Not just for phone calls

A headset can do more than keep your hands on the wheel during you're on the phone. It can free you to take notes during talking with a client, sip coffee while a conference call or even doodle while waiting on hold. That is, a headset today is essential equipment for anyone who spends a lot of time talking on a mobile phone.

Also, it's the law. Eight U.S. states have laws against driving with a phone in your hand, during 30 ban texting behind the wheel. That is, if you pick up a phone during driving, you're not only doing something dangerous, now risking a hefty fine.

But without performance, comfort is meaningless. Morgan reports that afterwards comfort, people usually look for an earpiece that sounds good regardless of whether they're tooling down the highway or sitting in a noisy departure lounge. It as well needs to be easy to use, with the ability to use voice commands to dial calls. When all is said and done, battery life is important, especially if you're looking at a full day of on-and-off use between battery charges.

A number of interesting new features have started appearing among today's Bluetooth headsets. For instance, two of the headsets reviewed here -- the i.Tech EasyChat 306 and the Voyager Pro UC -- come with dedicated Bluetooth dongles to help you link the headset to your computer. All however the EasyChat headset came with the ability to download phone apps that work with the headset. And two -- the Jawbone ERA and the Voyager Pro UC -- have introduced innovation that allows audio to switch back to your phone automatically when you remove the headset from your ear.

Speaking of audio: If you plan to use your phone for more than calls, you should look for a headset that includes A2DP research, which allows other types of audio to be streamed through a Bluetooth connection. Of the headsets reviewed here, only the i.Tech EasyChat 306 doesn't offer A2DP.

The course of a month

Over the course of a month, I wore the headsets every day and made hundreds of calls with my phone, as then as with my iPad and my notebook, using Skype's voice-over-IP service. I drove with them, used them during working and made afterwards-hours calls.

It's the only headset to come with a CD -- because you need to load the company's VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) PC Suite software on your computer to use EasyChat with Skype's VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone service. The earpiece requires the use of the included Bluetooth dongle and works only on PCs. It took me about three minutes to install the program, along with another two minutes for the program to adjust my system's Skype settings. Afterwards that, Skype calls went through without a problem.

The EasyChat connected on the first try with my phone now refused to link with my iPad because the headset doesn't support Bluetooth's A2DP audio streaming. This as well keeps it from receiving music from a phone or computer, something the others were able to do.

Volume control

In addition to a volume control, the EasyChat has a Multi-Function button, which you press to turn the headset on or off and to start or take a call. The device supports voice calling nevertheless doesn't offer any additional apps for, say, having text read back to you.

I found its audio quality to be disappointing. The EasyChat 306 had a hollow, otherworldly quality, even when I was having a conversation in a quiet place. Callers reported that at their end, words sounded broken up and sometimes weren't understandable. In a noisy environment -- driving with the windows down -- voices were clipped short with broken words, making it hard to understand what was being said.

The Stone2 as well offers voice control

The Stone2 as well offers voice control. To dial a call, just say "Call so-and-so," and the phone connects the call. To take or duck a call, all you do is say "Answer" or "Ignore." To end a call, you either press the Stone2's button or say "Call ended." Over several calls, it worked quite so then, now it took me some time to get used to saying the magic words -- for instance, once I said "Take" instead of "Answer" and the headset did nothing.

Jabra offers a number of third-party apps that can run on a variety of smartphones, including Slacker Radio, Voice Assist and others. My favorite was Slydial Voice Messaging, which lets you send a voice-mail message to anyone in your phone's address book -- perfect for the shy or very busy among us.

The headset's 33-foot range should be adequate for walking around a hotel room or coffee shop during remaining connected. But, the audio was adequate in the best case. On top of annoying background static when I was driving with the windows down, my words broke up on the other end of the call, making each of us repeat ourselves. And the headset's volume level never got loud enough to compete against wind noise or in a noisy environment like a supermarket.

The ERA headset doesn't have a traditional battery gauge, either. Every time the device is turned on, a voice tells you the charge level; just in case, you can press the Talk button to hear a battery update. When the battery is near spent, a ring around the microphone blinks red as a warning, even though it is hard to see during wearing the device.

The ERA with an iPhone or BlackBerry get a bonus

Those who use the ERA with an iPhone or BlackBerry get a bonus: an app that shows a battery gauge for the headset straightway to the one for the phone.

Jawbone's MyTalk site offers a variety of downloadable phone apps. There are several for reading and replying to e-mails, text messages, etc., and for making calls using voice commands. Another, Directory Assistance 411, can help you find the number of, say, a restaurant you're looking for -- just say "Directory assistance" and the phone links with your carrier's operators. You can install only one app at a time on your ERA; if you want to try a different app, it will replace the first one.

