micke-midlife on February 17th, 2009

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Nokia launched a Bluetooth stereo headset today in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress (MWC). The so called BH-214 is a stereo headset with in-ear plugs that come in three sizes. And with the soft silicon ear pieces the headset appears suitable for taking it out and bouncing around in the streets (no no, no parkour in my age anymore, it’s about plain old running, flat out, steady and fast). Here the fact sheet.

The advantage with a Bluetooth headset is of course no fiddling around with cables going to the handset. The disadvantage, you need to remember charging it. But standby times of beyond 10 days and music/talk times of 7-8 hours help here to not run out of juice too quickly, however it’s easier to forget charging ;-) .

The big question of course, can you run with it?

To say it upfront, Yes you can!

First thing you notice the difference is when putting the gear on, no stowing away the excess cable. And putting in/taking out the handset from the pouch is not messing with the cable. Second big plus is operating the music player from a large 4-way button. No need to take the focus away from running. And thirdly, the sound quality. It doesn’t beat your Sennheisers, but it’s way better than the cable headsets that come in the box of your handset. It’s like comparing your grandma’s radio with a Bose Sound system (ok, slightly exaggerated, I admit). And something really cool, if you’re into wearing your Sennheisers while running out in the streets (gives a lot of street cred!), you just plug them into the 3,5mm jack that sits in the Bluetooth module.

The earpieces have the same soft silicon lip that comes with the Nokia N79 Active package, comes here in three sizes as well. They fit nicely into the ear and don’t fall out easily. Further they close out noises in the surroundings pretty well. You hear more of your own breathing than another runner saying hello. Perfect for all ego-trips. You can really focus on the music. One recommendation though, open your eyes when running in traffic.

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