Related
because in order to get it, I had to cut the original earbuds off...
How did I get to do this? (either read the story or jump to the end.... )
I had first tried out the Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 and found out that it was not enough compatible with the HTC Universal (e.g.: after a call it would not continue to tranmit the music stream)
I then tried the HS-12W. All important features are supported, just ID-Tags are not transmitted nore is the name of the caller (but the number is).
On top of it it has a RDS-FM radio built-in...and looks good too...I decided I wanted to keep it.
Only problem: I could hardly understand anything....the original earbuds had a shape/size that just sat so strangely in my ear that the front was not exposed to the inner ear but rather covered so that the sound level was just too low.
Since I am one of these guys who do not give up easily when they are convinced of an idea, I was looking for a solution to the problem.
I remembered an enhancement item for the original ipod earbuds: I bought a couple of Griffin Ear Jams. I cut them in a shape to fit the Nokia buds and glued them to the rubberborder of the ear buds. Not bad at all. It was loud and had much more bass than before.
It did not maybe look supergreat with these white add ons, and frankly, the more I was listening, I found the sound to be lacking treble and somewhat sounded like from under a pillow. My personal belief is that the original earbuds are lacking treble in order to reduce the transmission of some white noise caused by the BT connection...and with the Ear Jams in place that enhanced the bass the pillow sound was perfect. It was really not bad at all, but as I said, with the time I noticed it more and more...
Before buying the Nokia, I had used Sennheiser CX-300 headphones when listening to music. An excellent value for money, it rivals easily headsets of double the price.
Now, all of a sudden. with the Nokia, I had no use for the Sennheiser anymore.... It was just laying there, on the board, getting dusty.....
should I never ever be using it anymore? Such a good pair of headphones...if only the Nokia had better earbuds...
Do you guess the rest?
Yes, i did it: I cut the original earbuds from the Nokia, freed the Sennheisers from it's cables...and transplanted them onto the Nokia HS-12W....
Yes, it worked. And it sounds just soooo good.
where did you cut it? just near to the earbuds or at the connection to the neck? (the other end of the cable)?
My problem is with the Universal + HS12W combo is that its SOOOOOO stuttering :evil: . If its on me, the Uni is in my hand, it can stutter... it can always stutter... I ask: why?? Maybe it's not because of the reception quality because at home I can move to the other room and it doesn't loose the connection just the stuttering factor rises... Is it the bandwidth or lacking CPU?
I'm starting to think about throwing it to the wall...
other con: radio sensitivity is very BAD.
I cut them somewhere in beteen the earbud and the microphone so i did not lose the speaking function. (sennheiser is only headphone).
i agree with the suttering issue. i tend to believe that it is more the pda side..bad antenna construction..but at the end who cares if it does not work...i must say the way i am using the combo i can live with the shortcomings. i also feel the stuttering increases with the transferred bitrate.
as far as the fm reception is concerned: i am not unhappy with the quality, obviously it is n ot noise free most of the time, but i get my main stations in a reasonable manner, i find. (and then most of the time i am listening to internet radio streams..i am on a 5GB plan...
cheers,
Andy.
AndyME said:
I cut them somewhere in beteen the earbud and the microphone so i did not lose the speaking function. (sennheiser is only headphone).
i agree with the suttering issue. i tend to believe that it is more the pda side..bad antenna construction..but at the end who cares if it does not work...i must say the way i am using the combo i can live with the shortcomings. i also feel the stuttering increases with the transferred bitrate.
as far as the fm reception is concerned: i am not unhappy with the quality, obviously it is n ot noise free most of the time, but i get my main stations in a reasonable manner, i find. (and then most of the time i am listening to internet radio streams..i am on a 5GB plan...
cheers,
Andy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can agree with the bad radio construction on the uni side.. This was mentioned in an other topic too I think . It's good you have 5GB plan.. we have only 200MB for a reasonable price.
