Bluetooth

I like to listen to podcasts, often while on road trips while others are listening to music on the car stereo. Five years ago I posted about some Bluetooth headphones. Since then I've tried various ones. Recently my wife bought me a S530. I must say that it's amazing! It may be just as good as some of the other mono Bluetooth headphones, but it costs only $6-8. It supports the A2DP audio profile, so you can listen to music, audiobooks and podcasts, and it supports the AVRCP profile for remotely controlling audio/video controls, e.g. pause, play, etc. And it uses Bluetooth V4.0 with the low-energy standard. It may not have as long of a battery life as the others, but that's because it's tiny!

Remember that episode of The Office where Jim and Pam talked to each other all day while working different jobs, thanks to "the world's smallest Bluetooth"? Yeah, it's like that. It's not quite small enough to be invisible, like on Person of Interest, but it's pretty damn small. And it comes in different colors, so if you get the khaki version, it would probably blend with your ear, or at least get mistaken for a hearing aid. And the performance is surprisingly good. I do get sometimes audio cut-outs, but I've gotten that with more expensive devices, too. And even though it doesn't have one of those annoying booms, like most mono stick devices, it works just fine for talking on the phone. Plus, it fits right in my ear, and never falls out, unlike the stick devices. 

I don't know who makes them. They come out of China, and come with the option of Chinese or English voice feedback. The English voice is a sexy female, with some vocal fry; I love hearing her say "Power on", "Device connected", "Battery high", etc. One downside is that they're too small to use micro-USB, so I have to use the cord it came with to charge it, which means I have to remember to grab it before taking long road trips. But for $6 or $8, maybe I'll get another, just as a spare and to have another cord. At that price, I don't have to worry about losing it or dropping it in the toilet, although something that small is easy to lose.

MJD 57472.280