The Motorola Bluetooth Stereo Active Headphones S9 combines music and mobile wireless calls so light and unobtrusive. Since the onset of the first Bluetooth headsets, waited patiently for the arrival of his declination stereo, which I would definitely get rid of the umbilical cord that feeds me music for many years.
Bluetooth A2DP profile hasn't still fairly new, many helmets have already made their entry into the niche of the wireless music without ever succeed in convincing me to make my choice from one of them. Too big, too light, too fragile, poor workmanship, poor sound quality, poor grip. There was always a but.
And then there is little time now that the Krzr Motorola Unveils S9. The bluetooth headset that will be brought closer to what I expected.
One of the tests will take the form of a puzzle. Candidates failing to move the right pieces to release the key, pull the ends! Well I could not help but think and laugh at himself sitting on the carpet when I tried to open the box of S9. Either I am proven too stupid to find the small tab that would have freed the precious artifact, or the packaging was too complicated, too advanced, too likely to me.
I already had in mind to get a kitchen knife, ignoring a possible return of goods, when the box finally broke in my hands.
Briefly, the S9 comes with 6 atria. 4 of shapes and sizes identical (beveled), and 2 ear "full" dress of a flexible skirt. Some documentation, a small bag very light and flexible, and a mini-cd absolutely useless as it only contains the manual translated into different languages. I expected a small application that would have allowed to check the battery status, to consult the files of the S9 paired devices or change the pairing code. But no, all that existed only in fantasy vision that I was the content of this cd: p
General appearance
The S9 is a beautiful well finished, very lightweight and smaller than I imagined seeing photos. I did not dare make crash test, but it seems strong enough to withstand the ravages of time, it is also supposed to resist moisture. The outer coating is that PVC should be something like this it is finely granulated and curvaceous. The coating covering the inside of the helmet is in turn composed of a very soft plastic.
On the back of the helmet, under the tumor containing the electronics of the device, found on one side the symbol of power to indicate where to press the coating to turn on the S9, and the other a cover protecting the mini-USB for charging. This is where appears the only weakness of this helmet. The soft plastic coating is cut here to give shape to the cache. The cutting edge is pinned under the PVC, but it arrived it was ripped when I did not take care to calibrate the jack cover into place, it dangling behind my head. Since the cache is not in contact with the skull, I would have preferred PVC with a closure system safer.
Between the power button and the jack cover, shines a powerful light the blue LED feature of bluetooth devices. And finally the helmet behind the sparkles and brushed silver Motorola logo.
At the ends of the branches found the control buttons. On the left from the bottom, reducing the volume button call pick up, increasing the volume. Right, the part dedicated to the music returns to the previous song, play or pause, and finally the next song.
These buttons are very well designed. They use two different technologies:
- The center button (taking calls and play / pause) button presses are classics, whose position is marked by a bulge,
- Buttons satellites (volume + / -, next track / previous) are tactile and responsive about right. Let me explain. In seeking the call button for example, often slipping on those volumes, but the flick does not have to operate, you should apply a little pressure.
This combination of pressure and touch controls makes it very comfortable to use without it becoming painful for your poor ears on the helmet which takes support. However, I would have preferred that the position of the buttons "next / previous" be reversed. I think we have to use much more often the "next" button but it is not the first to fall under the finger.
Comfortable
With soft, flexible coating that lines the inside of the helmet, wear is very comfortable despite the pressure it exerts on the skull. The point to be considered are the atria. I read several times on the Internet that called them to-ear. This is not really the case. The S9 headphones are all that is most conventional. If the beveled shape of the atria needs to be embedded in your cabbage leaves, not in order to provide better sound acceptable, but to ensure an optimum fit of the helmet. Stability depends on the S9 headset. If you do not press properly, the helmet is not properly oriented or that the atria were improperly installed on the headphones, the headphones will hurt and worse, its use can be very painful.
I made the sad experience! It took me a week to find the right "configuration". The first time I put on my head, because the atria were already asked, I have not touched. TRANSPORTATION completed my time, I got to work with glowing ears. I would not have supported the helmet one more hour! So I tried different combinations, trying to put the ear in various positions until I found the ideal compromise.
I'm talking about compromise. Today I got used, I use this headset with a lot of fun, but after 1h/1h30 it starts to become uncomfortable for the reason that I quoted above. The atria serve to keep the helmet, they are not as flexible as all intra you'll have tried so far. Moving the helmet wriggles a bit, and this affects the ears that must endure this treatment.
I tried other headsets and soft plastic dress. Yes they are more comfortable, but they are much larger. They fall more easily into the ear thereby reducing the effective maintenance of the helmet. It covers a lot more outside noise but also stifles a lot of music that you listen . To summarize, we must take the time to test the position of the helmet before wearing several hours of sharpening to avoid redness.
Sound Quality
The sound is not as deep as with real-ear headphones, and the bass is rather weak, yet I found the sound very good. Since I use a Sony Ericsson Walkman phone with the "Megabass" I feel no nostalgia for my old wired headset. When I want more of her, I need to increase it. It is always very clear and does not saturate. There is no question here of satisfying a fundamentalist audiophile, so I assume that the S9 offers a good return.
Communication I have also some blame to go around. The voices are clear but some may regret that we did hear from the left side.
The S9 has a microphone of course I still searching the site! I spoke to have no trouble hearing me, the conversations are continuing without a hitch in a noisy environment or not, and yet I am unable to locate this microphone!
Battery
Motorola announces 6h autonomy, that I could check. At 2 hours a day I actually held 3 days. The helmet heralds the end of the battery by a "beep" and then turn off shortly after.
Then comes the time to recharge. I have not timed the duration of charging, but I would say at first glance a little over an hour. The big advantage is that Motorola uses the mini-usb for its products and thus for the S9. With this, any standard cable will do to the battery since the first PC came.
Conclusion
Since the time I was thinking about buying bluetooth headset, the S9 does not make me regret my expectations. It is a very excite helmet. Lightweight (- of 30gr) and compact, nicely finished, good sound quality, comfort, good, sufficient autonomy for a short day's music. It is really well designed and makes you want to monitor the output of a likely successor! It seems they can find it bundled with an iPod adapter, but I've never seen this version.
Before concluding, let me say that for the sake of discretion (the headphones dangling behind the head already is unusual), I applied the matte black model paint on the logo flashing Motorola, and especially on the Led blue super powerful. So I made to my phone to make sure the helmet is off: D
Motorola Bluetooth Active Headphones S9 Headset