How do you control the bitrate between the devices? Does the mentioned registry setting (hklm\sw\ms\bluetooth\a2db\setting) working? I've started to play with it, but originally, this key hasn't existed.
i was thinking about the lifetime of this device, because of the battery (not replaceable)by user, and the fixed headphones... looking ath the price of that headset i don't want to throw it away after just one year..
Hi kchris,
sorry for late reply, I did not get a notification.
re. bitrate control I cannot comment. I just meant to notice that with higher bitrate e.g. different quality of radio streams, the connection is more sensitive since the buffer holds less seconds of sounds.
I only have a problem if i use the universal in the rear pocket of my pants. the body is a real obstacle for bluetooth waves, it seems. not very elegant, but it works: if you hang the display over your shoulder so it hangs down on your back, there is no stuttering if the htc is in the rear pocket....(at least in my case).
There is a screw at the back of the device...no I have not opened it yet...lol...but I would guess one can have access to the battery easily, the question is only where to get a new one from... :?
(Between you and me: gadget freek that I am, I would be surprised if I still have it in one year....but who knows...I really like it...)
Exchanging against the Sennheisers for me was a great solution, the sound has improved so much, I did not expect it, I must say.
I have to admit: I love to adapt things to my needs....
There are headsets where you can use the headphones of your choice, but I think in this case the mic must be in the device itself, so it will be quite far away from your mouth..or maybe it could have a mic on a cable that you have to clip somewhere high on the shirt..I don't know how good this is supposed to work or how convenient it can be...
I notice there is alot of disussion over BT headsets, and several threads adressing range/crackling/'static' noise .
However, none of them clearly identifies several BT headsets which won't have problems with using range with Universal - as our pet gadget definetly have it's own issues performing considerably worster then other BT phones / PDA-s with headsets.
So I would kindly ask you all to identify me few models of BT headsets you are using and which can normally communicate with universal in most common situations without crackling/static/disconnections.
I have used old Nokia HDW-3 - and it performed excellent, I could walk all arround the room, turn my head in any direction, stand in between phone and headset (even with universal) and it would sound flawlesly. However, I got the new headset X-sport - very tiny (less then 8g) and fitting me comfortably, but alas, when I charged it and tried to use it - it crackles even if my Uni is on the desk infront of me and I turn my head away.
Please advice on models I could mail order without fear of showing this flaw.
Dalm said:
I notice there is alot of disussion over BT headsets, and several threads adressing range/crackling/'static' noise .
However, none of them clearly identifies several BT headsets which won't have problems with using range with Universal - as our pet gadget definetly have it's own issues performing considerably worster then other BT phones / PDA-s with headsets.
So I would kindly ask you all to identify me few models of BT headsets you are using and which can normally communicate with universal in most common situations without crackling/static/disconnections.
I have used old Nokia HDW-3 - and it performed excellent, I could walk all arround the room, turn my head in any direction, stand in between phone and headset (even with universal) and it would sound flawlesly. However, I got the new headset X-sport - very tiny (less then 8g) and fitting me comfortably, but alas, when I charged it and tried to use it - it crackles even if my Uni is on the desk infront of me and I turn my head away.
Please advice on models I could mail order without fear of showing this flaw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using Sony ericsson Stereo Bluetooth Headset HBH-DS970. The coverage and sound quality are excellent. It offers full A2DP funtionality with Windows media Player as well as pocketmusic. The hardware controls on this headset include Forward and previous track button (which really work with my universal with Darkforce Rom), volume control and an OLED display which displays the caller ID (number only). Voice dialing works perfectly. The earpiece looke like normal earphone (no buldging contraption on the ear like most bluetooth headsets.
Bottom Line:
Any radio freq. is line of sight. So if you turn your head and the two radios (Receiving & Transmitting) are not in LOS, it means that the signal needs to bounce off something else, or go through something, (in this case probably your Head ) which causes the signal to fade, hence the interference.
