Four New Seidio Hybrid Headphones for your Treo
As I’ve mentioned repeatedly before, I love listening to music on my Treo. My most trusted and essential gear for this is the combination of Pocket Tunes Deluxe and Magic Button on the software front with the Seidio 2–in-1 Headphones, Shield Holster secured to my hip and at least a 1GB SD Card on the accessories front.
As I do often, the other day I was walking in the street listening to one of my favourite tunes when I received a call. The music stopped playing automatically as my Treo was ringing and I pressed the ‘Answer Button’ on the headphones to take the call. While I continued to walk, I had a 10 minutes conversation via the built-in microphone on the headphones after which my music conveninently resumed playing where it had left off.
At this point, the thought occurred to me that if I had been listening to music with a separate MP3 player I would likely have missed the call since my music would probably have been blasting above the sound of my Treo ringing. At best I would have had the hassle to remove the headphones from the MP3 player in order to answer the call.
Thanks to my Treo music gear however I can conveniently switch from listening to music to making or taking a call in an instant – just one more reason why I envisage that my Treo will continue to be my preferred MP3 music player for the foreseeable future…
Now, to further help Treonauts’ music listening experiences, Seidio has recently released four new hybrid 2–in-1 headphones (Isolator, Earbud, Over-the-Ear and Foldable) as well as a new 2.5mm adapter (all pictured in order below) which will all work with both the Treo 650 and Treo 700w.
The main change across all headphones and the adapter compared with the previous model is a redesigned much smaller microphone casing (image below right) now in black with a silver button with dual front and back microphone openings. Overall these new headphones have a much more elegant and modern design.
Naturally everyone will have their preferred choice in terms of which of the four headphones to choose. I personally continue to prefer the Retractable 2–in-1 Earbud Headphones whose sound quality and volume have now been further improved to deliver what feels like up to 50% louder music.
My other choices would be either the more expensive Retractable Isolator or the Retractable 2–in-1 Adapter which I would use with a pair of existing headphones that I own – I always choose the retractable models because I love not having the cable mess in my pocket and I can plug and listen quickly instead of having to waste my time untaggling wires.
[Forward this post to a friend.]
Treonauts always have an ear for music…
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Comments
having trouble with a treo bluetooth headset and treo 700. The recognition is sometimes "flaky" anyone else find this problem?? Thanks Barton
I have the new Isolator ear buds and even though they aren't fantastic with their noise canceling they are still pretty sweet, they fit comfortably and the fact they are a hybrid headset is really handy.
So how does MagicButton work? I use my headset while biking and if I could easily skip songs from the headset control then that would be pretty sweet. I'd download it and try it myself but at the moment I am happy with the stability of my Treo so I don't want to upset it. ;)
Why haven't you looked at bluetooth hybrid headphones? Are there any headsets for stereo and phonne communications that can free us from the cord?
[quote]Why haven't you looked at bluetooth hybrid headphones? Are there any headsets for stereo and phonne communications that can free us from the cord?[/quote]
To date none of the current Treo models support such a feature. However, the BlueTooth standard does offer support, just not the phones. So there is hope for future updates/models supporting this feature.
Has anyone tried out the Motorola HT820 headphones? I was wondering how they compaired to a wired solution?
Hey, how about Treo 650 headphone jack breakage issues. I've been afraid to do any walking & talking & listening since my last jack broke (still under warranty, thank goody). Any issues with this and the Seidio hybrid phones? I visit you daily, Andrew! My wife calls my Treo my "mistress."
I have a weird situation I'm hoping someone may have experienced with the minijack. I also listen to music all the time on my 650, but today when I unplugged my headphones before shutting off the mp3 player (I'm using RealPlayer) the sound did not come out of the speaker.
For some reason, the treo thinks the headphones are always plugged in now, which means that if I plug in the headphones, I can hear fine, but I cannot hear from the regular ear piece ever. I still get sounds from the speaker -- the phone rings, etc, but it always tries to send the output to the headset. I've tried a soft reset, and I'll try a hard reset tonight, but I get the feelings this is something more serious.
Anyone else experience anything like this?
Any idea whether the "turn off music while on a phone call" feature works on the 700w?
Dan,
My posting above yours describes a common problem with the Treo, regarding the eventual failure of the headphone jack. My jack started acting up like yours, until it just finally failed. In the interim, you can try pulling your jack in an out; the internal switch starts working again, intermittently. There are posts about this, at length, on treocentral.com's forums. If your phone is no longer under warranty, and you can't replace the phone, there's a jack from Seidio (seidioonline.com, part # ADA-TR65035FPT) that is a dongle type of device that fits to your connector dock. http://www.seidioonline.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=227
Lots of bad heaphone jack discussion here: http://discussion.treocentral.com/showthread.php?t=93850&highlight=broken+headphone+jack
One more Treo Audio Jack Fix Link: http://treotricks.blogspot.com/2006/01/treo-650-audio-jack-fix-part-1.html
Andrew, I think this is a serious enough issue to warrant your attention! :)
The seidio dongle does not fix the problem. Once you have the problem, you will be unable to use the internal speaker and speakerphone.
