i.Tech Clip S (Bluetooth Stereo Clip Headset with USB Dongle)

INTRODUCTION

   Recently, Bluetooth stereo audio has hit the market, and we've slowly seen products emerge to offer it.  Many of these new Bluetooth Stereo Headsets not only include stereo audio, but also include the requisite handsfree headset capability as well.  This means that you can listen to music, and make or receive calls all with one device, no swapping headsets or wires.  This sounds great, one device to do it all.  Being a music fan, I've been watching this space with great expectations, only to be disappointed with each new launch.  These new devices offer handsfree and stereo music, why do they disappoint?  Form Factor!  These devices have largely focused on stereo, and have a form factor that matches traditional stereo headphones.  This is fine for a walkman, and if you're a jogger they're just fine.  I however use my handsfree while driving, and having stereo headphones over both ears while driving is illegal.  That means that most of the now available Bluetooth stereo headsets (with handsfree capability) cannot be used in a car for handsfree calling.  One new model even gives you a look reminiscent of Princess Leah's cinnamon bun hair style, compared to that, I think I prefer the fish in the ear look.  (Sorry, I can't seem to stop the Sci-Fi analogies).  I'm certainly not going out in public with most of these things.  All that changed when I got a glimpse of the i.Tech Bluetooth Stereo Clip headset.  It does the handsfree for your mobile phone, it does advanced audio for stereo music, and it's a pair of ear buds?  No babblefish?  No cinnamon buns over your ears?  Could this be the utopian device?  Let's see.

WHAT'S HOT

• Earbud style, looks like normal portable stereo headphones
• Stereo optional, remove one if all you want is mono telephone use (great for automotive)
• 6+ hours of talk time, or Stereo Music
• Lots of volume, no trouble hearing music or your conversation
• Great sounding stereo music
• comfortable for extended wearing
• Automatic switching from music to phone (and back again)
• Included USB dongle to add steaming BT audio to your PC

SETUP

    The next setup is with a PC.  It gets really complex here, so please pay close attention.  Take USB dongle out of box, insert it into an available USB port on your PC.  You're done.  No really, that's it.  The dongle flashes a Red LED a few times while it looks for the headset, finds it quickly and then the led turns to Green and you hear a slight hum over the headphones.  Now, any audio you play on your PC gets sent to the headset instead of the speakers.  Works great, and I've since enjoyed wireless music in my office and as I travel.

PRODUCT FEATURES

     Let's take a look at what you get, starting with the fun stuff.  Here are the Bluetooth Stereo Clip and the included Bluetooth Dongle.  As you can see from the quarter, both are quite small.

     Next is the AC adaptor.  Nothing really special here, except that the review unit I was sent had European plugs on it.  This wasn't really a surprise, since this headset is not available in the United States... yet.  Not to worry though, input power specs on the adaptor indicate it can accept 100-240VAC and 50/60Hz, which means it's perfectly happy in the US and most places abroad if you just have a plug adaptor.  I obtained my adaptor from Target.  If you purchase, you will likely be given an adaptor for the US, but more on that later.

     Also included in the box is an extension for the included USB Dongle.  This allows you to position your USB Bluetooth Dongle for best range and signal, without being confined to the location of your USB port.  For myself, I generally just used my USB port on my laptop, and I was extremely happy with the range and clarity of the streaming music.  If you have obstructions or a computer where the USB ports are simply not convenient or block the signal, then you can use this and play around until you get optimal settings.  The cable is long enough that I could position this extender on the top of my cube wall, which effectively got me about 10 more feet of range.  This doesn't sound like much, but it was the difference that allowed me to make it to the coffee machine and back to my office without missing a beat of my favorite music. 

     The user controls on the headset are few, and very easy to use.  There are only 3 controls on the headset, but you'll have to look for them as they're pretty well concealed giving the whole unit a clean look.  On the permanently attached ear bud, there is a tiny button which matches in color and shape to the earbud itself, so it's almost invisible.  This button is the multi-function button and is used to turn On/Off the headset, as well as initiate pairing mode.  It is this button that also allows you to answer an incoming call, or to hang up on your current call.  Being located on the back side of the earbud, which is generally located in your ear, this makes finding it to take an incoming call very easy.  Look closely and you can see it in the above picture, it's on the rightmost earbud.

