Thursday, February 23, 2006
Bluetake's i-PHONO mini Bluetooth Headphone Kit Reviewed
Posted by Darius Wey in "HARDWARE" @ 09:00 AM
Comfort and Performance
Battery included, the i-PHONO mini headphones weigh just 44g. Yes, these things are light! Nothing annoys me more than earclip headphones that weigh down the ear. Thankfully, the i-PHONO mini doesn't fall into that category. They are very comfortable to wear and the inner surface isn't overly padded, so you won't have to worry about hot and sweaty ears.
I've put both the headphones and the transmitter through a number of charge-discharge cycles. On a full charge, both last around 6-7 hours each. I think that's adequate for a day's worth of music. In fact, it's late afternoon now, and I've been using the headphones all day - while posting in the forums and writing this review.
The audio quality of the i-PHONO mini is decent. Its frequency response is 20-20000Hz, which is a standard range for a lot of today's corded headphones. If you're an audio junkie (DJ, musician, etc.), the i-PHONO mini won't outdo your best set of headphones, but for everyday listening, they'll work great and will easily beat any cheap headphones that can be found in a standard electronics store.
Finally, I found the operating range of the headphones and transmitter to fall just short of the specified ten metres. In an open environment, I managed to get about six to seven metres instead.
Conclusions
The i-PHONO mini headphone and transmitter package isn't cheap, but if you demand the convenience of Bluetooth and an all-in-one device, then the i-PHONO mini is well worth the money spent. It's well-built and the audio quality over A2DP is excellent. It's a shame that a lot of today's Pocket PCs, while equipped with Bluetooth, do not yet support A2DP since AKU 2.0 has not yet been widely implemented on a lot of the devices running the Microsoft stack. Having said that, I do see the use of Bluetooth headphones booming this year, and if you want in on the trend, then the i-PHONO mini is a great pick.
Darius Wey loves technology! When he's not working at this web site, he's busy working for his medical degree (MBBS) and dabbling in audio and video editing, web and graphic design, photography and the odd bit of mobile development. He lives in Perth, Western Australia.
