Motorola HS810 Bluetooth headset review

19 April 2004 12:11 GMT / By Stuart Miles

The greatest problem we found with the new Bluetooth headset from Motorola wasn’t that it made all our calls sound like we were underwater, nor that people we talked to complained of poor quality voice or speech at their end, but the fact that there are no instructions in the box on how pair the device with your Bluetooth enabled phone.

To be fair, that was our only real complaint but consumer clairvoyance isn’t something Motorola can expect, even after ten years of using mobile phones. It seems that you should know that you have to hold the call activate button down for over 5 seconds until the blue light stays constant, as it seems, you should also know that once the light is constant you then extend the boom mic and then start the search from your phone. Once you’ve done this of course you’ll know that the pairing security number is 0000.

Once you’ve managed to work this out using tea bag readings and tarot cards you’ll find that you’ve actually got a very nice headset in front of you. The styling- a pebble shape design, is light -20grams light- and comfortable to wear with the boom mic folding onto itself to make for an even smaller device to pocket or lose.

A one-button control acts in an all controlling manner offering activate, deactivate and hold functions while the unit also houses an up/down volume control. The earpiece can be swapped for left ear or right ear users and battery life offers 5 hours talktime and a standby time of up to 100 hours. Those looking to walk while they talk will be pleased with a Signal strength good enough to reach 10m and it’s strong enough to reach you even if you stray into another room when on the phone.

Verdict

If it weren’t for the lack of instructions in the box this product would rate very highly. Before you ask, no they weren’t just missing from our test unit and we did receive a brand new sealed unit. It seems Motorola has spent so much time telling us what the headset offers in multiple languages that it failed to mention how to use it - even James Bond has Q to tell him how to use his smaller gadgets- if there’s an Adobe Acrobat .PDF manual on the web somewhere we didn’t find it and in any case, that’s cost-cutting gone too far on a new product. However that aside- we don’t bear a grudge for long at pocket-lint.co.uk - this is a very competent headset that performs well.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Motorola
Price as reviewed: £60
Latest price: Compare prices
The good: Good performance once configured
The bad: No manual for lesser beings
Quick verdict: Frontier wireless phone telephony. If Motorola want to save money they should print the instructions on the back of the box.
Score