     The second user control is the volume control.  Like the multifunction button already mentioned, this shares double duty as well.  The white arc in the picture above is a Status indicator, and it's the volume button.  Pressing on the leftmost side (as pictured) will increase the volume, pressing on the rightmost side will decrease the volume.  This works the same whether you're listening to music or using your mobile phone.  The headset informs you of its status by flashing an LED under the white arc.  In normal operation, it flashes Blue to let you know it's on and functioning.  In pairing mode, it flashes alternating Blue and Red.  For low battery levels, it flashes Red.  During the day, the LED indicators do not seem very bright and are not very distracting.  At night is a different story.  I was in the back of a taxi at night with friends and we soon realized that the LED is much brighter than it appears.  From the outside, it looked like the taxi was pulsing with self-luminant light from within.  We noticed some people looking at the strange taxi pulsing with the ethereal blue with puzzled faces.  It gave us a quick laugh.  In a pinch, I think we could use it to help guide in low flying aircraft.  Not a big problem, as the LED is on the front of the clip... just turn it over re-clip it and the LED is mostly hidden.

     The third control is a reset button (not pictured), which is located inside the jaws of the clip.  There is a small bump inside the clip, to grip your clothing or whatever is inside the clip's mouth (think of it as teeth).  Located inside this bump is a very small reset button.  I would probably not have found it had it not been covered in the User's Manual.  I had no reason to use this button during my extended testing, but it's there if you do.

     The microphone is located on the clip portion as well.  I'm not sure if the round hole is the microphone input, or if the other hole just above the i.Tech logo is the microphone input, or both are.  If you clip the headset to your shirt, this positions the microphone somewhat away from your mouth, but it works well.  I'll discuss that more below.

     The headset is powered by a rechargeable battery embedded in the clip itself.  The battery is not removable, so you cannot carry a spare if you're a heavy music buff or addicted to your phone.  The battery is rated for 6 hours of talk time or music, and in my testing that seems pretty accurate.  The adaptor plugs into the side of the headset (not pictured) and charges fully in about 3 hours. 

     The earbuds are your standard portable music player fare, nothing outstanding, but not at all bad either, perfectly acceptable for music or phone use.  One of the ear buds is permanently attached, the other is removable.   Why is this, you might ask?  Simple, it's illegal to drive with headphones on both ears, even if you aren't listening to music.  With a single mono earbud, it meets handsfree driving requirements.  It also comes in useful if you aren't going to be listening to music and only need to use it for phone use.  I've found that I greatly prefer to use both earbuds even for phone conversations.  I've found that this makes things much easier to understand, especially in a noisy environment.

     The Wireless Multimedia USB Dongle is an interesting device.  You may have noticed that I have not mentioned any software or drivers so far, that's because there are none.  The USB dongle adds a USB Audio device to your PC, and support for this is already included in Windows 2000 and XP.  As far as your PC is concerned, it's talking to a pair of USB speakers.  The dongle handles the retransmission of the audio content to your headset, no software needed, no setup needed.  It just works, and works well.

PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS:

      Ok, now that we've discussed the unit itself, let's look at how it works in real life use.  For my testing, I am using an imate PDA2K as my mobile phone, and Windows XP Professional for my PC operating system. 

The Clip - The clip design is a bit different, and allows the battery and electronics to be placed elsewhere and not in your ear.  I've clipped the unit to my shirt and sometimes to the brim of my cap when I drive (I drive a convertible).  I find this design much easier to keep with me than the standard in the ear babblefish headsets, which means it's always available.  I like this design, but I'm sure it's not for everyone.  One issue that does come up however, is the issue of what to do with the wired earbuds?  I usually clip the headsets to my shirt, and tuck the earbuds into my shirt pocket, but it would be nice to be able to handle them better somehow.  I've not found a way.  This issue might really bother some people, and it annoys me a bit, but the portability and function of these headphones makes up for it.  It's not a perfect design, but it is very good.  One other advantage is that once your office mates realize that the headphones are your phone too, you can listen to music and they'll think you're working hard on a conference call.  Ok, if you're playing air guitar and singing out of tune, you might give away the illusion.

