(Nokia's BH-903 Stereo Bluetooth Headset)
Remember the mystery package that I received the other day? Well, one of the contents of the package was the Nokia BH-903 Bluetooth Stereo Headset, sent to me all the way from the UK by WOMWorld. I’ve been using it for the past few days and the little power packed device has left me impressed.
Packaging:
I might be a little nit-picky here, but Nokia wastes a lot of resources on the packaging their products. By that, I don’t mean they make it look expensive. Rather, they waste a lot of precious space around the product. Ever since I’ve moved onto Apple products, I’ve understood how much the packaging of the product matters and Nokia needs to get its act together on their products. For a device as small as above, there was no need to pack it in a bog that’s almost as big as a box for the E71. And yes, that’s the other device that was in the mystery package from DHL.
Build and Design:
I strongly believe that Nokia’s designers have put it a lot of thought into this device. The heart of the Nokia BH-903 is the main unit, which has been made to appear as a medallion, as the earphones hand around your neck when you wear it, making the main unit hang just below your face. The unit is small enough to hold in your hands.
The unit features an OLED display which lets your browse through the various features offered by the device. The unit is strongly built and doesn’t feel delicate in any way. It sports a rubber D-paid with two other buttons on the front, along with the power button on the top. The D-pad itself has several keys including music-player buttons (Play, Pause, Previous Tract, Next Track) and Front and Back for browsing through the menu. To increase or decrease your volume, one needs to move around the central ‘select’ button, just as you would do it on an iPod. However, it is not as smooth as it is on the iPods.
Specifications:
Weight:
- 32g.
Operating times:
- Talk time: up to 11h.
- Music time: up to 11h.
- FM radio time when connected to phone: up to 11h.
- Standby time: up to 150h.
- Charging time: 45 min to full charge.
- Talk time, Music time,FM radio time after 20 minutes of charging: up to 9h.
Interfaces:
- Bluetooth v2.0 with EDR specification.
- Headset Profile (HSP) 1.1.
- Handsfree Profile (HFP) 1.5.
- Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP).
- Audio Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) 1.0.
- Phonebook Access Profile PBAP.
- Nokia charging interface with 2 mm jack.
Performance:
The audio performance of the device was better than I expected. It has a good sound quality and certainly does better than most other headsets in this category. However, if you’re that audiophile kind, you’d want to get your hands on something better. But for the everyday listening enthusiast, this device does its job well.
What’s not so good?
- The D-Pad controls could be a little more finger-friendly and smooth.
- The earphones are not comfortable in your ears and I often find either or both of them falling off my ears while in the middle of a call or music.
Conclusions:
The Nokia BH-903 is a solid bluetooth headset and is feature packed to the rim. However, the price may be a little dampener to most of us at USD 99.
You can view more pictures of the device on my Flickr Stream here.