Laubscherc said:
Bottom Line:
Any radio freq. is line of sight. So if you turn your head and the two radios (Receiving & Transmitting) are not in LOS, it means that the signal needs to bounce off something else, or go through something, (in this case probably your Head ) which causes the signal to fade, hence the interference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bluetooth range is also sometimes ROM specific
I'm quite aware that line of sight provides optimal radio connectivity. But in theory as well as in my experience, good bluetooth connection should be able to cope with such an obstacle as my head providing that distance is about 50 - 70 cm.
However, I guess that most of Universal users are well aware that our devices have inferior performance to most 'regular' mobiles on the market. Is it location of the BT module or ROM - I don't know - it would be great if it's ROM as it would make it relatively fixable. I'm using QTEK latest shipped ROM 1.30.77 WWE together with R.13.00 radio ROM - but willing to change if it helps.
However, by what I red in other threads on this forum, inferior performance is more likely caused by location of BT module in the device.
Thus some headsets which have better BT transmission and reception (more radiated power and better reception) due to their construction should provide us with better BT performance). Thus the 'field test' is only good pointer which headset to buy or not to buy. For me, BT headset which can't communicate from my belt to my ear when I break line of sight by my hand swinging while I walk - is unusable - I'll much rather wear a wire
I tried my old Nokia HDW-3 and it performed great. On the other hand I tried that X-sport tiny one - it was disaster. Now I'm waiting new examplar of good old Nokia as well as Jabra BT800 - I'll report about the field tests
I've tried two options with my QTEC 9000 and using Windows Media. I bought Motoroka S9: really nice concept with the BT unit embedded in the back of the headband, and the sound quality is excellent, and switched between music and calls easily, the track forward (but not backward) control worked, buttons easy to manipulate. Several drawbacks however: it becomes uncomfortable on your ears after an hour or so due to the the design and the hard plastic used (may depend on the shape of your head) and the phone mic only works through one earpiece not in stereo (this is stated in the documentation, it was not a problem with my setup). The fatal flaw however was the BT range. It worked fine when I hold the phone behind my head, inches away from the headset BT unit, but this was impractical for extended periods of time When I put the phone in my jacket pocket or shoulder bag, the continual breakup of the signal made it unuseable. The phone signal performed better but for music this has very limited success and certainly doesn't work as a mobile device, which is sort of the point.
I then bought a Sony Ericsson HBH DS200. The range problem is resolved, music streams fine with my device in my pocket, shoulder bag or briefcase. I can walk around a room and listen to music and make calls no problem, although the music signal drops out when blocked by my body and the distance is about 2m or more. The swithching back to music after taking or making a call is a bit flaky, sometimes i need to reset the devise again to reestablish the connection, but sometimes it works OK. No caller ID on the headset, no volume control, no track back/forward, so it's a bit basic, but after the previous experience, I'm just happy it works. The supplied earbuds are good, and you can unplug them and use anything else you want with a 3.5 jack.
Hope this helps.
Jabra BT800 Jabra BT250V Plantronics A510
The Jabra BT800 (or 810, whatever it was with the LCD) would not get very loud with my Universal. It also wasn't very secure. The LCD would have been cool though...
The Jabra BT250v was very secure, could get plenty loud (most times), but had crappy reception, and worse reception when/if an SD card was inserted. When I say crappy reception, i mean bad. At arms length the headset started having static. As far as I could tell it was only I who heard it, but when I started hearing static, the person on the other side couldn't really hear me.
Plantronics A510 is the bomb!! (in a good way). I have only had it for a few days, but it is super lightweight, gets plaenty loud enough, and I can walk almost 30 feet form the Universal and keep a connection. AND thats while I have an SD card in! It's less than $50 on amazon and is their #1 selling product! It has 1700+ reviews on the site, which I found impressive.
