Mobile travelers who aren't near a power outlet need something better than Lithium Ion. Larry Garfield looks at the battery-powered Jabra BT110 headset.
One of the big names in the headset market, Jabra, is after a new market niche with its new Jabra BT100 Bluetooth headset. Navy blue and white with an elongated behind-the-ear body, the BT110 is a unique design. The 26 gram headset is dominated by the behind-the-ear battery compartment, which provides the headset's main attraction.
 | The BT110 has some novel features, and significant problems
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While most Bluetooth headsets are powered by a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery, the BT110 takes a standard AAA battery (included). The company estimates 15 hours of talk time off of a single alkaline battery, and during our testing period at least battery power was never a problem. The BT110 does not have a standby mode, which saves power, but with a boot up time of only 5-6 seconds that does not cause any problems.
Pairing the headset is an uneventful affair, as it should be, as the BT110 goes into discoverable mode every time the battery is removed and replaced. Controls are kept very simple, with a Call button on the base of the headset, below the ear, and a single volume button the top. Pressing the button cycles through 5 distinct volume levels in order, which does simplify the interface but can be clumsy since there is no way to go back a level. The headset sits comfortably behind the ear with virtually no flapping, although as with other behind-the-ear designs it can be a bit difficult to put on without practice.
The BT110 uses Jabra's trademark MiniGel in-ear piece, which helps eliminate ambient noise and channel sound directly into the user's ear. Extra earpieces are included for users with different size ears and simply reversing the gel piece swaps the headset from right ear to left ear. Audio quality, thanks to the MiniGel design, was superb. Reception, on the other hand, was another matter.
In testing, the BT110 had a line-of-sight range of about 5 meters, somewhat below average but still respectable. With just a head in the way, however, range dropped to barely a meter, and there was some static even just putting the phone in a pocket on the opposite side of the body. In addition, the design of the headset puts the microphone next to the user's neck, not mouth, and while it picks up what the wearer is saying perfectly well it also picks up a great deal of ambient noise. On the whole that makes for at best a clumsy conversation except under the best of circumstances.
The BT110 runs on Bluetooth 1.2 for reduced power consumption and interference, but can fall back to Bluetooth 1.1 for legacy devices. It also supports both Headset and Handsfree profiles for compatibility with all Bluetooth phones on the market.
Availability
The Jabra BT110 is available now for $69 USD in North America, with availability in other markets expected shortly.
Conclusion
The BT110 is a good idea, implemented not as well as it should be. It takes all of the best features of Jabra's other models, such as the MiniGel earpiece and no-flapping design, and combines it with a novel idea for battery power. Unfortunately, it then misses the boat on reception quality, a problem that negates its otherwise strong showing, and the one-button volume is almost too simple. If reception quality and ambient noise reduction were better then we could recommend the BT110 for any AC-power-adverse user, especially at this price. As is, though, most users will be better served by a more traditional headset unless they definitely need a AAA-powered headset.
- What's positive: Replaceable battery; MiniGel; no flapping
- What's negative: Poor reception; poor ambient noise reduction
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