A few years back i had seen the Motorola S9 Bluetooth earphones and although i liked the design, i couldn't justify the 50$ that they costed back then. Forward a few years and the knockoff Chinese counterpart cost 5 quid from Ebay with mp3 player and FM radio. No Bluetooth though but that was never a necessity for me.
I had never had the original Motorola, so I can't really compare the quality, but the Chinese quality is craptastic. I mean OK, the FM radio works better when I touch the main body behind my head, although the problem might just be the apartment I am in and it may not have good reception.
The other is that it has an internal elastic lining so that it is soft when it touches the skin. However this is glued with bad quality glue which went soft with the Greek heat and does not hold the components firmly together. For 4 quid though I don't complain.
The other sort of disadvantage that it has, is that it uses mini usb port rather than following the norm and use a micro usb port. However my experience with my mobile's usb ports is that they tent to get loose pretty quickly. So perhaps is for the best. The other issue is that although the pair is not stiff as a whole, the outer shell is quite stiff not allowing much adjustment to fit the ear. Hence pressing the ears and perhaps tiring them for prolonged use.
The navigation buttons give also reason for concern. There are a + and a - buttons for navigating songs/stations with short clicks and when pressed longer adjust volume. The thing is that you don't have much detailed choice on how low the volume may be.
The main reason I got this was to be able to listen to my PC without cables. You may ask how? And the answer is quite simple. Using an FM transmitter connected to the pc. I admit the FM function of the device is not the easiest to use, but once the FM transmitter is here we'll see how that goes.
Also something else, although on the Ebay page says it can use up to 8GB memory, I just tried using a (not fully loaded) 32GB Samsung and it played the songs without any problem.
So I took the plunge and bought a second similar item. Only this one with a different design. The previous one is based on the Motorola S9 bluetooth model, this one is based on the NOKIA BH505 bluetooth model.
I must say I like the Nokia design better. It looks softer to the eye (I could imagine that it was an apple product) and the input switches are better designed and thought. I am still trying to understand the exact radio functions since it arrived without manual.
Also while wearing the Nokia ripoff, it doesn't rest on the neck like the Motorola ripoff. which perhaps makes it less prone to sweat damage and less annoying to wear.
I had no idea that Nokia manufactured such earphones but I noticed, on the ones I bought, there was a small microphone hole. And why would such a device have a mic hole if it wasn't a bluetooth related handsfree thingy? So I looked around and found the original Nokia.
It seems that the people copying the design did not bother removing the mic hole from it. In other news, the build and materials quality of the Nokia ripoff is much better than the Motorola one.
The Nokia is 3 grams lighter than the 31grams of the Motorola.
The Nokia is also softer than the Motorola so it doesnt press too much the ears. And hence feels lighter and easier for long term use.
And some photos
In terms of price the Nokia ripoff is a bit more expensive than the Motorola ripoff but costs less than 10$. Which makes you wonder why does the original Nokia costs something like 50-60$ ? I assume that this price factors the development costs as well, but I will not buy it at that price. Many people will not. For 10$ though I would buy for the whole family and replacements in case they break. In fact I think of buying this as presents for my family!
Update: The Fm transmitter arrived (both of them) and put them to the test. I got two different models to see how it would work for the function I wanted to.
Well the verdict is that although they work with my stereo and its HUGE antenna, they do not work with the earphones. The Usb one works only when placed within 10-20 cm from the stereo antenna, while the other works even 5m away from the antenna. Its problem though is that although it has batteries, it uses an extension cable which connects to the cigarette lighter of the car and acts as an antenna. Without it you are screwed. Doesn't work at all. So that's about it for now. Lets see if I have any other crazy idea in the future.
The other sort of disadvantage that it has, is that it uses mini usb port rather than following the norm and use a micro usb port. However my experience with my mobile's usb ports is that they tent to get loose pretty quickly. So perhaps is for the best. The other issue is that although the pair is not stiff as a whole, the outer shell is quite stiff not allowing much adjustment to fit the ear. Hence pressing the ears and perhaps tiring them for prolonged use.
The navigation buttons give also reason for concern. There are a + and a - buttons for navigating songs/stations with short clicks and when pressed longer adjust volume. The thing is that you don't have much detailed choice on how low the volume may be.
The main reason I got this was to be able to listen to my PC without cables. You may ask how? And the answer is quite simple. Using an FM transmitter connected to the pc. I admit the FM function of the device is not the easiest to use, but once the FM transmitter is here we'll see how that goes.
Also something else, although on the Ebay page says it can use up to 8GB memory, I just tried using a (not fully loaded) 32GB Samsung and it played the songs without any problem.
So I took the plunge and bought a second similar item. Only this one with a different design. The previous one is based on the Motorola S9 bluetooth model, this one is based on the NOKIA BH505 bluetooth model.
I must say I like the Nokia design better. It looks softer to the eye (I could imagine that it was an apple product) and the input switches are better designed and thought. I am still trying to understand the exact radio functions since it arrived without manual.
Also while wearing the Nokia ripoff, it doesn't rest on the neck like the Motorola ripoff. which perhaps makes it less prone to sweat damage and less annoying to wear.
I had no idea that Nokia manufactured such earphones but I noticed, on the ones I bought, there was a small microphone hole. And why would such a device have a mic hole if it wasn't a bluetooth related handsfree thingy? So I looked around and found the original Nokia.
It seems that the people copying the design did not bother removing the mic hole from it. In other news, the build and materials quality of the Nokia ripoff is much better than the Motorola one.
The Nokia is 3 grams lighter than the 31grams of the Motorola.
The Nokia is also softer than the Motorola so it doesnt press too much the ears. And hence feels lighter and easier for long term use.
And some photos
In terms of price the Nokia ripoff is a bit more expensive than the Motorola ripoff but costs less than 10$. Which makes you wonder why does the original Nokia costs something like 50-60$ ? I assume that this price factors the development costs as well, but I will not buy it at that price. Many people will not. For 10$ though I would buy for the whole family and replacements in case they break. In fact I think of buying this as presents for my family!
Update: The Fm transmitter arrived (both of them) and put them to the test. I got two different models to see how it would work for the function I wanted to.
Sometimes it's the simple things that count. With all the complicated circuitry and programs going on inside today's audio capable gadgets, it may be the common headphone jack that causes the most problems.
ReplyDeletee_cell
Hi Alfred, I am not sure what you mean by this or what e_cell has to do with the headphone jacks
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