AllanonMage said:
The Jabra BT800 (or 810, whatever it was with the LCD) would not get very loud with my Universal. It also wasn't very secure. The LCD would have been cool though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm the issues with the volume for noisy conditions. In that case I have to manually raise the volume on the headset.
In my silent office the volume's just fine, but yes, it could be higher by default.
I never experienced problems with the range or any disturbances.
With the Universal on my desk I can even wander around on my balcony, which means being about 4 meters away and having no direct line of sight.
With a direct line of sight static gets noticable at about 8 meters, which is living room couch to kitchen sink
I got the BT800 from a good friend who felt uncomfortable wearing it and he told me, that he experienced range problems if the phone was in his left pocket and HS on his right ear. He was using a, mmh, i believe a wizard at that time and the behaviour didn't change after switching to a btv 500 or 250.
This brought me to the theory that range problems in case of small distances are closely related to the belly size of the user.
EvilJogga said:
This brought me to the theory that range problems in case of small distances are closely related to the belly size of the user.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PRICELESS!!!!
Hey All,
I drive alot for an expedite company, at times in vans and at times in Straight Trucks. Sometimes these trucks van be very loud, as as I can get bored while driving, I talk alot. Here is what I am looking for in a good bluetooth headset, lets see if all you wonderful people can point me in the right direction. Importance of an item is listed from top to bottom.
Oh, this is for an Alltel PPC6800 (Titan) so it is a bluetooth 2.0 phone i think.
1. It needs to pick up me, and not the noise of the truck or that of the road. This is a very large problem with most Bluetooth headsets I try. The ability of the headset to help block the noise around me so I can head well is also a plus.
2. Voice Quality. So often I get crackle or drop out with some headsets. and this can be with as little as 3ft to the phone, quality is a must.
3. Comfort. I currently have a Jabra over the ear headset, and after I wear it more than an hour or so it is sore in my ear. Good comfort is a must.
4. Battery Life. I talk alot when I am driving, nothing better to do, and in most states holding the phone while driving is illegal. Since there is no headset jack on this damn phone, my bluetooth is primart, thus good battery life is a must.
5. Price. Not a major issue. I have no problem spending on a headset that will do what I want. I am not rich by any means, but not afraid to spend $100+ it is really works well and will do what I want. I am not looking for the hype, I am looking for the function.
As a side note, I have no problem with bigger headsets, even full over the head ones (which in some ways I like better). Or a headset that can be a combo such as a good stereo headphone and good phone headset.
Please help me oh wondrous and great xda geeks, you are my only hope.
Mia
I have a Jawbone. It has noise cancelation technology. I think Plantronics has a similar model, it's a little cheaper.
I would assume the noise canceling works well for people hearing you, how does it do for you hearing them in a loud environment?
Mia
I am very interested in a Bluetooth FM Transmitter. I am interested in both technologies; voice and music. I like the idea of the Motorola line t505 and roadster, but i am not sure either of these have voice command for any kind of phone book. It would be nice if i could dial with voice command. And of course it would be nice to have decent audio quality. Any ideas?
BTW - i have a mytouch 4g
I've had the Roadster myself for about a week and a half now, and the MyTouch 4G just a week beyond that. I love having a no-wires setup for both calling and music playback, especially since no aux adapters were ever made for my car's headunit.
The Roadster has a nice little speaker on it for voice communications (don't fret, call audio can still go through FM audio), a decent FM transmitter*, good battery life, and easy to use buttons. I specifically like that you can manually adjust the broadcast frequency across the whole FM band, rather than be married to a handful of presets that may or may not be crowded in your area. A nice benefit, also, is that the Roadster comes with a Micro USB CLA, so I didn't have to buy one for my MT4G. =)
* - It took me a few days to find an optimal freq to use in my area, but once I did, the signal was quite strong)
The Roadster is meant to be used with Motorola's MotoSpeak app which, in my opinion, sucks. I've never been overly impressed by voice recognition in general (let me be the first to point out, that may mean I'm the problem ) but MotoSpeak is resoundingly lacking, both in quality, and capability, when compared to the Genius button.
