With its flexible behind-the-head cord and impressive sound quality, the SBH170 headset is poised to crank your tunes wirelessly. Does it make for mobile music nirvana?
Review summary of the Samsung SBH170:
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 The Samsung SBH170 stereo Bluetooth headset delivers impressive sound quality, especially with music, but we never got used to the awkward behind-the-neck design, which made us worry that the headset might slip off any second. We also found the controls to be a bit small for our hands, and pickup on the microphone was on the weak side. Still, style-conscious music lovers will appreciate the SBH170's sleek, unobtrusive look, especially compared to some of the ungainly Bluetooth headsets we've tested. Release: October 2006. Price: $120.
Pros: Lightweight. Excellent music quality. Inconspicuous earpieces. Easy setup.
Cons: Uncomfortable neck strap. No multi-device support. Buttons are a bit small.
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Full Samsung SBH170 Review:
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Design - Good
The Samsung SBH170 headset most closely resemble a set of behind-the-neck headphones, with a thin flexible band curving over the top of your ears and behind your neck. Samsung calls this a "Shape Memory Neckband," though its level of flexibility is questionable; we heard a cracking sound when we tried to reshape the part of the band that goes over our ears. Overall, the SBH170 headphones are not very comfortable, and we were constantly worried they were going to slip off. They do look much less goofy than many of the clunky stereo Bluetooth headphones we've seen, with clean, matte black surfaces and unnoticeable buttons. In fact, the buttons were just a bit too small for our taste, requiring a bit of practice to find.
Sound - Good
The SBH170's headphones sounded excellent, especially in the low-to-midrange. We tested them with songs by The Who, downloaded from Napster and sideloaded onto the Samsung SGH-A707 (a.k.a. the Cingular SYNC). While drums kicked and the guitars thundered nicely, some of Roger Daltrey's screaming vocals felt restrained. The headphones were plenty loud in our quiet office, but lacked the oomph to drown out oncoming trains in the subway, and tended to cut out when we tried to press the volume button up past the limit. Call quality was disappointing. Listening through the earpieces produced a fade-in effect on calls between long pauses. The microphone had trouble picking up softer voices indoors, and really suffered on a crowded New York street, forcing us to raise our voice and draw stares from curious passers-by.
Setup and Calling - Good
Setting up the SBH170 was a breeze on our Samsung SGH-A707. The phone recognized the headset immediately and sent music to the earphones with no problems. Our Palm Treo 700p synced easily as well, though we couldn't pair both devices simultaneously as you can on other stereo headsets, such as Sony Ericsson's HBH-DS970. Our Dell Latitude D420, which supports A2DP, recognized the device, and though it couldn't pair, we can't be sure this isn't a Windows issue. Voice dialing worked fine with one press of the call button; redial is activated with a longer press. The headset interrupts the music when another call comes through, and switching between calls was easy, once we memorized how long to hold the call button.
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Score: 80% When: August 2006 Worth: $40 - $90
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The teeny, tiny WEP200 lets you make voice calls, redial numbers and look relatively inconspicuous while you're chatting in public. Will your wireless buddies hear you loud and clear?
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Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970
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Score: 90% When: June 2006 Worth: $125
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Finally - a small stereo Bluetooth headset that won't make you look like you're attending a science fiction convention. We review Sony Ericsson's petite and powerful HBH-DS970.
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Price and availability
The Samsung SBH170 is available now for $120.
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