Stereo Audio - Since I'm a music buff, let's start with the quality of the Bluetooth stereo audio.  Simply put, it's very good.  All it takes to enable music playback from your PC is to insert the USB Audio adaptor and turn on the headsets, moments later and you'll be enjoying music with a rich full sound.  True audiophiles will fine fault, but when I'm on the road, in my office, a hotel room, etc..... I'm not packing my studio quality headphones from Bose.  They're at home and not helping me any.  These fit in my pocket, or clip to my collar and come with me everywhere.  It's all about portability!  The quality of the audio is quite satisfying and makes listening to music very enjoyable.  Listening to stereo music is not limited to just streaming from Windows via the Wireless Multimedia USB Dongle either.  On my PDA2K, I was able to pair to the headset as a "High Quality Audio" (using the A2DP Bluetooth Profile) device, and listen to music through media player or Audible Player.  This is not without issue, as the PDA2K is known for Bluetooth problems (Severe Understatement).  From Media Player 9 on the PDA2K, I could listen to any one song with very good quality.  Between songs however, the connection would be lost and I'd have to reestablish the connection to listen to more.  How frustrating.  Since the headset never drops a connection with the included USB dongle, I'm assuming this issue is with my PDA2K.  One of the things I greatly enjoy is audio books from Audible.  With the audible player, I can listen to audible books with the headsets as long as I want.  It again drops the connection between recordings, but with audible books, this isn't that frequent and thus much less of a problem.  Overall, this setup worked better than I expected, with the problems I encountered being based on the PocketPC side of the connection.  Most PocketPC's do not offer A2DP Bluetooth Profiles yet at all.  I can't wait for improvements in Bluetooth audio support on Windows Mobile platforms.

     The headset will maintain Bluetooth connections to the Wireless Multimedia USB Dongle and your mobile phone at the same time, which means that you can be jamming to music and not miss a call.  If a call comes in, the headset will buzz to let you know and if you press the answer button on the earbud will automatically mute the stereo music and switch to the incoming call.  After you hang up from your call, the music will come right back.  This is pretty cool. 

Handsfree Headset - Now let's look at how well it functions for your handsfree headset for your phone.  Again, it's very good.  The audio for phone calls is clear and crisp.  There is no shortage of volume so you never have trouble hearing the other party of your call.  There is sometimes some static, which is common with Bluetooth headsets, but most of the time there is none.  You can also optionally use the second earbud with phone calls as well, so you can listen to the conversation with both ears.  I prefer this, as I found it easier to hear the conversation this way, but that's just my personal preference, the audio is great either way.  I have had no trouble hearing others using this headset.  The microphone on the headset is located in the top of the clip.  This is pretty convenient, as you can clip it to your shirt, shirt pocket, cap brim, collar, etc.  The microphone is very sensitive, and doesn't seem to be very directional.  Unlike some that filter out other noises, this microphone picks up just about everything.  In a noisy area, this could be an issue, but in most situations is not a problem.  Many Bluetooth headsets have poor microphones, where you may find that the person on the other end asks you to repeat yourself, or that you sound like you're talking through a tunnel.  Not so with this microphone.  People have heard me clearly, and nobody has commented on difficulty in hearing me or in the quality of the audio.   With my previous headset, I often was asked to repeat something, or the normal comment after getting on a conversation, "Are you on a headset?".

     Some of you might be thinking that this might be a nice adder for your Skype conversations, and you're absolutely right.  Plug in the Wireless USB Multimedia Adaptor into your computer and you can now listen to your Skype calls without being tied directly to your PC, and without getting feedback problems if you try to use your internal speakers and microphone.  What is lacking here is the microphone support to allow you true Bluetooth mobility around the room.  In my case, it was still very functional.  I used the headsets to listen to the conversation, but used the internal microphone on my laptop.  I could easily wander around the room while on my Skype calls, and speak to my computer like I would a normal speaker phone and everyone could hear me just fine.  This eliminated the feedback problems so common when using a laptop's internal speakers and microphone for this task.  If only the microphone on the clip worked like it does for your mobile phone..... (and it does... sort of, but you'll have to read on to find out how).