As for sound quality, your happiness will be dependent on your taste in music, and your ear's attention to detail. The audio sounds compressed; while capable of thumping lows and decently sharp highs, the product seems unable to do both at the same time. Any composition that has rumbling bass and crisp highs in its mix will lose one, or both, depending on the tune. (I can't think of the term for this phenomenon... fairly certain its not dynamic range or frequency response, but is obviously related to both.)
To be honest & fair, though, I'm not sure there is an FM solution that will NOT compress audio.
For what its worth - those are my two cents. Congrats, you drug me out of lurking. =)
Cheers,
CS...
Is there one of these that actually work well?
It compresses it because it has to stay within range of a specific frequency. If you played a high-frequency sound on 102.7 (FM), you could hear it on 102.8 (FM) but it would be a lower frequency. Don't quote me, this is just what I understand of it.
Turn your phone's music volume down and make your car stereo amplify it... it seems to work for me.
I am using this one for about a month now:
Soundfly BT Ultimate Bluetooth Car Fm Transmitter
Works well enough.
You can find it on Amazon.
It's not the cheapest, but I've been rather impressed with the Jabra Cruiser 2. As others have posted you're going to loose some sound quality, it can't be helped, but this one seems to loose less than other.
Review of Motorola T505
pnut22r said:
...I like the idea of the Motorola line t505 and roadster, but i am not sure either of these have voice command for any kind of phone book. It would be nice if i could dial with voice command...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have owned 2 T505s. The first I left in a rental car in Boston. I have been very happy with the product. You can use it for voice dialing with nothing extra to set up on the phone (at least in CM7). You just press the phone button on the t505 and wait for it to say "Speak now", then say "Call John Smith on Mobile", or whatever. It has a play/pause button that will start your default music player. It has volume controls for the internal speaker, but in FM mode they function as skip forward/backward.
The device has great battery life. It lasted all the way to LA and back from Tucson, AZ on one charge while listening to Pandora the whole drive.
The built-in speaker is pretty decent for phone calls, but sounds pretty tinny when listening to music through it.
My only complaint about the t505 is it's "Auto Channel Selector" for the FM transmitter. It attempts to find a channel that has low interference, but will sometimes pick a channel way to close to a very powerful local radio station. I have to keep pressing the radio button for it to choose a different channel. I would like to be able to specify a specific channel, but after a few tries it seems to eventually settle on one that works fairly well.
Last I saw they have them on sale for under $50 at Newegg.
looking for a little input from people who have (or have tested) any stereo bluetooth headset on the s3.
Background: I had a LG tone+ which i actually loved and it worked perfectly on my One S. Then i decided to get the s3 and this thing cannot stay connected for ANYTHING. i have tried kernels, roms, hacks, pretty much everything. It would stay connected for a little while, but always would lose connection and not reconnect even after i delete and re-add the headset.
Here are my list of thing i would like to have in the headset:
Decent sound (amazing sound would be prefered but i am realistic here )
sweat-proof (at least to some extent)
connects to the s3 consistently
Would prefer $100 or less but would pay more if its THE headset (not sure THE one exists yet though)
BTW, i could care less what call quality is. I may take an occasional cal when working out, but not often enough to care what my voice sounds like to the caller.
If anyone has any thought or experience, i have been eyeing the following ones, but always open to other suggestions:
Jaybird freedom
motorola SF600
plantronics 903+
Thanks for any help!
frettfreak said:
looking for a little input from people who have (or have tested) any stereo bluetooth headset on the s3.
Background: I had a LG tone+ which i actually loved and it worked perfectly on my One S. Then i decided to get the s3 and this thing cannot stay connected for ANYTHING. i have tried kernels, roms, hacks, pretty much everything. It would stay connected for a little while, but always would lose connection and not reconnect even after i delete and re-add the headset.
