SonyEricsson HBH-30 Bluetooth headset

HBH-30 is currently the latest Bluetooth headset in the SonyEricsson fleet of wireless headsets. It is also the first headset designed by the combined forces of Sony and Ericsson. Its successor – the HBH-60 should be available soon, but at the time I write this review it is still on pre-order.
Even though Bluetooth devices are still in their infancy, I am very pleased so see more and better quality headsets being offered by well known companies like SE. In my opinion, right now there is a tie situation between two of them – the HBH-30 and the Jabra Freespeak.

Specifications:
• Talk time: up to 4h
• Standby time: up to 100h
• Weight: 28g
• Size/Volume: 25 cm3
• Voice dialing
• Voice Answer/Reject
• Three button MMI
• Answer/Terminate/Reject call
• Speaker/ring signal volume adjustment
• Mute microphone

SonyEricsson HBH-30 compared to SE T68m

SonyEricsson HBH-30 Back

SonyEricsson HBH-30 front

The weight of the HBH-30 can not impress anyone – a standard 28 grams (compared to 9.8 for the Bluespoon). On the other side, thanks to its design, you hardly can feel it once you put it on.
Its battery is housed in the ear loop which is connected to the main body by a flexible rubber neck, used also to provide better grip to hold the headset in place.

The headset sports three buttons – two on the side and on the face. The side buttons are used to adjust the speaker and ringer volumes, mute the microphone and check the battery status. The face button is used to accept, reject and transfer calls. All three buttons are made of hard rubber and I think they should have been made to be pressed easier.
The headset has a small opening next to the face button where a red/green LED is housed. It is used to show the battery status (no sound warning for low battery) and indicate if the headset is on.
Due to the oblong shape of the headset, the microphone is placed near the user's mouth, which brings a lot for the clear sound that the other party hears.

SonyEricsson HBH-30 Accessories

The HBH-30 comes with a travel charger, which by the way is the same as the one for your T300/T68i/m phones. I personally do not like travel chargers, and I'd like SE to include a regular desktop one with their next product. There is also a nice carrying case for you new gadget and a small plastic car holder.
The pairing process was flawless - just hold the on/off button for 10 seconds to enter DISCOVERABLE mode.

Operation
The operation of the headset is extremely easy. I did not read any of the supplied documentation and I was still able to use all of the headset's functions.
The face button turns the headset on/off, answer/rejects calls and is used for voice dialing. As most of you already know, the current generation of headsets and phones do not support “magic word” operation (for those who do not know what I am talking about- “magic word” is the phone's capability to continuously monitor the voice spectrum for a specific word which activates its Voice Command capability). Nevertheless, you can voice dial (preceded by pressing the face button) or voice reject a call (by saying the predefined word like “busy”).

It is very easy to put on and take the headset off. No discomfort was felt wearing the HBH-30 even for long times (4-5 hours). Once put on, the headset stays very securely on your hear. I was afraid that since the microphone's boom is elongated it will wobble but it is hard to get it to budge once put on.
The HBH-30 looks more obtrusive in comparison with Jabra's Freespeak. If you want to be more discreet, you have to go with the Jabra's offering.
Unlike the Bluespoon and the Freespeak, the HBH-30's speaker is not inserted in your ear canal – it merely touches your outer ear. The two sides of this are that such design does not block any outside noises, but the speaker's volume has to be louder for the user to be able to hear it well. I found out that if I travel on a highway (or in any noisy environment), I can not hear well enough my other party (the volume was set to max).

Sound Quality
Overall, I am very pleased with the sound quality. My only complaint is the HBB-30's volume is not loud enough in order to be used in noisy environments.

RANGE:
Surprisingly, the maximum operational range indoors was more than the standard 30 feet – around 40. The headset showed very good indoor range also – around 20-25 feet. Like most other headsets, if you move around the room or a solid obstacle appears between you and the phones, sound distortion is noticed.

Battery Life
SonyEricsson has correctly advertised their headset. I was able to talk continuously for 3hour and 5 minutes before the warning red LED indicator came on. As I pointed out before, there is no low-battery warning sound. After a total of 3h and 55 minutes the headset went dead.

The HBH-30 does not offer any breakthrough. It has moderate battery life, good sound quality, long operational range and a decent design. I can not fully recommend the headset for noisy environment since the speaker volume is not loud enough. If I had to choose between the SonyEricsson HBH-30 and the Jabra Freespeak, I would choose the Jabra.