Motorola Bluetooth Headset H3 - Silver [Motorola Retail Packaging]

The Motorola H3 Bluetooth headset is the company's "RAZR" headset, styled after the successful line of thin-profile mobile phones that has been taking the world by storm. The H3 is compatible with both Bluetooth v1.1 and Bluetooth v1.2 capable phones supporting the headset or hands free profiles. When paired with a v1.2 Bluetooth phone you can expect to hear slightly cleaner sound and experience faster connections.

Click the image to take a closer look at the H3's functions.

Our H3 weighed .67oz (19g), which is respectable. Its body is about 2.4" (61mm) in length, and about 1.1" (27mm) in width. The flip-out ear-loop extends out further, and can be reconfigured for use on either the left or right ear with little effort. There is a miniUSB power port on the end of the device that means the H3 can be charged with the included adapter or with a miniUSB cable connected to a laptop or desktop PC. For you road warriors out there, that can mean one less power adapter to carry with you on trips.

Comfort wise, the H3 is about middle of the road. The inside edge of the ear loop has a grippy, rubber surface that helps keep it in place. The ear-loop itself is rather narrow, though, which when combined with the somewhat long body length of the H3 can make it a bit less stable and more prone to "flapping" than others when you turn your head left and right quickly. On the flip side, though, the ear loop is narrow enough to work with virtually any pair of eyeglasses.

In terms of controls, there are only three buttons on the H3. On the top and bottom edge of the headset you will find one volume control each. When being worn, the headset button that faces up will raise the volume, and the bottom facing down will lower it. If you reconfigure the H3 for use on the other ear, it will notice that and reconfigure the buttons so that the up volume button still points up. The only other button on the Motorola H3 is the call button. It is also the only sore spot I have with the H3, since it requires too much pressure to activate. Pressure that can be annoying to sensitive ears. But other than that, the button works well enough and allows for control of all non-volume related features, such as redial, hold, and call end and start. If your phone supports voice dialing, you will be able to use the voice dialing with the H3 without having to touch your phone.

Audio quality on the H3 is pretty good overall. The inbound audio is very good, and the outbound quality is perhaps a bit above average. The outbound audio has a nice full and natural sound to it, but lacks a bit of high frequency response that would make the speaker easier to understand, but still an overall pleasant sound. While the H3 is quite susceptible to a head wind (ie. wind blowing directly into your face), it does reasonably well with winds coming at it from a 90 degree angle. The noise suppression system in the H3 works rather well, and does a good job of reducing background noise without sacrificing too much of the quality of the speaker's voice.

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Cons:

While there are better performing headsets on the market, the H3's good looks and solid performance make it a nice match for one of Motorola's RAZR handsets, as well as many others on the market today. Its blue LED status indicator is cool looking (and can be disabled), and its 8 hours of talk time is quite respectable. The Motorola H3 is a solid Bluetooth v1.2 headset that deserves some serious consideration.

--Reviewed by Michael Oryl, editor in chief of www.MobileBurn.com