Motorola H700 Review

Introduction:

Since Bluetooth headsets came on the market, we have witnessed the developing of various designs and solutions, influenced by fashion as well as by functionality.

Today we will discuss a representative of Motorola, which, besides its attractive and shiny look, is also very functional and compact. This is the Motorola H700, successor to HS850; we would define it as the smaller-next-of-kin to the latter with regard to size and weight.

The user receives the following items in the set:

• Motorola Bluetooth H700 headset
• Travel Charger
• User Manual
• Quick Start Guide
  

What you get is only the indispensable, without any extras to raise the price of the headset.

Design:

Motorola has several colors of H700 on offer, so you can choose the most appropriate one. They are black, black, blue black, cosmic blue, plum, fire red, silver quartz and D&G. The unit we had at our disposal for testing was silver quartz. The headset is a combination of two types of silvery plastic; the polished part is very susceptible to fingerprints, so we had to frequently clean it during our test in order to make it shiny again.


Like the previous model HS850, the H700 also relies on the so called “folding” design, but is significantly smaller than its predecessor, with dimensions 43/64 x 27 x 17 mm (1.69/2.51 x 1.06 x 0.66 inches) when in closed/opened position respectively. Moreover, the new headset is considerably lighter – the 20 grams of HS850 have been reduced to 14 grams in H700.


You dispose here of a microphone boom that can opened or closed; this, apart from being a designer solution, serves as an on/off button. Thus switching the headset on and off is exceptionally fast and easy, done by a single natural movement, similar to the opening of a clamshell phone. When not in use, one must simply fold it and leave it without the need to worry that they might have left it turned on – a feature to be appreciated by those who have a more dynamic lifestyle. The microphone itself is at the end of the boom, slightly protruding (as you can see), and surrounded by soft grey rubber serving as a shock-absorber at folding.

Like most of the other company models, the H700 has a total of three buttons – a call key and two programmable volume keys. Finding them is trouble-free as they are all somewhat bulgy, therefore detectable at sliding a finger over the surface. It is very easy and convenient to press them and the tactile feedback is quite good, with a quiet “tick” when pressed. The easiest way is to use the finger tip, but handling them with the soft part will not be a problem, either. As a whole, we are very satisfied by the lightness of operating the H700.


The light indicator is round the call key and has the same oval shape. The color (red, blue, green, yellow, and purple) and light intensity of the indicator supply information on the current state of the device.

Besides the microphone boom, there is another moving part – the earhook for securing the headset to the ear. It is made of grey plastic and the areas of contact to the skin are rubber-lined – a feature, meant to render the unit more convenient to wear. We are going to discuss whether this has been achieved further in the review.

Functionality:

Connecting the headset to a telephone (or another Bluetooth unit) is a fairly easy or even, in our opinion, pleasant job. At the very opening of the microphone boom, the hands-free is ready to be detected and paired, which is indicated by a constant purple light. In case you need to pair the H700 to another device, just hold the call button for about 2 seconds while the headset is closed; when the purple light is on, simply open the microphone boom. Both procedures present an exceptionally easy and elementary way to connect: the designers of the device deserve our congratulations on this achievement.

The rest is rather traditional: you will be required to enter a code - 0000 by default. At this point you can once again set one of the two volume buttons for “up”, depending on your personal convenience.

Range

Battery

Performance:

According to information, supplied by Motorola, the headset’s 130 mAh Li-Ion battery is supposed to endure as long as 6 hours of talking time or 200 hours of standby. Bearing in mind, however, that on many occasions there are discrepancies between catalog data and reality, we subjected H700 to long-conversation testing at maximum volume and the unit was able to make 4.1 hours (247 min). This is quite a modest duration, but we should not forget that this headset features noise reduction and echo cancellation technology (DSP) and its result is still better than the one of Plantronics 655 (also with DSP), though worse than that of Nokia BH-600.

We also tried how the unit operated when it was at a distance from the phone. The H700’s achievement was merely 12 meters before signal quality dropped. As a result of this, another drawback may emerge: when you put the H700 in your pocket it is likely that there will be (though not all the time) interference during conversation.

While talking, the sound is very loud; however, speech is somewhat muffled and accompanied by constant background noise. At the other end of the line your voice is less loud and sound quality is worse, again somewhat muffled and with stronger bass frequency, at times even inarticulate. No matter how hard you try to talk loud when there is booming music, your words will be rendered unintelligible. At strong winds in the open, the headset’s performance is also mediocre, worse than that of models such as H670 and H800.

Comfort:

Motorola H700 relies on the company’s traditional earhook, therefore putting it on is as easy as that of, for instance, H800. Using only one hand will do the job and will also be enough for placing it in the most comfortable position. Much to our regret, moving the set to the other ear is equally traditional and difficult, and takes both hands and several seconds. It is not advisable to do so while driving as it may distract your attention from the situation on the road.


The headset is fixed to the ear comparatively steady; however, it sways at rapid movements. We tried to make it drop, but even after very powerful jerks it would not “pop” out of the ear.

Another important feature, apart from the easy putting on and the steady positioning, is the convenience of continued wearing and usage. During the time of our tests we disposed of enough time to wear it, so we can confirm the fact that the combination of low weight and soft ear-set is sufficient for comfortable wearing for as long as 1 – 2 hours. A more protracted use (over 3 hours) will cause a slight discomfort due to the unpleasant feeling of the earhook pressing onto the ear. In this case one should simply adjust the hook by barely moving to a new position: in this way, it is more difficult for the ear to get tired. Yet, we would be glad if Motorola should alter their earhooks’ design and not make their penetrating part so thin and sharp.

Conclusion:

This headset will certainly appeal to users who look for compactness and convenience. It is so easy to operate that it will hardly take you long to get used to handling the unit. Unfortunately, its limited coverage influences the quality of conversation and the distance at which you can walk away from the phone will be also rather limited. At times there is interference even when the telephone is in your pocket. The noise reduction and echo cancellation technology does not show a particularly good performance, so its effect is hard to feel in a real environment.