Initially I intended to drop by the expo tomorrow, but since we were free after the movie Madagascar why not give the place a visit today instead. Met Mark there, who brought a new Dell laptop. Dom wanted to get one, but we turned down dell after a shocking exit (literally) one of the display 6000 series laptops shorted or so & the whole case was “live” sending many into a tiggling 1/2 second of numbness. Ouch.
There is nothing much in this year’s PC show, & thankfully its not as crowded as the previous exhibiting at Suntec. I dropped by wanting to check out the 2Gb compact flash prices & maybe get a bluetooth stereo headset or so. Neither did it turned out that prices here are actually pricier than that of simlim! There are only 2 type of wireless bluetooth headset on sale in all, the Prolink stereo heaset & the Endigo 4 in 1 bluetooth audio player which really caught my eye. The prolink one is a very stylish black (street styled) backphone player costing $175 but its just a bluetooth audio streamer player & nothing else, while the $269 Endigo one, though slightly larger has an MP3 player, FM tuner, Bluetooth headset + mic & Bluetooh audio streaming all in one. After some intensive testing of the headset, heres a personal short review on the Endigo IBMH-200 bluetooth headset:
PROS
- Acceptably light for a multi-function device (<100g), a far cry from the iphono bluetooth headset in size.
- 4 in 1 functions with backlit LCD display in right earphone.
- Bluetooth pairing is fast & easy.
- Radio reception is ok (little noise indoors)
- All play controls easily accessed on right earphone.
- Buttons have tactile feedback
- Reasonable 6 hours of audio streaming battery life, 7 hours for only MP3 playing & 120hours for standby.
- Pairing up to 5 devices, identified with the name BLUETOOTH MP3 HEADSET auto cuts music & to take cell calls & auto resume.
CONS
- Still a little on the bulky side.
- Cheap/flimsy built (The Prolink one is more solid though)
- Audio quality is good on the mid, but lacks on bass & highs.
- Doesn’t have interchangeable covers, non-sleek ulgy design, few available colours.
- No spare/interchangable earphone sponges
- Headphone not adjustable nor foldable.
- Expansion card STICKS out of player ulgy!
- Expensive ($269), though you can bargain it to $240 or $250 with a 128MB SD card.
- BIGGEST FLAW – Mic not sensitive enough (my friend can’t even hear me on a test call, even on max setting/sensitivity)
Something they don’t tell customers is that this is actually a rebranded headset made by the China OEM manufacturer OMIZ. Comparing this to Sonorix bluetooth headset or the iphono one, this headset is really something ahead of its time (with the 2 previously mention manufacturers only offering either of features in each of their products but not all 4 the Endigo offers), considering how we are still messing with wired headphones now. I guess this headset can be further improved & with a few fixes here & there & bugs ironed out, if so I guess the perfect bluetooth stereo headphone will come around the corner pretty soon. Well, with the exception of possible brain damage & such from extended bluetooth radiation, I guess thats a separate story to discuss about for a different day.
& oh yea, in the end I didn’t ended up buying the headset. haha.
