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| Samsung WEP470 Review |
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| Written by kill4killin | |
| Saturday, 14 November 2009 | |
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So, a little while back you may rememberthat Woot.com had a deal on a bluetooth headset for $20 +$5 shippingwith a $20 mail in rebate. Seeing this as an opportunity to finally grasp some bluetooth techno goodness for myself and do so on the super cheap. My only regret, as you will see from my review is that I didn't buy more of these things. Sound quality: From what I understand about bluetooth headsets is that sound quality is kind of hit or miss most of the time. And it seems like this one is a hit, at least in my experience so far anyway. The WEP470 comes with background noise isolation built in and it does a fair job of filtering through the noise of the environment, however, I have tested it in a few noisier places and was sad to find out that while driving on the highway, the background noise seemed to be rather audible to the party on the other end of the line. This is not to say that it drowns out your actual voice, according to people I have spoken to, they can still hear me just fine, but there is a persistent whirring noise in the background from the wind noise outside the car. Similarly, if you are outside and it is particularly windy, it picks up on that unfortunately well and in some instances completely drowns out your voice to the other party. However, for every day use, the WEP470 provides satisfactory sound quality and relatively good background noise isolation, like in a coffee shop or the grocery store where there is occasional conversation and noise in the background. Durability and Construction Quality: So far, the WEP470, has held up very well. It's extremely light and therefore is naturally rather drop resistant. It's hard external shell and compact design leave little do break if it should fall off your ear which, leads me to my next point. Thank God for the around ear clip, because the headset does not stay in your ear at all if you don't have it attached. The WEP470's ear piece fits into most sized ears, however, the ear piece does only come in one size and one size does not fit all, so, in this case, YMMV. Some may find that it fits quite well and stays in without the additional clip attached, however, most people, like myself, will find that it falls out quite easily and will want it attached. Once attached, it becomes one of the most secure fitting headsets I have ever used, I could probably wear this while riding my mountain bike and feel confident it would still be there when I finished. The only complaint I have is that it does become a little bit uncomfortable after wearing for several hours at a time. I've been wearing it about 10 hours a day for the last week I have owned it and I think my ear is finally getting used to it, and the slight discomfort on the outer edge of the ear where the clip rests has been gradually disappearing when worn for extended periods. Usability: The WEP470 has 4 external buttons. It has a very easy to use on/off switch on it's top edge. A rather large pick-up/re-dial button on the side and two volume buttons on the bottom edge. When you receive a call on the phone, it's very simple to press the generously sized pick-up/re-dial button on the headset to answer the phone. My only minor complaint in this ear is about the choice of audio tones for certain activities. When receiving a call, it sounds awfully depressing, almost as if it is relaying some kind of bad message something like connection to phone device lost rather than incoming call. Similarly, when the headset does lose it's connection to the phone, and it does so when you approach an approximate 20 foot distance from your phone, it makes a sound that seems to imply something more cheerful, like, say, incoming call. However, minor gripes about audible tones aside, the headset operates flawlessly, each button makes a tactile "click" when you press it so you know, even if you don't hear a beep, that you have in fact pressed it down and the blinking blue LED on the outside of the headset gives you a visual clue about the state of your headset as well for the times when you do not have it in your ear and instead are giving your ear a break and have it set on the desk. It turns red momentarily if power is lost for whatever reason, it blinks steadily when turned on and connected and it holds a solid blue color when you have it in pairing mode, which leads me into my next and final point. Ease of Setup: I was very impressed by how easy the headset was to pair to my phone. To place the headset in pairing mode you simply press and hold the pick-up/re-dial button for 3 seconds and the LED will turn a solid blue color. Then set your phone to pair with it and it should detect the headset almost immediately. The only trouble I've had with this step so far is in my office building. I work in a call center as my real job and we all use bluetooth headsets for our cisco IP phones. There are over 40 people alone in my own department and there are 5 such departments both on the same floor as I am on and on the two floors above and below my floor. All total, there are probably about 300 bluetooth headsets active and talking daily. My poor phone sat for almost 5 minutes trying to take all of the information in. Finally, it gave up telling me that there was an error with the pairing feature on the phone and to try again. I believe, however, this is more a function of the phone than the headset, but I digress. Overall the headset is very easy to use and on some phones doesn't even require a pin to pair, but when it does it's just "0000" so it's easy to remember it if you ever need to re-pair it up with your phone. Summary: On the whole, I am very pleased with this headset. It's not one of the fancy headsets that has the microphone that picks up your jaw bone vibrations. But rather, a rugged, no nonsense, no frills bluetooth headset that will work in most every day situations without any issues or complaints. The retail price for this headset is around $20-$30 at most online retailers and, as in my case, can often be found paired with some pretty slick rebates as well. If you are in the market for a no nonsense headset, this is definitely one to add to your list to check out. Comment (0)           |
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