Motorola H700 Bluetooth Headset

Introduction
I received the Motorola H700 Bluetooth Headset as a gift from a friend, and having always used a wired headset with my Razr V3, I thought I would give the H700 a try. What I found was that the headset gave me more trouble than my wired headset, so I eventually gave it to my father to use with his Blackberry Pearl. This Bluetooth headset was NOT for me.

Opening the Package
Encased in a hard plastic case, the H700 comes pretty well packaged, which is important given its small and delicate nature. It comes with:

- Motorola H700 Bluetooth Headset (1x)
- Motorola Travel Charger (1x)
- User Manual (1x)

The headset is compatible with any Bluetooth 1.1 or 1.2 phone, and both my Razr V3 and my father's Blackberry Pearl count.

Setup
Setup turned out to be a bit of a head scratcher, particularly the initial Bluetooth bonding part, but I eventually got it after several tries. Here are the steps:

1) Charge the H700 overnight
2) Unplug the H700 from the charger cable
3) While the boom is closed (compact-size), press and hold the Call button for several seconds until the LED ring on the side turns purple. This indicates bonding status.
4) While the LED is purple, release the Call button and flip open the boom. The LED should remain purple. If not, go back to step 3 and repeat. This was the confusing step.
5) Use your Bluetooth-enabled phone to search for headsets/devices to pair with.
6) Once your phone notifies you that you've successfully paired with "Motorola H700," you're set.

Positive Impressions
I loved the compact size of the H700 - plus the nifty boom-folding feature that collapses it to half the size of a normal Bluetooth headset. It fit on my ear quite well, and it was pretty lightweight - felt almost as if it wasn't there. The small size was the best feature of the H700 when compared to other Bluetooth headsets I've worn.

Ease Of Use
Button layout was pretty standard and easy to understand, with one main, large Call button and two smaller buttons on the edge controlling volume.

Pushing the Call button once would answer a call during ringing, activate voice-dial when idle, or hang-up during a call. Pushing and holding the Call button for 2 seconds would put the call on hold. What was great about having this dedicated button is that anytime I wanted to do anything call-related, I would only have to push one button, making operation simple.

Power Saving
The power-saving feature of the H700 was also pretty nifty, as the headset deactivates the blue blinking LED after several seconds of non-use to save power, and turns itself off when you close the boom to store it. To recharge, the same power adapter is used as for the Razr V3s, so I could recharge both my Razr V3 and the H700 headset with the same adapter. Another great feature, if you have a Razr.

Reversible
The H700 headset is also ear reversible, so depending on your particular preference, you can easily switch the headset from ear to ear. Doing so requires that you:

1) Open the boom
2) Disconnect the ear-loop
3) Flip the ear-loop around 180 degrees
4) Re-attach the ear-loop by snapping it back into place.

By pushing and holding the volume buttons at the same time for several seconds, you can also switch the buttons' functions if you get used to having the volume UP button on top. I thought that this was a great design feature to an already aesthetically pleasing headset.

Issues
I thought that having a Motorola H700 headset would work will with a Motorola Razr V3, but it turns out that is NOT the case at all. Bluetooth operation with the H700 was particularly laggy and problematic when I used it with my V3. Specifically:

Initialization Period:
Upon opening the H700 boom and essentially "turning on" the headset, the V3 lights up and acknowledges "Connected: Motorola H700" on both inner and outer screens. Slight static can also be heard through the speaker of the H700 during this time. I call this the "initialization period." It takes 3 seconds for the LCD on the phone to turn off and the static to cease over the H700

During this initialization time, no functions on the H700 work correctly. If I try to push the Call button to activate voice dialing during this period, the V3 briefly goes into voice-dial mode but then returns to the main menu after the LCD goes off, and the H700 goes silent. In other words, there is a 3 second waiting time after opening the boom and connecting to your phone before you can start using the H700, a bit of a pain if you don't constantly wear the headset to save power.

Ambient Noise
Motorola's website may claim as they will that the H700 delivers revolutionary echo-free and ambient-noise reducing technology, but I don't quite buy it. Voice dialing is very problematic outside of areas of complete silence, and even the hum from the road when I am driving on the freeway can render voice dialing impossible. I thought that this was due to the V3, but I found that if I used the wired V3 headset, voice dialing always worked, even in the car on the highway. If a $12 wired headset could enable me to voice-dial in the car and the $99 H700 could not, that's surely a problem. For those who often voice-dial in the car, this is not a good headset for you.

Insufficient Volume Level
I have to agree with many of the reviewers here in that the H700 does not output sound very well. I have to always put both my phone and the headset on the maximum volume level for normal conversation. Motorola surely could have made the voice output louder, and I don't know why they bothered to create a separate volume level control for the headset apart from the phone. Definite software flaw.

Short Battery Life
Although this is my first Bluetooth headset that I've owned, I couldn't get used to its extremely short battery life. Essentially, for normal usage, I would have to recharge the H700 nightly, which is a problem if you have to travel often and don't have regular access to AC power. If I forgot to charge it, the only notice I would get of low battery power is if the phone lost connection with the H700 or simply could not find it after I opened the H700's boom. If the battery ran out during a call, all I would hear would be an annoying couple BEEPS from the headset, static and the occasional blip of a voice from the other side telling me that they could not hear what I was saying. If I was making a long call, I chose to use my wired headset instead, which defeats the purpose of owning the H700.

Flimsy Construction
After two weeks of usage, the ear hook became so loose that it felt like the headset would fall off of my ear. This is in part due to the rubber construction of the hook that softens and bends with time. Although the headset did not break or fall off of my ear, it definitely did not feel secure, and it bothered me that the headset wasn't clinging onto my ear very well. I think that this hook might also be the source of the issues from others who report the H700 as producing muffled speech output, because if the headset isn't positioned correctly, the boom will rest against your cheek and essentially drown out your voice against your skin. I wouldn't call the H700 durable at all; it's more of a fashion statement than an practical, everyday-use phone accessory.

Conclusions
After a month of usage in the car, at home, and at school, I decided to give my H700 to my father to use with his Blackberry Pearl and revert back to my reliable wired Razr V3 headset. Although I appreciated the gesture from my friend and the H700's good looks, the buggy operation of the H700 quickly led me to stop using it.

Bottom Line
The H700 tries to make up for what it lacks in practicality by its good looks and portability, but if a Bluetooth headset can't reliably voice-dial, sustain battery life, or output audible conversation, there's no point to owning it.