I have been persuaded to try Bluetooth again. I’ve been waiting for a set of stereo headphones that I wouldn’t be completely ashamed to be seen wearing. A Plantronics 590E recently came my way and I gave them a try. For once, I am reasonably content. (I know they have been around a while but for some reason it took me ages to get hold of a pair.) I also became the ‘keeper’ of a new Stowaway® keyboard and mouse at the same time.
Why was I disgruntled with BT? Maybe I just had bad luck with the BT accessories I attempted to use in the past. I always had to constantly re-pair them to my UMPC. Sometimes after everyday tasks such as resuming from standby, e.g. BT GPS. I like to try new gadgets (obviously) but when it comes to things I need to use in my daily life I am pretty impatient. Try navigating for your wife in the middle of a hectic French city and having to say ‘hold on a minute while I reconnect the GPS antenna and scan the COM ports….’. The novelty wears off *very* quickly.
These headphones could get me back into the fold, though. They look ‘ok’. Being wire-free is almost priceless. I no longer send my UMPC flying to the floor when I jump out of my chair. I also like the volume control, mute, and prev/next features. And, they don’t use batteries so I don’t get caught with no power as long as I remember to recharge. Last, and definitely not least, they are stereo!
Installation was pretty easy. Once I got the pairing done, the drivers were installed automatically (I made sure I had a net connection before I started). There is still some room for improvement though. The pairing is preserved but I have to reconnect them in the BT settings control panel nearly every time I use them; this is a bit more than mildly irritating and spoils the spontaneity of listening to music.
The sound quality isn’t stellar either. But the benefits far outweigh any of these these small problems.
I haven’t tried them with my smartphone yet – not sure I would either, the scenario doesn’t really match my phone usage. But I am going to try VOIP with them.
As for the mouse and keyboard. I like the mouse, I use it all the time at my desk. The keyboard not so much. It is an interesting piece of engineering but I find my small USB keyboard is more reliable and easier to use. Oddly, the Stowaway keyboard doesn’t have an on/off switch which means the battery dies really quickly. It is supposed to have a power save feature but after a week in my bag it was dead. I guess the battery in the box could have been quite old.
Anyway, I'm back to using BT which is a good thing.
Disclaimer: these are just the personal opinions of the writer. Not intended to endorse, promote or otherwise critique any particular products. Just to share experiences.