Anthony's FRESH PLASTIC

Misleading, no? Bluetooth stereo ...unplugged

nobody@vox.com(Ant UK) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:07:47 +0100

When's Bluetooth stereo not Bluetooth stereo?

Good question - but I would say that as I just asked it myself! First sign of madness is that! Anyway, enough talking to myself and on with the post...

I was in the market for a new pair of Bluetooth stereo headphones for my phone and PC. I went online and saw what appeared to be what I desired and near-identical to a pair I lost earlier this year. Excellent, I thought, they're a good price and I liked the ones I'd lost - so I ordered them.

Well, they arrived Tuesday and they weren't quite what I expected. I received the items (also got a BT GPS) I ordered. No mistake there, all well and good. What wasn't well, nor good, was the fact the headphones weren't Bluetooth stereo. Sure they were stereo, sure they contained Bluetooth but they weren't Bluetooth stereo/stereo Bluetooth.

Here's a snippet from the email I received from the company in question, BlueUnplugged regarding this:

'Our website clearly states that these are stereo headphones but a mono headset.
As long as the headphones are unused and in an as-new, re-saleable condition then we can accept them back.
You will be offered a refund and you can then place a fresh order for the A2DP headset if you wish to do so.'

Personally I don't think their website is at all clear. These are in the wrong category on their site for a start and, like I said, they're listed with the title: Stereo Bluetooth Headphones! But, they do indeed say they're:

'High performance stereo headphones/ mono headset.'

...on their website, albeit not in the short description at the top, but nestled down below in the "full" description. And I'll have to take their word for it that it was there at the time I ordered (another reason to take screengrabs of every little detail on product pages of any items you buy on the interweb).

Anyway, make your minds up for yourself...

They're unplugged alright!

Opinions please! What did you make of that?

Oh, the lengths I go to when I get poor service from a company... these things were only a tenner and not worth the effort but I'm a principled man and I don't like just throwing £10 ($20) away for no good reason!

All it would've taken for me to be a happy bunny was a refund and for them to correct their site. I'd have then gone on to use them in future, recommended them to friends and posted about them (presumably in a good way) had they done that. Now? Well they're really "unplugged" and I'll be going elsewhere. The interweb is great, there's hundreds of alternatives! Bye, bye.

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The dangly bit is the least of my worries...

nobody@vox.com(Ant UK) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:13:54 +0100

Jabra BT325s

D'oh this particular headset is completely useless for my needs - no Bluetooth stereo (aka A2DP)! These looked just like a white version of my black Jabra headphones. They even had similar names: BT320s (old set), BT325s (new set)!

They were even listed as "Jabra BT325s Stereo Bluetooth Headphones"
but alas, I didn't read the description carefully enough*. My bad! Oh well, these are no good. No A2DP so no stereo Bluetooth. The idea behind these is that you plug them into a digital music player and the Bluetooth connection with the mobile is purely of the good-enough-for-a-phone-call type quality. As my five-year-old nephew would say... Ahhhh maan!

*Wait a sec the description clearly implies that these are "...Stereo Bluetooth Headphones". That's clearly misleading (although probably unintentionally) and the description isn't 100% clear - certainly wouldn't be for a "normob"

Looks like I'll be contacting BlueUnplugged tomorrow. I'll be on the phone a lot by the looks of it (issues with my landline, ISP, another online retailer and I'm sure a couple of others - and 3 tech support will probably be checking to see whether I still don't have internet service!)

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What do I do with the dangly bit? Jabra's BT/wired headset!

nobody@vox.com(Ant UK) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:49:40 +0100

Just over an hour ago I received to brand-spanking-new Bluetooth accessories to replace those lost recently whilst in New York. One is a Navicore GPS receiver, the other a Jabra stereo headset. I ordered the headset as it appeared to be almost identical to the one I lost and it was a great price (less than a UK tenner!) Unfortunately the headset is quite the same - compared to what it's replacing it's grown a "tail"...

The one on the left is my old one (BT320s) and the one on the right is my new one (BT325s). The former's picture was "borrowed" from Amazon UK and the latter was taken by yours truly! The white one (the new one) has a hardwired cable attached (the dangly bit). Both have removable earphones.

I'm about to head out so this is yet another half finished post...

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Whilst looking for replacement BT headphones...

nobody@vox.com(Ant UK) — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:10:23 +0100

Take headphones AND speakers with you into the train carriage? Not me, I just wear and go!

Yep, the above are headphones AND speakers. Oh, and look ma, no wires! The only thing that could make this combo any better would be GPS built-in to the top - best personal navigation ever! Would be ideal for Nokia Sports Tracker.

Now the important questions about the Jabra BT8030 speaker/headphones:

Do these sound any good as headphones?
Do these sound any good as speakers?
Is there a safety mechanism that prevents accidentally activating speakers whilst on head?
How long do the batteries last?
Do they have the stupid flashing lights that my previous two headsets have/had?
Are they heavy?
And exactly how stupid will I look wearing these? (I can handle 'a bit' and 'a little' but nothing more!)

I found these on Mobile Fun but they didn't have a price, on Google Product Seach US they're around $150/£75. There's a bit about them on Ubergizmo (from September)

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