I'm not really much of "gadgetman" to be honest... But there's been something I've been lusting after for a while - in-ear style bluetooth headphones. I opted for the TechReview: Plantronics BackBeat 903+ Stereo Bluetooth Headphones. They are pretty good - although you do have to fiddle with the "telescope" (up and down) movement to get them to fit on your ears properly (I've got little "pasta shell" ears!) They paired perfectly fine with iPhone, iPAD and MacBookPro - and they work with ordinary calls, and Skype admirably. My main reason for wanting pair of in-ears like this - is one of the 1st-World problems I have is getting tangled up in cables, and I also wanted something neater to wear when recording chinwags/podcasts.
The pairing process was painful - and the device appears like an AppleTV or any other "Airplay Device"
Do they work. Yes. How I want them too. Not really. Firstly those plastic lugs that are meant to push into earholes - don't really fit properly - especially with my pasta shell ears. Having previously owned some Bose in-ear headphones with the ergo-nomic lugs, this feels like a step back:
I was given these by a sponsor as thank-you gift for being a panel session at VMwold 2011. Sadly, I left them on a plane last year. 😞
I still have different shapped plugs from Bose (you get backup set because not everyone ears are the shape and size...)
The other thing that doesn't really work are over-the-ear buttons on the Plantronics... so you do wind-up hunting for the device (the iphone) to adjust volumes and skip tracks and change volume.... But that's made easier by having no cables...
The other thing I would say is how the "feel" on the ears. A bit weird. Especially if you walking around town in coat & scarf. You go turn your head to check you left-side for on coming traffic and it feels like they will come of your ears. So there's tendency to want to turn your entire body to look around. So long as you forward facing all the time, your okay, but in a urban environment where your looking around a lot less so. That said when your indoors and don't have scarf or coat-collar in the way there's more movement.
Finally, the built-in mic. Works perfectly fine for calls and Skype - but I'm not convinced by their use for podcast recording. Quality seem "choppy" via the MBP. So in the end I used a hybrid model. Platronics as headphones, with the microphone being my Blue Snowball Podcasting mic. With the benefit of hindsight perhaps the Plantronics Backbeat GO In-Ear Wireless Bluetooth Headphones instead...
