Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 Bluetooth stereo headphones

Sony Ericsson has a lot riding on these tiny wireless headphones. Barely bigger than wired earbuds, they're a flagship product for a company known for its quality peripherals, and SE wants these boys to cement its reputation. Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 Sony Ericsson's HBH-IS800: tiny 'phones As Bluetooth stereo 'phones really …

[Jiminy Krikett]

"A premium product in a natty black case"

...which you throw straight in the bin, once opened. I still fail to understand why companies try to flog us stuff in "pretty boxes" that get trashed. Plain brown cardboard box, with minimal plastics...that's all we need.

[Gabor Laszlo]

Headset, not headphone

A headphone would have Play/Pause, Volume and ideally Next/FFW/Prev/Rewind controls. This seems fine for casual listening/talking, but I need more and don't mind a larger device. Wait 'til they start to mass produce carbon nanotube speakers :D

[Matthew Coulson]

Hugely expensive

Wow, those are a huge backwards step from the Sony DRBT10CX. Less battery life, greater chance of them flopping out of your ears.

And available 12 months ago for under £25.

[James]

Nice!

Wow at last, just what i was looking for! Hmmm but does it work with my iPhone?!?!

[Bassey]

Wireless Headphones?

WTF? Is this a knock-on from "Unlimited Broadband" with download limits? We now have wireless headphones with wires. What next, Asus start advertising Invisible Netbooks that you can see?

If you want wireless headphones, buy a pair without wires. If you don't mind having wires dangling from your ears, pulling the earphones out, buy a set with wires. Who, in the name of Jobs, is going to be willing to pay £100 for wireless headphones that have fucking wires!!!???? And would they like to buy the centres from my Polo mints 'cause I won't be needing them. Only £1 each!

[Bad Beaver]

PREMIUM

I guess you could loose a word or two about the sound nontheless? Also, what could be more convenient than wireless phones with a super fiddly small battery-door that you will have to fiddle with about every second day? These could be much more compelling if that circular case featured inductive charging. It is not like organizing and remembering all those gadgets charging schedules makes my life any better and added fiddling makes it substantially worse.

[Anonymous Coward]

Buds

These seem great and I really weant wireless handsfree that's suitable for audio but there's one problem - I personally can't bear the feeling of those tight fitting rubber buds in my ears. They also muffle ambient sounds in a strange way that makes me feel like I'm underwater. The combination makes me feel disoriented and uncomfortable.

I much prefer the sound and feel of the cheaper standard issue Sony Ericsson handsfree earphones. Am I the only one?

[Malcolm]

Miserable sods

Larger bluetooth headsets with more buttons (and less shiny boxes) are also available...

If all gadgets were strictly functional at the expense of form the world would be far less interesting. These look like they'll go nicely with my very shiny (if ever so slightly compromised Sony Ericsson X1)

[Chris Leuty]

They're as wireless as they can be

Hey Bassey! Nice rant about wireless with wires. The wire-less part is the connection between mobile and headphones which makes sense when you think about it. If it was truly wire-less how are you going to get stereo if you don't have a physical wire connecting the two earbuds? I suppose you could have a Bluetooth receiver in each one that decodes just left or right but you'd need a battery and a charger connector in each one too. So that doubles the price. And what about a microphone for when someone phones you up? You haven't thought this through.

I've got the SE HBH-DS220 which has a Bluetooth receiver with a clip which has the distinct advantage of allowing you to plug in any headphones of your own choosing if you don't like the in-ear canal ones supplied. Plus you can replace them when the cable inevitably gets damaged. And they're a lot cheaper too.

[Carl Williams]

Still Prefer My Motorola S9's

They have controls on them (for the limited range of player that support Bluetooth controls), have no annoying wires, have equivalent battery life, charge from a standard USB cable and cost about 1/2 the price of these.

[Anonymous Coward]

A2DP liberation

I love A2DP option on my Nokia E90 and SE X1. This new SE headset looks ideal for the gym etc. has my vote and my money. Some people here probably have little real experience with Bt stereo wireless products and probably are enable to appreciate how useful A2DP is therefore what an advance this headset represents.

[Paul]

no FM radio? no AV controls?

many headsets are a triumph of style over comfort and usability. I guess pretty much all the technical issues have been solved so the marketing people can squeeze a headset into any shape they like. so far the best device I've found is the Motorola S705 which will pair with multiple devices, does the A2DP stuff, has an FM radio and AV controls. Even better, you don't have to use them with the supplied earphones, which is essential since in the main I hate the in-ear things!

[Anonymous Coward]

but will they fall apart?

I've gove through about half a dozen in-ear sony buds over the last five years which have all died due to the rubber/wire breaking where it meets the earbud - the cheap bundled ones i've got with SE handsets have survived for years, but consumer ones from sony with the softer rubber on the wires simply dont last.

That being said, stereo bluetooth is the way forward, i've use my moto S9s for a couple of hours a day almost every day for the last year. I know they dont fit everybody perfectly but for me they're great - the controls work really well and nothing else comes close to being as usable while running/cycling/squashed on a busy tube.