CES 2007: Live Report

As always, in addition to the cellphones there were plenty of Bluetooth headsets presented at the Consumer Electronics Show 2007. Showcased were models from various manufacturers, including Nokia, Jabra, Parrot, Plantronics and many more, but here are some that caught our attention.

Nokia announced a trio of headsets with interchangeable covers that are expected to launch in the first quarter of the year.

The BH-301 is narrow block that is attached to the ear by a double earhook in the form of a clip. This design is comfortable and usable, and Nokia has already used similar attaching mechanism in its previous models, including the high-end BH-900.

Nokia BH-201

The BH-201 is very small and stays only on the top of the ear – it plugs into the ear-canal and you don’t have to use an earloop. This model has in-ear design with three custom sizes that will help it fit almost any ear, an improvement compared to the BH-800, which had fixed size and was useless for people with tiny ears.

Nokia BH-100

BH-100 is targeted to first-time users, with its simplicity and attractive design at small size and weight (only 0.38oz or 11grams). It comes with a few colorful earloops in the box.

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Parrot MK6000

Parrot presented its MK6000 – a car kit we are in love with, just by its specifications. It is designed as simple control box with answer/reject keys, navigation wheel and additional keys for music control – yes, it controls music that receives through A2DP from your phone. Attached to the car stereo MK6000 will play both the music and the incoming sound (during a call) through the car’s speakers, bringing you sound strength and quality that could not be achieved with car-kit’s small speaker. The outgoing quality should also be very good, thanks to the “Parrot Beamforming” technology using a couple of microphones for improved DSP.

Parrot Minikit

Don’t worry if you need a great handsfree car kit that can be used also at the desk in your home or office – the Parrot Minikit is designed to operate in any environment as it is totally wireless and works with its own power source (battery) and speaker. It be placed on your desk or attached to the car’s windshield’s sun-shade.

Parrot Conference

Unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to play with the Parrot Conference – it is Bluetooth-capable conference kit that is used with cellphone but is also capable of Skype conference, with its Skype software menus. It has 5W speaker for incoming sound and three microphones for 360 degrees (for conference) talk with echo-canceling technology.

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Jabra BT8010

Jabra showed the BT8010 – a “standard” Bluetooth mono headset with stylish design. Use a couple of them, and you have a wireless stereo attached to both of your ears. The headset comes with multi-point connector in order to connect it to two devices at the same time (music player and a phone for example) using wires.

Jabra has cooperated with Klipsh (an Audio-equipment manufacturer) to do a stereo kit that can be used with phones or music players featuring 3.5mm jack (like the iPod).

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In Car Charger	Compared to 645
Plantronics 665

Upgrade to the 655, the 665 by Plantronics is claimed to be the world’s first headset with two-way DSP – in addition to the clearer sound the other party will hear when you use it, the incoming sound would also be filtered in order to reduce the noise. The 665 comes with car-charger in the box – such one was missing in 655’s and 645’s boxes.