Motorola Motopure H12 Bluetooth headset review

24 December 2007 9:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Motorola's latest Bluetooth headset is, according to the company, so stylish that even David Beckham is happy to be seen wearing one in the advertising campaign, but does that mean you should? We get testing to find out.

The Motorola H12 is a stylish little number with equally stylish docking station and travel case. About half the size of the Jawbone, the small silver model features a power switch, answer/hang-up button, and volume control as well as a clear plastic ear hook which unfortunately doesn't have any padding.

With three different sized headphone cushions there is bound to be one that will fit your ear and all it all, as the publicity speakers suggest, it's small compact and un-intrusive.

Likewise the stand, which comes in a matching silver metal (it's not a tacky plastic) is small and compact with a single micro USB charging socket out of the back although frustratingly not the same micro USB socket used on most cameras.

The headset snaps to the charging dock thanks to an included magnet an there is a status light so you can see when its charging three colours let you know the rough status of your charge: red for under 80%, yellow for over 80% and green for charged.

The indicator light also lets you know the charge away from the charging stand giving you warnings of up to 5 hours, 30 minutes to 4 hours and less than 30 minutes.

Finally it will flash in so many other ways to let you know what's going on, however with so many combinations beyond just the charging and battery status (there are 10) you probably aren't going to remember what's what anyway.

Beyond the stand for your desk the Motopure H12 also comes with a travelling case that allows you to charge it while it's tucked away from harm. The size of a Kinder Surprise egg it will keep the headset safe, but again, the USB dongle won't be practical for most business travellers.

When it comes to pairing Motorola has tried to make it as easy as possible so when you turn it on for the first time it automatically goes into easy pairing mode. Rather than having to press numerous buttons all at the right time, all you have to do is switch it on and search for it on your mobile phone.

In our pairing tests it was all incredibly easy with the easy pairing solution offered every time but without the need to do the pair process.

In use and the H12 is very good. We could hear all the callers clearly however some did report back saying that we sounded a bit distant.

The headset has a promised talk time of up to 5.5 hours while the a decent standby time meant that you don't have to remember to recharge it every night.

Verdict

Overall the Motorola Motopure H12 performs well, although its worrying that some callers reported that they couldn't hear us as clearly as if we were on the handset.

Complaints? Only that a lack of padding on the ear hook meant after time it was uncomfortable and without the clip it would most likely fall out very easily, and some audio issues.

That said its still one of the better headsets we've tried in recent months, as well as being small and stylish enough to be okay to being seen using. Always a bonus.

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Review Recap

Made by: Motorola
Price as reviewed: £69.99
The good: Small, compact, good sound quality
The bad: Ear rest becomes uncomfortable after time, people complained we sounded "distant"
Quick verdict: The Motorola Motopure H12 performs well, although its worrying that some callers reported that they couldn't hear us as clearly as if we were on the handset
Score