Russ Smith | March 22, 2005 12:00 AM
INTRODUCTION
headphones for listening to your MP3 player and, possibly, for
listening to a small FM radio. You may also have a headset for
using with your cellular phone. You may even have yet another set
of headphones for listening to your desktop or laptop computer.
Would it not be great if you could combine them all into one? That is exactly
the thought that created the iZon BT-205 Bluetooth MP3 Headphones.
The iZon BT-205 headphones combine Bluetooth
WHAT’S HOT
headphones with an MP3 player and a FM radio. They support both
the standard (low-quality) mono headphone profile as will as the
(high-quality) stereo audio profile. They even have a built-in
microphone for using with a cellular handset. They are about as
versitile as a set of headphones can be.
The built-in FM radio supports presets as well as scanning
through available channels. The built-in MP3 player uses a
built-in SD/MMC card slot. Both options deliver excellent
quality, stereo sound. You can ditch the FM radio and the
dedicated MP3 player with wired headphones and just use the
BT-205. The monaural Bluetooth headset profile works with most
Bluetooth enabled cellular phones and PDAs. The stereo Bluetooth
headphone profile works with high-end Bluetooth products and many
desktop and laptop Bluetooth implementations.
PRODUCT FEATURES
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 278px; height: 235px;">
iZon Headphones
come in an attractive easy to open box.
src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000598/review/inBox-sm.jpg" alt="" width="313" height="235" border="0"
(clockwise from top-left) the user manual, a 128MB MMC card for storing
MP3s, the software CD-ROM, the power supply, a USB adapter for
connecting the headphones to your desktop/laptop, the
headphones, and a carrying case.
src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000598/review/side-sm.jpg" alt="" width="314" height="235" border="0"The
headphones are attached by a thin band that with loops that fit
over your ears. The earpiece shown in the front has the
display, the mode button, the volume control, the track control,
and the play/pause control. It also has the slot for the
SD/MMC card which is protrudes a bit from the back. The earpiece
shown in the back has the built-in microphone behind the hole
visible at center right.
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 313px; height: 235px;">
Here is a more
detailed look at the earpiece components
src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000598/review/FMradio-sm.jpg" alt="" border="0"Here is what
the display looks like in FM radio mode…
src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000598/review/BTmono-sm.jpg" alt="" border="0"
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 313px; height: 235px;">
…in
the monaural Bluetooth mode (in this mode
you can use the headset with the built-in microphone to make and take
calls from a cellular handset. This mode will also work with any
Bluetooth-enabled Pocket PC which supports a headset, but only with
lower-quality monaural sound)…
src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000598/review/BTstereo-sm.jpg" alt="" border="0"…in the
Bluetooth stereo headphone mode (This profile is not supported by many
Bluetooth-enabled Pocket PCs.)…
src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000598/review/MP3-sm.jpg" alt="" border="0"…and
in the MP3 mode (The headphones play high-quality, stereo
sound from MP3 files on the SD/MMC card placed in the card slot. The
sharp display shows a list of available tracks.)
Overall, I found the iZon headphones to be well designed. Having
a rather large head (no pun intended!), I did find the fit a little tight. I
am sure that those of you who are not descended from Neanderthals should not
have a problem with the fit. After you learn the positions of the
buttons, you can easily operate the headphones without removing
them. To make it even easier, if the headphones are paired with
your cellular phone, they will automatically switch to the cellular
headset mode when you receive an incoming call. The built-in
microphone allows you to talk as well as listen.
To get MP3s into the iZon headphones for use, you
can either use a card-reader on your desktop/laptop, the SD slot built
into current Pocket PCs, or you can use the provided USB cable to
attach the iZon headphones directly to your desktop/laptop. When
connected using the USB cable, the headphones appear as a USB Storage
Device. You can treat it just like a disk drive, dragging and
dropping files to add or remove them from the card in the iZon
headphones slot. This is another set of features that shows the
flexibility of this product.
