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ASUS P505 and Bluetooth Headsets -- In Search of a Perfect Match

Choosing a Bluetooth Headset for a Pocket PC Phone: Matching Matters

I have had trouble using bluetooth headsets with my ASUS P505 Pocket PC phone. My good old Jabra BT200 headset, which worked perfectly with my Sony Ericsson T630 cell phone and my friend's Dopod 818 Pro Pocket PC phone, produces static noises when it is only 1 meter away from the P505. The problem is worst when I'm on the phone walking in a shopping mall or a crowded place -- I hardly hear anything but static noises even when the phone and the headset are 1 meter apart!

My BT200 is about 3-4 years old and I thought the problem might be because the technology in the BT200 is too old and is not compatible with the P505.

So I started seeking for an alternative.

I had tried many headsets during the past two weeks, from a new Sony Ericsson model, the Nokia BH-200, the tiny Samsung WEP200, the Jabra BT500 and BT800, and the pricey and stylish Jabra JX10.

I finally bought the JX10 last Tuesday because it sounded best (because of the DSP feature) and looked great -- the JX10 is a cousin of my favorite Bang & Olufsen A8 headphone as it's designed by the same designer.

Unfortunately, one week with the JX10 and P505 turned out to be a disappointment. The JX10 did sound a lot clearer than my old BT200. But it still suffered from extreme interference and static noises even when it's 1 meter away from the phone -- exactly the same problem as the BT200 case.

I finally made up my mind today to stay with the stock wired headset when I prefer clear telephone signal over the convenience of wireless headset.

But, well, I didn't completely give up: I tried my younger brother's less expensive Nokia HS-36W bluetooth headset on this evening, and, to my surprise, it sounds great -- even when I am 3-4 meters away from the P505. The HS-36W doesn't support call transfers between the phone and the headset as the JX10 does. But this feature is not as important as the good signal.

So, I asked my younger brother to swap his HS-36W with my JX10. He agreed and tried the JX10 with his Sony Ericsson K750i. It worked just fine at 3-4 meters range.

Finally, I found a good match for my ASUS P505.

The morale of this story is that "pricey electronic stuff with great specification are not always good for everyone" and "matching matters".

Keywords: , , , , ,


Update: Nov 11, 06

FYI, the compatibility issue between the ASUS P505 and many brands of Bluetooth headsets are discussed in detail (in Thai) in this thread on PDAMobiz.com. It's also suggested (and verified by me) that there are less noise in Bluetooth headsets on P505's with Radio Firmware V4.4.0 than with V4.5.0.

Comments

vasinp said…
Good conclusion krub. I've changed a lot of PDA & BT headphone in recent years and got similar exprience as yours.

-Vasin
Dr. Thiti said…
Thank you krub, P'Vasin.

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