[wowbagger]

Review: iLuv i316 Micro size Bluetooth Headset

I’ve never been a particularly huge fan of Bluetooth headsets so when I was sent the i316 Micro size Bluetooth Headset from iLuv to review I was somewhat apprehensive. You see for the most part I think it’s the fear of becoming another wanker on the street that you see walking around seemingly talking to themselves, when at the last second as they pass you, you notice a blue flashing light darting from their ear’s cavity and you realize they’re not completely nuts, they’re just a useless twat that can’t be bothered lifting their arm past the perpendicular. Well either that or they’ve come from a rave and got a dance trinket stuck in their ear whilst off their nut!

Hostility and random rant complete, bluetooth headsets most certainly do have their place and what surprises me is that it seems that more and more these days that place could very well be in my house! With the advent of Skype and other online communication tools a tethered headset seems so “turn-of-the-millennium” coupled with the PS3‘s bluetooth headset pairing and of course my friend and yours, the iPhone.

Design
The i316 is small, in fact it’s smaller than that, it’s super smally small! Ear loop and all you’re looking at a gadget barely larger than a 50 cent piece. The design itself is surprisingly comfortable, the ear loop is easily rotated to angle the microphone towards your mouth and fit even the largest of wing-nuts that adorn my dome. The earpiece itself seemed to fit quite snuggly inside my ear, but then I’ve never had any trouble with in-ear headphone before either. For those with larger/smaller ear cavities this might be a slight issue but the securing ear loop should ensure a snug and comfortable fit.

All of the controls are easily reached whilst wearing the unit. The volume toggles are located on the underside whilst the “multi-purpose” answer/connect/decline button features on the outer side and is quite large to ensure it’s accessibility. At the rear of the device is a micro-USB (not mini-USB) connector which you’ll plug the included charger in to, or to which you can apparently use to charge from the computer (which I did not test as I did not have a micro-USB cable nor was one provided).

Connectivity
As mentioned previously there were three main devices I had in mind to try the i316 with, my iPhone, MacBook Pro and Playstation 3. All are very common items for anyone that’s likely to be reading this article and ideally you would want your headset to be easily connected to all three.

The pairing process couldn’t be more straight forward with the i316. You simply hold down its multi-function button for 6 seconds and as the blue light starts blinking at you the headset is now “discoverable” by any device that’s looking for it. In less than a few seconds all three devices I tested the headset with had found and created the pairing successfully (after entering the generic pass-code you’re provided with in the documentation). Worked every time, first time and the MacBook Pro even picked it up as an audio output device and prompted me to see if I’d like to use it as my system’s new sound output. Neat-o!

Just as there was no problems in actually establishing a connection with any device I tried, there was no issue with range either. Ultimately this one is a two way street depending on the device you’ve paired the headset with but in all three scenarios I was able to get a good five or six metres (through a plaster wall) from it’s paired partner before any major audio crackling or loss of pairing. Far beyond any range in a real use scenario I would imagine.

Longevity (Battery Life)
Battery life is extremely important for any portable device let alone a bluetooth headset. Stating an 100 hour standby time and up to 4 hours continuos talk time on the box, the i316 lives up to the hype. After a quick wall-socket charge straight out of the box I haven’t even had the re-charge required light pop on after a good 48 hours of play. Battery life is most definitely not a problem here.

Audio Quality
So this is the big one that you really want to know about and unfortunately it’s the area that I feel most let down in. Let’s focus on the speaker quality first of all; ideally this headset and most like it have been designed for general phone usage, they’re not supposed to sport awesome surround sound THX quality sound, but even playing the most basic of mu-zak tunes I could find in my iTunes’ library it sounded rather terrible, bordering unlistenable in fact, but like I said that’s not really what it’s designed to. When it came to using it for phone calls and in-game chats the quality was fine. You’re not likely to care about top end sounds or bowel moving bass like response when you’re talking on a regular phone so why would you care about them using a headset? It does what it sets out to do and that’s provide audible sound for a phone conversation and it does it to a satisfactory standard.

The microphone on the other hand, well that’s where I have to take issue. I never understood how these bluetooth headsets could possibly pick up distinct audio when the mic is basically inside of your ear because they’re so small. Well it turns out they don’t, or at least they don’t very well. Even plugged into my MacBook Pro with the microphone input levels topping out I found myself starting to raise my voice in order for my Skype recipient to hear me well. It wasn’t as bad when I used the headset on the PS3 or my iPhone but even then I was clearly speaking louder than normal and that’s not what I’m ideally looking to be doing.

The i316 bluetooth headset from iLuv is most certainly a very handy, portable, little device that I could quite comfortably recommend to most people in the market. It’s highly affordable, easy to use and despite its small mic issues quite audible both to its user and recipient. If you were planning on using it for VOIP or Skype calls every day all day I’d spend a few more bucks and upgrade to something designed for a more professional market but for the odd call here & there and the freedom that comes along with it she’s a good buy.

The i316 Bluetooth Headset by iLuv is distributed by iWorld Australia to major retailers such as Big W, Tandy & Harvey Norman for an RRP of AUD$59.95.

[tintinaujapon]

Nice review, thanks.

I hate the tangle of cords everytime I want to use my SonyEricsson hands free for a call or as a Walkman. I spent at least a minute every time untangling everything.

But, there just doesn't seem to be the perfect bluetooth stereo wireless set of headphones yet. The best I've tried so far is Motorola's rigid joined pair where the band goes around the back of your head. They worked but it wasn't comfortable to wear.

Maybe this is yet another thing which Apple will be the first to get truly right when they release wireless headphones for the iPhone.