Nokia Bluetooth Headset HS-3W

This is not traditionally Nokia’s strongpoint! The much-vaunted HDW-1 never actually made it to market, and the HDW-2 makes your ear flop, as the weight of the headset, supported by a plastic hook, pulls heavily.

The HS-3W is a definite improvement, not least because it’s an in-ear model. I use it with a Nokia 6600.

Positive points:

*It’s well-built and looks stylish.
*It has built-in clip or neck-cord options allowing you to choose how to wear it.
*It supports all the functionality available – e.g. voice dialling, last number recall, volume control.
*The connection has never broken unintentionally for me – my 6310i/Jabra BT200 combo lost each other all the time.
*It recharges via the phone charger, so you don’t have to carry around two.
*The headset can be connected to the phone even when either of them is charging
*Battery life seems excellent.
*Full-duplex sound quality is as good as any I’ve heard from a headset.

Negative points:

*It only supports handsfree profile, NOT headset. This means that I have to have the same configuration for my headset and for my Bluetooth car kit, which is not good – I want auto answering in the car but not on the headset. Similarly, I want to auto-change to a different profile when I’m in the car but I want to use the current profile with the headset. These are not possible with both accessories being linked to handsfree profile – I would have to change the settings every time I got into and out of my car!

*The phone does not ring when you receive a call whilst connected to the headset. I really do not know what Nokia were thinking of with this very annoying feature! I don’t want to walk around with the headset in my ear all the time, and I can’t hear my phone vibrate on a desk eight metres away in a busy office. To make matters worse, the phone does not vibrate when charging. This alone is sensible because it could be in a desk or car charger. However, this means that if you are sitting at your desk with the headset out of your ear and someone calls you, you will only know if you catch sight of the phone’s display out of your peripheral vision. Bonkers! I want the phone to ring so that I can put the headset in my ear and answer the call. Doesn’t seem much to ask.

It's very easy to use, and the setup takes less than 20 second. Looks great and casual wearing it. I was initially concerned when I read some reviews regarding the mixed outgoing audio quality. But so far, both incoming and outgoing audio quality has been excellent. My friend couldn't tell the difference when taking my calls. Another issue is how far should the phone be away from the headset? In my case, I used the headset in the adjacent room (about 8m with a wall in between) and it's still very clear. When I go more than 10m, it's still connected but the sounds starting to get blurry...super~! I'm pleased with the distance of connection. The connection has always stay connected as long as you are in the range (no problem with disconnection). If your phone has voice commands, it also responds to that...so you can even change your phone profile with a press of button. Some people also mentioned that the phone doesn't ring or vibrate when connected to bt headset, but when connecting to my Nokia 7600, the phone does both rings and vibrates (depending on the profile you've set). The earpiece is comfortable to wear, but sometimes, I find it a bit loose (well, I guess if it's big and fits tightly in your ear, it wouldn't be comfortable then).

I am not too sure regarding the battery life, but so far, it serves me about 3 hr talking time, and the standby time about 3-4 days (seems a little shorter than what Nokia mentioned but good enough for me).

There's a little 'housekeeping' stuff that sides the cons of HS-3W. First of all, I find it a little difficult trying to tidy up the wire which circles the unit....but the magnetic bit which sticks the earpiece to headset comes handy. Would be perfect if they could design a wire which can lengthen when pulled and shorten itself when pushing a button (somehow like the USB cable for PDAs if you've seen one)..anyway not a big problem. The buttons a bit hard to press so you'll need to use both hand sometimes. But I guess this also prevent the buttons being 'mispressed' e.g. when you keep the unit in a pocket. Another improvement I would like to see is that the LED can show some indication when there's incoming call.

On the whole, I'm very pleased with this small, light, casual great-looking headset. I'm would definitely recommend it esp if you have a Nokia phone.