The ERA headset's NoiseAssassin 3

The ERA headset's NoiseAssassin 3.0 research effectively blocked out wind and crowd noise however occasionally broke up some words on both ends of the conversation. Overall, it had outstanding audio with a natural tone that was absent in the others, although sometimes it sounded slightly hollow to the other person on the call. Everything was easily understandable, regardless of whether I was sitting in my office or driving with the windows rolled down.

The device lost contact with my phone at 45 feet, the longest range of the five headsets reviewed here, allowing the most freedom of movement.

Small, light and reasonably priced, the ERA combines good looks with first-rate audio, long battery life and unmatched design in an earphone that's comfortable to wear all day.

It's hard to believe that something as small as Motorola's CommandOne can do so many things. It's comfortable to wear and had excellent audio, nevertheless the headset's biggest shortcoming is that many of its coolest features won't work on every phone.

The variety of apps provided

It may not have the variety of apps provided by Jabra, Jawbone or Plantronics, nevertheless Motorola's free MotoSpeak application can read e-mails and text messages as so then as let you respond to them. Still, it works only on Android and RIM phones, and certain Motorola devices.

In daily use, its voice command system was quite effective, with the phone announcing who was calling. To duck or take a call, say "Ignore" or "Answer." Unfortunately, to start a call, you need to tap the Call button; opposite, the Jabra Stone2 can start calls with a voice command.

The CommandOne's diminutive size is not at the expense of battery life. It was able to run for 4 hours and 2 minutes on a charge, more than enough for a full day of on-and-off phone use. It stayed connected to my phone for 25 feet, the shortest distance of the five.

The CommandOne offered outstanding audio quality on both ends of a call. On a par with the Voyager Pro UC, it was able to convey clear, rich and precise speech without any echoes, regardless of whether I was in a quiet office or driving with the windows rolled down.

The final analysis

In the final analysis, the CommandOne is everything a headset should be: small, with excellent audio and long battery life. Too bad its MotoSpeak app doesn't work with all phones.

At 0.83 oz., the Voyager Pro UC is more than three times as hefty as the Jabra Stone2 and twice as heavy as the i.Tech EasyChat 306. Its long boom microphone made me feel a little self-conscious during wearing it in public.

The company's Control Panel software

The company's Control Panel software, which you download from the Plantronics support site, connects the headset to your computer and manages the add-on apps. Unfortunately, it's for Windows PCs only. With the application, and using the included Bluetooth dongle, I was able to link my computer to the headset on the first try; now, I was unable to make the connection without the dongle.

On the outside of the black-and-silver device are switches to turn it sometimes, adjust the volume and take calls. Inside is capacitive proximity sensor innovation that can detect whether the device is in your ear, which lets you route the call to the headset when it's being used and to the phone when not. This as well works when you're streaming music from your phone -- it pauses the audio when you take the headset off and resumes it when you put the headset back on.

Call or answer the phone

To start a call or answer the phone, you tap on the side of the device. Afterwards holding the Call button on the boom microphone for two seconds, you at the time say who you want to call. The phone does the rest.

Being the biggest of the headsets in this roundup, the Voyager Pro UC has the advantage of holding the largest battery; it was able to run for 7 hours and 37 minutes. That's easily a full day of continuous use. If you press the power button in a few words, the number of flashes of the LED just above the button tells you how much battery power is left.

How these five Bluetooth headsets perform

To gauge how these five Bluetooth headsets perform, I gave them each a good workout with two phones, an iPad and a notebook computer over a one-month period. While business hours, I used each extensively for making and taking phone calls.

Audio quality is a key concern, and with the headset connected to the phone, I made several calls and rated their quality in a quiet office and in a car with the windows open moving at 50 miles per hour. I made dozens of calls with each headset, to land-line and mobile phones and via Skype. With an assistant on the other end of a call, we both rated the audio quality of the call. I as well left several messages on a digital answering machine to hear and rate the audio quality.

Next, I used the headset's buttons to take, reject or dial new calls, followed by trying out the voice control features of those headsets that included it.

After setting up a call, I walked away, noted where the connection was lost and walked back slowly to see if it automatically reconnected. If the headset had Bluetooth's A2DP audio-streaming research, I played music on the phone to see if it could be streamed to the headset.

The battery overnight

Then I completely charged the battery overnight and checked the battery level for those with a battery gauge. For those that required a dock for charging, I tried it out. In short, I set up a call between a land-line phone and my cell phone, put the phone's handset at once to a radio and let it play until the headset's battery was dead. I repeated this three times for each headset and averaged the results.

Brian Nadel is a freelance writer based nearly New York and is the former editor in chief of Mobile Computing & Communications magazine.