Here are my list of thing i would like to have in the headset:
Decent sound (amazing sound would be prefered but i am realistic here )
sweat-proof (at least to some extent)
connects to the s3 consistently
Would prefer $100 or less but would pay more if its THE headset (not sure THE one exists yet though)
BTW, i could care less what call quality is. I may take an occasional cal when working out, but not often enough to care what my voice sounds like to the caller.
If anyone has any thought or experience, i have been eyeing the following ones, but always open to other suggestions:
Jaybird freedom
motorola SF600
plantronics 903+
Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about the LG Tone? From reviews, the sound quality isn't quite as good as with the Tone+, but the range is vastly better and it cuts out far less frequently (if at all).
In fact, I've been using the LG Tone headset for 4+ months now. Mostly I use it at the gym while lifting, but have also used it for running, cycling, and making phone calls around the house (phone is 20+ feet away when I'm talking on the phone). Sometimes I make phone calls while at the gym too (but phone is in my pocket).
I don't think there has been a single time where they have cut out. The sound isn't what I would call "stellar", but it's not majorly worse than the headphone port on the S3. And my comparison point is a wired Sennheiser earbud set.
MetalMan2 said:
How about the LG Tone? From reviews, the sound quality isn't quite as good as with the Tone+, but the range is vastly better and it cuts out far less frequently (if at all).
In fact, I've been using the LG Tone headset for 4+ months now. Mostly I use it at the gym while lifting, but have also used it for running, cycling, and making phone calls around the house (phone is 20+ feet away when I'm talking on the phone). Sometimes I make phone calls while at the gym too (but phone is in my pocket).
I don't think there has been a single time where they have cut out. The sound isn't what I would call "stellar", but it's not majorly worse than the headphone port on the S3. And my comparison point is a wired Sennheiser earbud set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this. I had my LG Tone for over a year before I broke it. I listened to it for at least 10 hours a day while at work. Never disconnected and battery life was great.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Huh.. i know this is a dumb question, but you are using this on your s3 right?? lol the strage thing about the tone+ is it works on my wifes one s almost flawlessly.
How is the sound quality? Sufficient? Not severely lacking in any area? The tone+ had really great sound was actually pretty impressed.
Thanks!! :good:
frettfreak said:
Huh.. i know this is a dumb question, but you are using this on your s3 right?? lol the strage thing about the tone+ is it works on my wifes one s almost flawlessly.
How is the sound quality? Sufficient? Not severely lacking in any area? The tone+ had really great sound was actually pretty impressed.
Thanks!! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read through the reviews on Amazon, there is at least one review between the Tone and Tone+. One guy said that although the Tone+ sounded a little better, the Tone+ eventually got shelved in favor of the Tone because of the poor connectivity of his Tone+.
The Tone sounds good enough to me, though the bass is be a bit lacking. When I'm working out I could care less if the audio is superb.
If you consider yourself an audiophile you shouldn't even consider BT headphones (IMO).
You might consider using a standalone bluetooth receiver (like this or this) and a pair of regular earphones/headphones.
I personally have the Antec one and use it with my Sennheiser CX270 earphones, which works well at the gym.
I have the Motorola S-11HD
Awesome sound, 80 bucks APT-X Codec, 5 minutes to charge, will connect every time and has a range of over 50 feet.
I have the Jaybird and I'd say it's a good choice. Never had any problems connecting to my S3 though some reviews claim the blue tooth is "weak" because of the small antenna size. I wear it on my right arm (for running) or in my pocket. It's worked fine for 4 months of running 3 times a week so far. It has a lifetime warranty for sweat so I'm not too worried about that. The on/off button is less than ideal to push because of it's stiffness and the geometry of the ear bud but I don't use it for calls so that isn't very important to me It has a lot of options for getting the correct fit which is nice. I'm guessing I get about 5-6 hours of play time from each charge (I charge weekly so I rarely run into this).
Overall I'd say the Jaybird is a good option.