Bluetooth Headsets

  Ok, so in my epic failness, I ruined yet another bluetooth headset because they don't like to be washed and dried with the laundry. I have to say though, if you tend to forget to empty your pockets, Motorola makes a fine product, the last headset survived 4 or 5 washing and drying cycles. In all honesty, I think the only reason it didn't survive this time around is because the laundry took a lot longer to dry. The ear piece had started to melt this time around.

  So, enough of the failness.... onto the reason for this post. I needed a new bluetooth, so I wanted one with A2DP. A2DP is essentially the support for STEREO audio over bluetooth. Bluetooth started out as MONO audio, because it was most commonly used as wireless headsets for phones. There are tons of uses now for bluetooth that I won't get into. The reason I wanted an A2DP headset is because on Android, if you want music, or other audio from your phone (besides calls of course) to be piped through to your headset, you need A2DP. For instance, say your using your phone for GPS navigation, the internal speaker isn't going to work well if you're jamming out to some tunes. Now your alternative is to get ALL your audio through your car's speaker system, which means either a wired or FM transmitter, which is nice, but not convenient. I had a tape deck adapter (my van has tape and cd). This is great until you get a phone call. So now you've lost your music, if you decide to take the call. All in All, A2DP is the way to go, and I'll explain why.

  So, I figured if I had to get a new headset, I'd look into A2DP headsets. I also have the insane problem of breaking the stupid ear hooks, so I wanted one that I could get a replacement ear hook. So I'm browsing ebay, and low and behold, I find not only a bluetooth that has A2DP, and a replaceable ear hook, but it's darn cheap too. Enter, the BlueAnt Q1. Now this puppy used to retail for about 130 bucks, which I'm just not going to pay. I mean really? My Android phone which has better specs than most netbooks (screen size as an exception of course), was only 199 with a contract! So I'm looking and I found a new one, for 27.99 with free shipping. You can barely buy a JUNK bluetooth in the stores for that price, so it's a good deal. As I'm reading up on this particular headset, I find out there's an Android app (free no less) that will READ my text messages to me. Now I know they had one out when I got my phone (which was well over 100 bucks) that would do that, but since I won't pay that for a headset, and I don't text a lot, it seemed like a waste. I didn't get the Q1 for that feature, but wow is it nice. I can be driving, get a text, and this baby reads it to me! I can then call them back, completely HANDS FREE! This baby is probably about as good as it gets for this price!

  Ok, so no product is ever going to be perfect, and the Q1 is no exception. All in All, I have to say this thing is nothing short of amazing, and I still can't believe the price (I now see it on Amazon for 29.99 with Free shipping. I got mine on Ebay for 2 bucks less, and it shipped from NY so it was QUICK!). So here's what I like about it. It does what it needs to. Pairs easily. If you have Android, it'll read your texts to you. It can pair with *8* devices. It can be connected to *2* devices at once, and answer calls on either. If your on one call from 1 phone, you can't take another call from the 2nd phone, but for people that may have 2 phones for whatever reason, this could be great! You know, if you have a work and personal cell. When someone calls, it's 100% hands free! You can say "Answer" and it connects the call! Telling the bluetooth "Check Battery" tells you not only the level (low, medium, high) of your bluetooth, but also the phone! How nifty is that! You can also use speed dials, which I don't have setup in my phone, but plan to. It will make dialing your 8 most frequent people just that much easier. I'm guessing that they didn't do the number 9 because that's frequently used for 911, and figured people might mistakenly say (or the headset might hear you wrong) and all of a sudden your explaining why you called them when you don't need help.

  So, what I don't like..... you knew it was coming right? My biggest complaint, is the fact that to use voice dialing, it's an extra step. You have to say "Phone Commands" after hitting the button. It then takes like 3 or 4 seconds to tell you it's going to use the phone's voice commands. I think this could be shortend to just say "Phone Commands" (or even nothing) to tell you it got what you wanted. This gives quite a delay in itself, but then it takes 2-4 more seconds (atleast on my phone) before I get the "Speak Now" from my phone. This could be lag, but previous headsets have been close to instantaneous. Also, saying "Battery" instead of "Check Battery" somehow thinks I want to go into pairing mode. Certainly not a killshot for this device, but more thought into what people might say would have helped. Kinda like an auto-correct.

  So that's about it for the Q1. It's an awesome headset despite the few quirks I don't like. Mine was missing the earpiece which is supposed to be mailed out to me. It actually works without the ear hook, it comes with 3 sized in-ear gels, so it can be used either way. They work pretty good, but it's not really my style. It stays in for 30-120 minutes without falling out, maybe I'm just not used to it. So if your looking for a new bluetooth, and you have an Android phone, and your on a budget, this is the bluetooth to get!