FEATURES

What features does this headset advertise? Let’s take a
look:

• 
  Up to 4 hours of talk time
• 
  Lightweight (1/2 oz.)
• 
  Fits on either ear
• 
  Bluetooth 1.2

(all images link to higher resolution)

1:

charger and the headset.

charger.

EXPRESSIVE LOOKS

Let’s take a look at the headset in detail.

Figure
2: The back of the headset has the speaker, a lanyard
loop and the ear loop connector.

There are no buttons on the front of the headset, simply
an LED light. The interesting parts start on the back
where there is a rubber coated speaker. The speaker fits
in the ear well and was plenty comfortable. It
definitely does not hold the headset in place by itself,
which is why there is an ear loop. The ear loop adjusts
in 3 directions: up/down, forward/backward and in/out.
The back half of the ear loop is also bendable, which
should ensure a good fit. I did not feel like the
headset was going to fall off at any time.

Figure 3: The headset being worn.

As long as we are talking about the fit, here is a
picture from the product’s package showing what the
headset looks like being worn. I chose to use this
picture instead of taking one of myself wearing the
headset because she is more photogenic :-). As you can
see, the Mobile Express is not a small headset by any
means. It is one of the larger ones I have worn and is
absolutely huge in comparison with some that I have
recently been using such as the
Jabra JX10 and

Motorola h700. Of course, the Mobile Express also
costs about 1/2 of what those two headsets cost, so it
is probably a fair trade-off. When compared with other
entry-level headsets such as ones from
Jabra,
Nokia and

Motorola, The size of the Mobile Express is
competitive. Also, for people with large fingers or poor
eyesight, the larger size could be a bonus.

Figure 4:

The front of the headset features the microphone.

Figure 5: The back of the headset.

As you can see in the picture above, the back of the
headset has the charging port, which is covered by a
small rubber flap. The flap is a nice touch and serves
more of an aesthetic purpose than a protective one. The
connection port is so small that it is rather unlikely
to be damaged. The rubber flap does give the headset a
more finished look. On the other hand, if your hands are
big or eyesight bad, the flap may be hard to use.

Figure 6: Here is the top of the headset.

The top of the headset has the only buttons to be found
on the device. There are only 2 buttons, which is rather
unique for a Bluetooth headset as most of them include
at least 3 (talk/end, volume up and volume down).
Logitech has condensed the functions into just 2
buttons: large and small. Both buttons activate the
talk/end function. The larger button also functions as
volume up while the smaller one functions as volume
down. I thought this was an interesting approach to
keeping things simple. In practice, I’m not sure if it
really does keep it simple. I think I still prefer the
3-button setup with one large talk/end button and the
volume buttons a little more out of the way. The way
Logitech has it does work, though and some people might
prefer the simplicity of only 2 buttons.

The large button is also the one used for pairing. You
simply hold it for 10 seconds and the LED will flash
rapidly. From there it depends on your phone’s process
for discovering the headset. My Treo 700w had no problem
immediately finding the Logitech. The large button has a
fourth function… powering the headset on and off. That
is one busy button!


EXPRESSIVE SOUNDS

To be perfectly honest, I was not expecting this headset
to have very good sound quality. I was wrong… for the
price it has very good sound quality. I called the same
person using the Logitech and my Jabra JX10. The other
person said that they sounded almost identical. The
difference became apparent once more background noise
was introduced. Then the Jabra, with its’ Digital Signal
Processor (DSP), sounded better. The Logitech was still
surprisingly usable even with background
noise. No one is going to confuse it for a headset having a DSP, but I was pleasantly surprised by the
overall good sound quality.

On my end, the headset was plenty loud, which is very
important to me. There was also very little static or
crackling, which was also very impressive. Overall, I
was really pleased with the performance of the headset.

On a different note, Logitech’s claim of 4 hours of talk
time seems about right, if not a tad optimistic.
Charging was a little slow, though.

PURCHASING

You can purchase this case directly from the
manufacturer’s
website for $49.95. I found it on

Froogle for as low as $25.41. That is a fantastic
price for this headset.

PROS

• 
  
  Inexpensive
• 
  
  Comfortable fit
• 
  
  Loud speaker
• 
  
  Good sound quality
• Easy to use

CONS

• Large
• 
  
  Feels a bit cheap
• 
  
  Two button controls may not appeal to everyone
• 
  
  Slow charging (4-5 hours)

OVERALL
IMPRESSION

Let’s call it like it is… you aren’t going to get
a top of the line headset with lots of accessories
and a DSP for under $50. If you are shopping in the
under $50 category you probably aren’t looking for a
masterpiece. You most likely want a basic headset
that functions well and has good performance. The
Logitech Mobile Express definitely meets those
expectations. This is the kind of headset that you
get for a non-techie or a child that is prone to
lose and/or break it. Logitech set out to produce a
good entry-level headset and I can say that they
completely succeeded in this regard. I give the Mobile Express the
following score:


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