Gibbs has moved and Internet service will, he hopes, follow soon. Meanwhile, he’s relying on a Droid and testing a Bluetooth headset.
I am in communications hell. We just moved and I don’t have Internet yet! AT&T promised to install the service tomorrow and gave me perhaps the worst time window I have ever heard of: Between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.! Really, AT&T? The gas and electric companies can give me a four-hour window (which still seems excessive), but you, a giant of the communications industry, can’t be more specific about when you’ll show up other than what amounts to “some time tomorrow”?
Even calling AT&T customer service has become a trial. Now the first thing I hear when I hit the AT&T voice response system is, “To best direct your call, please choose which one of these states you’re calling about service (sic).” Which state? That would be the state of “annoyance.”
Starting with “To best direct your call” is a great example of the kind of weasely use of language that large corporations seem predisposed to even though a simple “If you live in press one. If you live in …” and so on would suffice.
Anyway, if it wasn’t for the Verizon Motorola Droid I reviewed some time ago, I’d have been spending most of my time in Internet cafes which, while that wouldn’t be as onerous as, say, having to use smoke signals or Aldis lamps, would have been a one-way street to severe over-caffeination.
Now that I’ve used the Droid for an extended period I can honestly say that it is, by far, the best cell phone I’ve ever used and the Android operating system is an outstanding example of software engineering. In fact, this phone is so flexible that this column will be uploaded to the SD card on the Droid via USB then attached to an e-mail and voilà! One happy editor.
Of course, the latest Android phone is about to appear: The HTC Incredible which has so far won stellar reviews; I hope to get my hands on one of these for testing very soon.
Anyway, not only is the Droid an excellent cell phone, it is also an excellent media player. Motorola sent me its Bluetooth stereo headphones, the Motorokr S9-HD, to try with the Droid and I’m impressed. The Motorokr is both a stereo headphone set and a cell call headset.
I had tried some of the earlier attempts at Bluetooth headphones by other manufacturers and was disappointed; connectivity was poor (lots of drop-outs and weird noises), ergonomics were lacking, and audio performance was weak. Not so the Motorokr.
The Motorokr headphones are a one piece U-shaped headset with ear buds that hook over the ears and join behind the head. The controls for handling calls and controlling music playback are located on the loop just above the buds. Where the headset joins behind the head is a bulge that contains the electronics, battery and power switch. The overall weight is just a fraction over four ounces.
Setting up the Motorokr is easy … just the usual Bluetooth pairing method. In use, the audio performance is great; good trebles and midrange, with surprisingly full bass. Most cell calls sounded good and callers said that I sounded fine through the built-in microphone.
Priced at $130, the headset is a little pricey, but you can find them online for around $60 and at that price the value is very good. My one complaint? The batteries aren’t replaceable! Motorola claims they are good for about 400 charging cycles which probably means for a heavy user that’s roughly two years of use. Not bad, but planned obsolescence is always ugly. Even so, the Motorokr is the best product in its class I’ve tried. Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Gibbs may soon be out of comms limbo in Ventura, Calif. Try commiserating at gearhead@gibbs.com.
