INTRODUCTION
Nextlink has always been
an innovator when it comes to Bluetooth headsets.
Their Bluespoon headsets have always been the
smallest of their time. Even their original
Bluespoon headset is smaller than most current
headsets from other manufacturers. With the
Bluespoon 5G, Nextlink has once again outdone
themselves. The 5G trumps Nextlink's previous
smallest headset (the
Bluespoon AX.)
WHAT'S HOT
The Bluespoon 5G is the lightest and
smallest Bluetooth headset ever. The technology used
here must be so far beyond anyone else. I don't see
the competition catching up anytime soon.
The Bluespoon 5G looks a bit larger if you have very small ears like Jackie here. (all images link to higher resolution)
SETUP
Before you can use the Bluespoon
5G, you'll have to charge one of the batteries. It comes with 4 of them,
along with a 2 battery USB charger. The Bluespoon 5G only needs one
battery at a time, so you should have plenty of juice.
The process of pairing the Bluespoon 5G with your phone will vary between manufacturers. I used my imate JAM Pocket PC. After you charge a couple batteries, you'll have to install one of them. The Bluespoon 5G is not like other headsets which can recharge themselves while being plugged into a wire or docking cradle. The 5G requires the battery to be replaced and recharged separately, which can become annoying, but at least you don't have to let it sit in a cradle and wait for it to recharge. This way you can have continued use of the Bluespoon 5G with only a minor inconvenience of having to swap out batteries occasionally.
Once you've got a fresh battery in there, the next step is to turn it on. Hold down the button closer to the pointy end (also known as the "volume up" button) for about 7 seconds. You should see a blue light blink in between the buttons. That means it's on. Continue to hold down that button for a few more seconds until the light alternates between red and blue. This indicates that the Bluespoon is in pairing mode. Now you can go to your Pocket PC Phone (or other Bluetooth phone) and search for bluetooth devices within range. When the Bluespoon 5G shows up in the list, you can initiate a pairing with it. The PIN number to enter when requested is "0000". After a successful pairing, your Bluespoon 5G will be functional as a Handsfree or Headset device depending on which Bluetooth profiles your phone supports. In my case, with the imate JAM, the headset was bonded as a Handsfree device.
PRODUCT FEATURES
The Bluespoon 5G only has two buttons on
the top. These are used to carry out all of it's
functions. The 5G does not have any special features
like noise reduction or a Caller ID display, but who
needs that? It's just going to sit in your ear and
handle audio communications.
There are only two buttons on the Bluespoon 5G. The clear center area is where you'll see the LED indicators. You have to look at the light window at an angle to see the LEDs as they were designed to be much less obtrusive than those in the Bluespoon AX. People on the street won't notice the blinking lights on this one.
After you've bonded with a mobile phone, when you start a call the audio will be transferred to the headset. While you're on a call and connected via the Handsfree profile, the lower button functions as the volume-up button, while the upper button handles volume-down controls. Holding down the upper (volume down) button for 2-3 seconds will end the call, however there is no audible indication that the call has ended. So, if you're call already ended when the recipient hung up, and you press the volume down button down for 2-3 seconds something else will happen... the headset will initiate a redial function with your phone and you'll begin calling the last person you called.
Here you can see a size comparison between the two previous smallest bluetooth headsets; Nextlink's Bluespoon Digital and Bluespoon AX.
Here's the Bluespoon 5G next to a dime. It's dimensions are 3 cm by 1.7 cm in case you're more of a number person.
The Bluespoon 5G's batteries must be replaced periodically. A video about how to change batteries can be seen here (WMV). The charger can recharge two at a time and is very compact and portable. It uses the same micro-USB interface that the Bluespoon AX uses.
The Bluespoon 5G uses the same ear mounting soft-springs as the Bluespoon AX. If you've already customized a soft-spring to fit your ear with the Bluespoon AX, you can just snap that one on to the 5G. The soft springs were way too large for Jackie's ear though it would stay in with no soft-spring at all. It could probably be mounted just fine for most people with just a soft foam cover around the speaker part. The 5G includes a high quality microphone taking from Nextlink's Invisio headsets. This gives you much better voice quality than the Bluespoon AX (not that that was bad.)
The Bluespoon 5G nicely compliments the size of the imate JAM Pocket PC Phone. I did have one problem where callers would hear a lot of noise on my end even if I was in an empty room. It turned out that it was an issue with my imate JAM, and recreating the bond with the 5G fixed this problem.
