A review of a Bluetooth headset looks at key areas, audio quality, battery life and charging, comfort, range and usability, so we'll get cracking by looking at the package and how it performs against these criteria.

The HBH-300 isn't a cheap BT headset and opening the box isn't a cheap experience either, the headset itself is well built and is a boom style unit. The advantage of this kind of device is everyone will know what it is rather than thinking you've got some weird alien implant stapled to your head.  Also tucked in the box is a charging stand a welcome addition for anyone who normally leaves their headset charging on a table or kitchen worktop, the charger is in two pieces the stand and the cradle itself, the holder slides neatly into the stand until it clicks making a sturdy base.

As with all Sony's headsets the package includes a standard charger which fits into the cradles female adaptor, the headset can also charge direct from the power supply so its compatible with your existing phone charger, ideal if you need to top up in 2 places.

Battery life is a strong card for this headset, our tests got over a week out of the HBH-300 and Sony claims 300 hours on standby in perfect conditions, perhaps the most compelling fact is the 10 hours talk time which lasted us a whole week of daily commutes.

Comfort is so important for a road warrior and even that strange breed that wears the headset in the office? the HBH-300 is supremely comfortable for long sessions, the behind the ear mount is both secure and yet not intrusive, it even survives the mad LP shake where LP has some kind of mad fit to see if the headset will stay on and it did!

Audio quality is again first class with callers unable to tell we were on a headset rather than just on the phone, in fact several conversations were claimed to be better on the headset, this is due in part to the noise cancelling microphone on the tip of the boom which blocks out background road noise very effectively.

All the standard Bluetooth features are present on this BT 1.1 compatible device, the 10 meter range, pairing with up to 8 devices, and support for both hands free and headset profiles. Operation of the HBH-300 Akono is nice and simple ideal for when you are on the move, the main multifunctional button powers the unit on and off, plus answers and ends calls, if your phone supports it the headset is fully compatible with voice dialling too.

What really makes us take to the HBH300 is the inclusion of all the features we want in a headset and the avoidance of gimmicks like caller display, we've yet to work out how you are meant to see the LCD display on some models when its clamped to your ear! Sony have produced a worthy successor to the HBH-35 here, its lightweight (28 grams) and yet able to keep going for as long as the busiest executive, plus it looks very sleek and comes with a great cradle.

Priced at £59.99 the Sony Ericsson HBH-300 Akono headset is not a cheap headset but then we didn't want a cheap headset we want one that will last the 2 years LP's hbh-35 did and we think the 300 is a real winner.

More Sony Ericsson Reviews

Published - 17/03/2005

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