My Big Present
My wife got me a Jabra Freespeak Bluetooth Headset for Christmas. It rocks. It's been a few years since I got something I *really* wanted for Christmas, but this year was not one of the let downs. I think most techies are the same way - it's hard to explain to family members what you want without having to be so specific you feel like it'd be easier to just to go out and buy it yourself, right? And everything else just isn't as fun. But this year, Ana nailed it and I got a present that really put a smile on my face and a "oh boy I can't wait to try it!" feeling in my stomache. That rocks.
What makes this gift so great is that I wasn't expecting it at all. I had tried to find a Bluetooth headset a few weeks ago, but didn't have any luck near me or in any of the stores close to work. I had basically given up and figured I'd either order one online or wait until they got more common around here. I actually went so far as to look up online what some of the good headsets were and this is one of the highest rated, so it's great that Ana happened to find this one during her last-minute rush.
I've paired it with my Nokia 6600 and Ana's T610 without any problems. You simply hold down the function button on the back for a few seconds until the LED turns solid, then tell your phone to look for new Bluetooth devices. It'll detect the headset and prompt you to pair, which you do with the default number 0000 and you're done. After that the sound is piped through the headset just as if you were plugged in. That is *weird*. It took me a little while to get used to it because it just doesn't make any sense! It does take a few clicks and a few moments to connect later if you turn off either Bluetooth or your headset and then want to use it again, but it's nothing major. Less time, I'm sure, than finding and untangling a wire headset.
You can talk for like 90 hours and turn the headset off and the battery will last for like 300+ hours which seems pretty good. I was afraid of having *yet another piece of equipment* to have to charge up daily - I'm running out of plugs. We'll see how long it lasts in practice. I set up a few voice tags for my phone so now I can dial just by speaking, and it works well. I guess the 3650/6600 also support some additional functionality which I'll have to play with like 3-way calling and call rejection.
My only problem is that the wrap-around ear-piece doesn't fit well when I have my glasses on (obviously) - this wasn't a problem with the wire headset. And honestly, it's heavy! I'm not used to having something plugged into my ear like it does (very snuggly) and then having a chunk of plastic dangling there. It's definitely going to take some getting used to.
Anyways, it's a very cool present that I'll be using daily on my commutes to and from work and generally any other time I'm in the car as it's a standard and it's basically impossible to drive and hold a cellphone at the same time and the wire headset always seemed to get caught on the shifter or something. This will be much cooler.
Cool beans. What did you get for Christmas?
-Russ