Also, the Seidio dongle does not allow for use of the internal mic with stereo headphones. I have been fixing the audio jack problem for $50 and have the repair proceedure posted (see link above) for those wishing to do them themselves.
I've tried the Seidio old retractable, old earbud, over the ear, new isolator, new earbud, in my opinion they are all inadequate. I hope someone come up with something better soon. The retractable are a pain to deal with in my opinion - the weight of the retracable mechanism seems to get in the way and is annoying. The over the ear simply did not fit well - did not even sit right. The islator seemed like a great idea, but was just painful and would not stay in. I kept the regular earbud ones - I have both the new and old one - both are functional, but music quality compared to any plain headset is much lower. I would have liked to get the Music Enthusiast, but they only have a retractable version. As I said, I hope someone comes with something more decent soon.
Might also take a look at the high end of the market with these: http://www.shurestore.com/iseries/index.html
I've not tried this new combo version, but the earphones are amazing on my iPod.
Hello!
Very nice, beautiful and interesting blog!
I enjoy reading your blog... keep it up guys!
Respect you!
John - is there a big difference between the Shure E2, E3, E4 (which would apply to the i2c-t, i3c-t, i4c-t)? Have you tried them? Anyone else?
Andrew - I think you should include these in a comparison on stereo headsets for the Treo.
The Seidio Isolator headphones have to be the most uncomfortable in-ear headphones I've ever owned. Barely useable. If you move your head at all, they fall out unless you jam them into your ear to the point of discomfort.
I thought I might have some oddly shaped ears, so I gave them to my girlfriend to try. She said the exact same thing.
i installed magicbutton on my Treo 650 and now the machine reboots everytime I go to my Versamail inbox. anybody else experience this? Solutions? MagicButton sounds like a great product if I could get it to work. thanks!
Well all I bought the Shure i2c-t and let me tell you they are very nice. As far as sound quality is concerned they are the best earbuds I have put in my ears.
For the gentleman that said they were uncomfortable you have to be sure you have the correct pad on them and then drape them over the back of your ears. They are fine for me and my canals are tiny. I use the smallest flex fitting. If your ears are smaller than that you can use the foamies.
The earbuds live up to their name. Basically the earbuds are comparable to commercial earplugs with speakers. If you work in a high noise environment and have to use earplugs you will know exactly what I mean.
My only concern with these is safety, because while you are wearing them what ever you are listening to is all that you can hear. So if a man is coming out of a bank with a gun and the entire street is yelling at you to get out of the way you will be completely oblivious. Even with your music off you can't hear people that speak softly.
I recommend them only if you are very serious about listening to your music and Seriously only use them in situations where you can be sure not to hurt yourself.
Posted by: Jeff Donald | January 29, 2006 at 09:08 PM
Has anyone tried out the Motorola HT820 headphones? I was wondering how they compaired to a wired solution?
----------------------------------------
I read the Treo does not support A2DP, which is required by these headphones. Would have been nice.
Vipercome, Jeff - yes, neither the Treo 650 nor the Treo 700w natively support A2DP which is required for stereo bluetooth headsets.
However, a new software called Softick Audio Gateway http://software.treonauts.com/product.asp?id=5536 has been released which adds A2DP support.
I have not yet had a chance to test this but will do so early next week then write a review if the solution works.
Cheers, A.
Has anyone tried the motorola ht820 w/the 650? Compusa has them on sale for $79.99 through 4/8/06. I heard that you can use Softick Audio Gateway to listem to mp3s with them. Any info on this??
Ok-I couldn't wait for a reply so I bought the Motorola HT820@Compusa(21day return policy) and I downloaded the free trial of Softick Audio Gateway (free trial for 21 days as well). It's not perfect. Downloading seemes to have slowed down my Treo a bit-ex:going from one app. to another. (Is this the case with all downloads?) I have had to soft-reset my Treo at least 5 times since I installed Softick last night. The audio playback also skips a little when going from realplayer to phone or calendar. Caller ID only works when it wants to and auto-off shuts off quickly regardless of how long you've set it for. Now the good news!! You can get stereo playback of your mp3's w/Softick. You also get stereo calls as well and the mic is great-the person I called could hear me very well-haven't tested it outside in the wind yet. The headset is a little uncomfortable if you wear glasses. But I'm so afraid to wreck the audio jack that I'm willing to sacrifice comfort. I would recommend trying them out-check the store's return policy and try the free download of Softick to see if this combination is for you. I'm not completely sure yet but I have 3 weeks to decide.
Just a quick update on the Moto HT820. I ended up keeping the headset and paid for the Softick Audio Gateway. It's awsome! I resolved the soft-reset issue-found out that a free trial of solitaire I downloaded wasn't compatible and once I deleted it I no longer locked up. I no longer have delays going from one app to another as well.**I also just bought the Cardo Scala-500 Bluetooth Headset from CompUSA for $49.99 and it has a $40.00 online rebate if you purchase before 6/15/06-no complaints so far but who cares-$9.99 after rebate.
Forgot to add this: If you go to cardowireless.com and click on wearing and charging unger the Scala-500 category you can get a free silicone cap for the speaker of your scala-500.
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