Review: Philips Wireless Headset SHB6102

This is a gift from a best friend of mine (which I truthfully appreciate). When I have got my Creative Zen Vision M in Netherlands, I always found it very annoying and troublesome to listen to it while cycling to work because of the damn wire from the ear-phone. That's why I always crave for a wireless-cable-less way of listening to music. Surprisingly back then even with Bluetooth technologies available, the idea of using Bluetooth to listening to music is still crazy to most people. After several years, finally, it is here! And, my friend after listening to my complaints about the stupid wire earphone got me this Philips Wireless Headset SHB6102/93. It is not without its flaw, but definitely better than the wire.

After using it for almost 6 months now, I think I could confidently tell you something about this thing.


Look:
OK, Philips stuff certainly has its quality (read between the line: certainly could match the price tag). Sadly, people (shallow or not) always judge from the outside (at least at first). Therefore, Philips products (those consumer electronic or gadgety stuff) are seldom popular among the geeks, the followers, and the commoner. Frankly, I myself always criticize Philips design.I mean they should better that the packaging is what sells. However, Philips this time has certainly proved me a bit wrong. The headset comes with two parts, one is a headset receiver that you wear on your ears "clipped" around the back of your head; and the other one is the BT transmitter that you could plug to any MP3 or whatever gadgets for transmitting the audio wirelessly. I guess you can never do wrong with designing a headset (right!?). One thing I have to complain though is the band of the headset. It is rigid, thus unbendable; it is fixed, thus unadjustable (basically you could feel something is poking your head when you try to rest your head on the chair); and it is hard, thus after a while of wearing it on your ears, you feel uncomfortable. This headset certainly has its flaw. That's why I wonder sometimes I should go with the ear-plugs. Anyway, luckily I only wear it for like 1 hour per day, so the trouble doesn't really bug
me that much. In overall, the look is not so bad, but it certainly has places for improvement.

Use:
To use it is simple -- firstly, press the "On/Off" button on both transmitter and receiver simultaneously for a while until you see the blinking red light turning into blinking green light. This indicates that both the transmitter and receiver are connected. This step sometimes may take a while (the longest I have experienced is about 1.5 minutes or so). Then, just plug the transmitter to any MP3 (analog out slot), and the receiver just wear on your ears. You are set to go. Simple! However, I sometimes experience some broken communication between these two devices, while I am on the move. It can be very annoying. It is like listening to a broken radio. Luckily this doesn't happen that often, but when it happens, you just wish you are using the wire headset instead (how sad!). Another thing I have to complain is the charger. I mean c'mon people nowadays are mostly using USB cable to charge via their laptops or computers. I wonder why they still use some sort of proprietary slot for charging. It just doesn't make sense to me. Luckily this is the least problem that bugs me. One thing that is kinda cool from my own point of view is that I just have to shut down the receiver, the transmitter when "detect" (somehow) that and shut it down itself. That certainly saves the problem of doing the same thing twice.

Conclusions:
In overall, I cannot complain much about this cause I really want this. And, it is a nice gift! Good: Wireless (!!!), good sound quality (surprisingly good). Bad: Headset design, broken communication sometimes, and charger.