all the time, there's a vibrating alert feature as well. Aside from the solid feature set of the V12, it also has a decent fit in the ear, plus good sound quality. The V12 is currently available for $79.99.
The BlueAnt Wireless V12 LCD Bluetooth headset has a rather dull design and is shaped like a small pack of gum, except it's oval. Not only is it bulky at 2.34 inches wide by 0.75 inch high by 0.55 inch deep, it also has an uninspired black-and-silver color scheme. On the upside, it's quite light at 0.5 ounce. On the front of the V12 is the 1.2-inch monochrome LCD and a very tactile multifunction button right above it. The left spine is home to two tiny volume buttons, which while easy to press, are still a bit too small for our tastes. On the back of the headset are the earpiece and an ear loop that can be detached to fit on either ear. The earpiece rested quite comfortably in the ear, and it even comes with two different-size ear hooks for small and large ears.
The LCD is, of course, the most useful feature on the V12. Not only does it display caller ID, you also can check the battery status of the headset, check out its volume level, and see if it's connected to a nearby phone. Plus, you are able to see if the vibrating alert is on or not. It also has a scrollable call history of the 10 last used phone numbers. You can dial directly from this list of numbers, and you can erase numbers if you wish. The large LCD holds 12 digits and has an automatic backlight.
Other features include call reject, one-touch redial, call transfer from headset to cell phone and vice versa, and the capacity to pair it with five different devices. As we mentioned before, there's also a very handy vibrating alert feature that lets you know when there are incoming calls. You can turn the alert on or off, and while we certainly like this feature for when the headset is on a lanyard or in your pocket, we strongly recommend turning the alert off when the headset is worn on your ear. A strong rattling buzz going off on the side of your face is not too pleasant.
We paired the BlueAnt Wireless V12 LCD Bluetooth headset with the T-Mobile Sidekick 3 without a hitch. Call quality was pretty good thanks to the headset's ambient noise reduction technology. We could hear our callers quite clearly even when we were in noisy environments. We did suffer some quality loss in windy environments, but it wasn't terrible.
The BlueAnt Wireless V12 LCD Bluetooth headset has a rated talk time of 12 hours and a rated standby time of 15 days.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5out of 5 user reviews
decent product-no support
Pros: caller ID-Viberate-easy to pair
Cons: NO WARRANTY SUPPORT
out of 5 user reviews
Here today, gone tomorrow !
Pros: can wear it around your neck, vibrating alert, lcd display
Cons: sounds tinny
out of 5 user reviews
Not that impressive
Pros: Small, lightweight and neat features
Cons: Poor battery life and terrible reliability
out of 5 user reviews
Well Pleased With the BlueAnt V12 LCD
Pros: Vibe Alert, Caller ID
Cons: Bulky because of Vibe Alert, Ear Bud need Cushion Cover for Improved Comfort
out of 5 user reviews
The actual performance of the V12 is very disappointing.
Pros: Great idea for a headset, but all the bugs aren't worked out yet.The buttons and controls are well laid out and accessible. Redial function works well.
Cons: Sound quality is poor. Very tinny. Generally shrill. Regularly drops and disconnects calls. Very uncomfortable earpiece and hook. The promised talk time of 12 hours is more like just 4 or 5 hours.
On the other hand, the 662 has been a great headset--except when I received it, it didn't include all the directions. It stated the 662 would be ready to use after just a 90-minute charge, but that was only referring to charges between uses. So I only charged it for 90 minutes before I first used it, instead of the necessary 8 or 9 hours for the first charge. While talk time was initially in the 6 or 7 hour range, in the last 3 or 4 months it's dropped to just 45 minutes to an hour. If there were a way to just replace the 662's batteries, I'd just replace the batteries, and you wouldn't be reading this review.
The V12 also drops and disconnects about half my calls. The 662 never drops calls, unless the battery is getting low. Even then it has a distinctive warning beep letting you know that time is running short. When the battery actually dies, the 662 automatically transfers the call back to the phone. The V12 not only drops the call, it disconnects the call--without warning or notice. This can happen 2 or 3 times during a 30-minute call.
The V12 earpiece is also uncomfortable after 15 or 20 minutes. Instead of soft rubber like the 662, the V12 hook is semi-hard plastic. Ouch.
When the V12 arrived, its readable (exceptforphonenumbers) LCD screen stated it had a 90% charge. Given my previous not-charged-enough experience with the 662, I was hesitant to use it at first. The included and thorough V12 instructions said to recharge once the battery dropped to a 20% charge. So I went ahead and used the V12. I noticed the battery charge generally dropped by 10% with each call. If I started out at 80% at the beginning of a call, it was 70% at the conclusion. After the next call it dropped to 60%, etc. So I'm not sure how accurate the battery level indicator actually is because sometimes a phone call would last just 15 minutes or it might be 30 minutes.
A great advantage of a BT headset is the ability to utilize Voice Dialing with the simple push of a button. The 662 always performed this feature flawlessly. The V12 works well about 75% of the time. I think this means it's just best to use a SE BT headset built by the same brand manufacturer of whatever BT phone you have.
Finally, while this may seem like a pretty negative review, the V12 is a great idea. I think I just encountered too many first-generation flaws--for me.