The iZon headphones deliver up to four hours of
talk/listen time through a rechargeable 550 mAH Lithium-polymer
battery. The battery can be recharged with an AC adapter or a USB
connection. Both the USB cable and AC adapter come with the
headphones.
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HELP AND SUPPORT
for the product consists of manuals that come with the
headphones. You
recieve both a printed manual and a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format manual
on the CD-ROM. The folks at Global American Technologies have
recently done a complete re-write of the manual. The latest
manual is technically sound, understandable, and very readable.
There is not a hint that the original was written in another
language. I really appreciate companies that take the time to do
a thorough language conversion on their products. In addition to
the manuals, the company is in the process of adding
their web site.
Global American Technologies seems quite
responsive. When I sent the first draft of this review,
mentioning that the review headphones came in a box that was
particularly hard to open, the company responded
immediately with photos of the currently-shipping box that replaced
it. The current
box is a more standard format and, consequently, much easier to open.
src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000598/review/oldBox-sm.jpg" alt="" width="235" height="253" border="0" This is the old,
oddly-shaped, hard to open box.
src="http://cdn.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000598/review/newBox2-sm.jpg" alt="" width="235" height="243" border="0"This
is the current, standard, easy to open box.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The iZon Headphones are Bluetooth
1.1 compliant. It supports the Bluetooth stereo headset and
monaural hands-free headset profiles. The MP3 player reads both
MP3 (bitrates from 32 to 320 Kb/s) and Windows Media WPA (bitrates
from 32 to 192 Kb/s) formats. The card slot will read both Secure
Digital and Multi-Media cards.
For more details, visit
American Technologies web site.
BUGS AND WISHES
were only two issues I had with the iZon Headphones
unable to use the high-quality stereo mode with my iPAQ hx4700.
This is not a fault with the headphones, though. It is the iPAQ
which lacks support for the stereo profile.
The second issue was that the headphones didn’t fit my
head as well as they could. This is most likely due to my
Neanderthal heritage. The headphones will probably work well with
the vast majority of heads. So take this issue with a grain of
salt. There are some ways to solve the issue, however. One
way would be to make the neck-band adjustable in some way.
Another would be to remove the neck loop entirely, but retain the ear
clips, and use a slightly longer connecting wire between the two
headphones. That would accomodate even the most Paleolithic
skulls. I have seen some wired headphones that do this.
I did have one wish as well: I wish you could
fold the headphones to fit in a smaller space. My PPC filts
easily within a pocket. It would be great to have the headphones
do the same. You could also accomplish the same thing by using my
second solution to the head-fit issue above.
PURCHASING
iZon MP3 Bluetooth Headphones may be purchased through
The only point of comparison I have is HP’s Stereo Bluetooth
Headphones. They cost only $99, but lack the MP3 Player, the FM
radio, the built-in microphone and the cellular phone headset
profile. Oddly, they do allow high-quality, stereo listening for
my hx4700 iPAQ by installing an additional driver. It is
difficult to judge value in this comparison, but the price difference
is the reason why the value rating below is only 3.5.
PROS
Bluetooth mono and stereo headset
lower-quality monaural Bluetooth profiles
downloading MP3s from a desktop
cellular headset
mode for incoming calls
CONS
- “One-size-fits-all”
does not really fit all
smaller space
A bit pricey
| size="2">Ease of Use | |
| size="2">Features |  |
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ratings mean?
OVERALL
IMPRESSION
I was very tempted to contact the company and arrange to buy these
headphones. In the end, I
did not because they did not quite fit on my head and because I could
not use the high-quality profile with my iPAQ (due to lack of the
profile on my iPAQ). I will still miss them when they are sent
back.
If you are looking for a set of headphones to use with
your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, your Bluetooth-enabled handheld
(check your handheld’s profile support first), or your
Bluetooth-enabled desktop or laptop, give the iZon Bluetooth MP3
Headphones very serious consideration.
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