Mention Bluetooth headset and the first thing that comes to most people’s minds are those headsets that are supposed to fit snugly into your year and let you receive calls without having to pull out your handset or diddling with a wire – at the cost of looking a bit like someone who has either a hearing problem or is from sci-fi land. Well, Sony Ericsson have decided to get a bit liberal with the “wireless” bit that Bluetooth automatically connotates and have actually thrown in a wire with their VH700 “noise shield” headset.
Yes, it is a Bluetooth headset and yes, it also has a wire – only it connects the single earpiece (an earbud) to the rectangular main unit which houses the Bluetooth receiver, the controls and battery, and which has to be clipped on to your garment. Before you ask, the earpiece is totally integrated to the main unit, so do not harbor notions of pulling it out and using your own set of headphones. And at this very stage, it would be prudent to point out that, this is just a pure headset – there are no displays and no FM radio with it.
The VH700 is a very elegant looking headset although it is not the head-turning type – classy rather than spectacular with its smooth finish.Mind you,the white model we got is liable to start looking a bit stained in next to no time, so unless you love cleaning stuff, we would recommend going for the black one! We love the fact that Sony E has gone for “real” buttons rather than the touch ones that we saw on the MW600, as it helps you know when you have actually hit a button. Also the volume control and the power on/off buttons are on different sides, which minimizes the chances of confusion. The clip has only one tooth to attach to your garment but is sturdy enough. And the headset has a micro USB port which means you can even charge it off your notebook, which is always handy. The earbud has a call handling button on the outside but it is the microphones above and below it that Sony E claims help cancel noise.
Setting it up the headset was very easy – our phones (Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and the X8) detected it without any problems and worked without any hassles. Incidentally, this headset can be connected to two phones at the same time, a very good feature in these multiple-gadget times. The earbud fit snugly into our ears and the control unit did not drag down our shirts, unlike some others. Call quality was excellent while receiving, but we must confess that not all the people we talked to felt any change in our voice quality, although there were one or two occasions when we were able to talk quite freely in spite of a lot of ambient noise (the Kashmere Gate metro station at rush hour), something we could not imagine doing with a normal headset. Battery life was pretty good – one charge saw us through for almost three days.
So all in all, does this make the VH700 worth the Rs 2,800 price tag ($50 on Amazon) slapped on it? Well, we found it to be a very elegant headset that worked very well. Yes, the price does seem a bit on the stiff side, and we must confess that the fact that the earphone cannot be removed from the headset is a matter of some concern for us as we have seen too many connecting wires go bad, which in this case would leave one with no other option but to go for a new headset. Also, we would have liked an FM radio and maybe even a display like the MW600 has. As of now, we think it is a smart and solid performer and well worth the money.
And heck, if you have a Samsung Galaxy Tab, the white version of the VH700 would be just what you need for receiving calls!
Looks perfect to me, but I still love my old BH.. it really sounds good.