Howdy folks, your friendly neighborhood mod ashasaur here with a review of my new Motorola S10-HD stereo Bluetooth headset. As the name suggests, this is a Bluetooth headset that no only supports stereo sound, but REQUIRES a device that has stereo Bluetooth(A2DP) support, and that my friends...is what the HD2 has. Anywho, the review!
DEVICE-The device itself is really nice, great build quality. It comes with 4 sets of rubber ear dome-thingies so if you have giant ass ears like me you can switch the domes to ones that fit more snuggly. Included in the box are the domes, instructions and a Micro USB charger. The device has several physical buttons-Volume Up/Down, Play/Pause, Track Skip, Track Back, Power and End/Send. It is available in either jet black or silver.
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS-As I said above, you have to have a device that has stereo Bluetooth capabilities, also known as A2DP, which the HD2(and many newer HTC devices) has. The S10-HD works with both Windows Mobile and Android from my personal testing. I am using the newest Energy ROM, and Froyostone Sense v3.2, and stereo sound and calling works great under both operating systems.
FEATURES-One of the best features of the S10-HD is that it's volume controls are independent of WinMo's or Android's. Meaning, you can have your device's volume at any setting, and the volume on the headset is independent of this setting, which means that you don't have to fiddle with the volume slider on the phone in order to get a reasonable level, you can use the buttons on the headset...and your normal ringtone/system volume remains unaffected on your device. Now, one downside is that system audio is NOT pushed to the headset, IE new text or e-mail notifications still play on the speaker of your device, which is kind of a downer. Another downside is that in order for phone call audio to be pushed to the headset, you MUST answer a phone call using the Call End/Send button the the headset itself. Using the screen or buttons on the phone to answer the call will default them to the mic/speaker of the phone instead. The last downside is that the buttons on the headset, other then Call End/Send and the volume keys don't actually do anything under WinMo. I am currently looking into this and will update if I find out how to make them work, as they do work under Android.
SOUND QUALITY-The S10-HD features, in my opinion, better than average sound quality. The range of the headset is pretty damn good in my opinion. I always keep my HD2 in a holster on my left side, and the sound, even when walking/jogging is consistent with no fuzziness or fade ins/outs. However, the microphone is rather far away from your mouth, on your right ear no less, so you do have to speak up for people to hear you on a call. The sound quality itself is rather good for wireless headphones, and almost comparable to the stock HTC wired headphones, or any other wired set for that matter.
BATTERY LIFE-The battery life of the S10-HD is actually pretty decent for a stereo headset. On standby you will easily get 5-6 days, and connected you will get 7ish hours of music listening and 8ish hours of talk. It takes around 3 hours to fully charge the battery from dead.
PRICE-The Motorola S10-HD is available from stores in the US such as Best-Buy and Target for around 80USD, sometimes a little lower(I got mine for 50 bucks on sale).
PROS/CONS
PROS:
Lightweight
Good sound quality
Good battery life
Decent price
CONS:
Hardware buttons don't do anything
Calls aren't always pushed to headset
System audio doesn't play through headset
FINAL SCORE-8/10
Overall, it's a great little stereo headset, and you really can't go wrong for the price. Highly recommended!
Check out my video review on my YouTube channel here:LINK COMING SOON!
DEVICE-The device itself is really nice, great build quality. It comes with 4 sets of rubber ear dome-thingies so if you have giant ass ears like me you can switch the domes to ones that fit more snuggly. Included in the box are the domes, instructions and a Micro USB charger. The device has several physical buttons-Volume Up/Down, Play/Pause, Track Skip, Track Back, Power and End/Send. It is available in either jet black or silver.
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS-As I said above, you have to have a device that has stereo Bluetooth capabilities, also known as A2DP, which the HD2(and many newer HTC devices) has. The S10-HD works with both Windows Mobile and Android from my personal testing. I am using the newest Energy ROM, and Froyostone Sense v3.2, and stereo sound and calling works great under both operating systems.
FEATURES-One of the best features of the S10-HD is that it's volume controls are independent of WinMo's or Android's. Meaning, you can have your device's volume at any setting, and the volume on the headset is independent of this setting, which means that you don't have to fiddle with the volume slider on the phone in order to get a reasonable level, you can use the buttons on the headset...and your normal ringtone/system volume remains unaffected on your device. Now, one downside is that system audio is NOT pushed to the headset, IE new text or e-mail notifications still play on the speaker of your device, which is kind of a downer. Another downside is that in order for phone call audio to be pushed to the headset, you MUST answer a phone call using the Call End/Send button the the headset itself. Using the screen or buttons on the phone to answer the call will default them to the mic/speaker of the phone instead. The last downside is that the buttons on the headset, other then Call End/Send and the volume keys don't actually do anything under WinMo. I am currently looking into this and will update if I find out how to make them work, as they do work under Android.
SOUND QUALITY-The S10-HD features, in my opinion, better than average sound quality. The range of the headset is pretty damn good in my opinion. I always keep my HD2 in a holster on my left side, and the sound, even when walking/jogging is consistent with no fuzziness or fade ins/outs. However, the microphone is rather far away from your mouth, on your right ear no less, so you do have to speak up for people to hear you on a call. The sound quality itself is rather good for wireless headphones, and almost comparable to the stock HTC wired headphones, or any other wired set for that matter.
BATTERY LIFE-The battery life of the S10-HD is actually pretty decent for a stereo headset. On standby you will easily get 5-6 days, and connected you will get 7ish hours of music listening and 8ish hours of talk. It takes around 3 hours to fully charge the battery from dead.
PRICE-The Motorola S10-HD is available from stores in the US such as Best-Buy and Target for around 80USD, sometimes a little lower(I got mine for 50 bucks on sale).
PROS/CONS
PROS:
Lightweight
Good sound quality
Good battery life
Decent price
CONS:
Hardware buttons don't do anything
Calls aren't always pushed to headset
System audio doesn't play through headset
FINAL SCORE-8/10
Overall, it's a great little stereo headset, and you really can't go wrong for the price. Highly recommended!
Check out my video review on my YouTube channel here:LINK COMING SOON!
