Motorola H550 Wireless Headset Review

After a fairly long quiet period where few if any noteworthy Bluetooth headsets were released we’re slowly seeing a new generation appear on Planet Treonauts.  I recently had the opportunity to review the Jabra BT125 which I quickly and easily voted “Best Value Wireless Headset Under $60” and now here comes the Motorola H550.

The first thing that sets the H550 apart is Motorola’s new “Power Slider” (above at the center of the headset) that helps you to increase your overall talk time because it actually powers the headset off when not in use instead of just leaving it on standby (draining battery) as nearly all other wireless headsets do. 

In this respect, the Power Slider found on the H550 is actually very similar to the Power Flip found on both the Motorola H700 and HS850.  Additionally, after meeting with some Motorola representatives at CES today I was able to see that virtually all of the company’s forthcoming 2007 Bluetooth headsets – H800, H670 and H55 – will feature the Power Slider clearly setting them apart from others when it comes to power management.

Evidently power and thus talk time and standby times (8 hours and 192 hours respectively) are important factors for the H550 but clearly there has to be more as well.  The H550 delivers extremely good inbound and outbound call quality – partially aided by an ergonomically designed speaker (image below) which rests in your ear for improved audio – and I also particularly liked its set of functions such as:

• Mute/Unmute Call by simply pressing both volume buttons
• Reject Call by pressing any volume button
• Call Redial by pressing and holding the Call button
• Call Answer by simply sliding the Power Slider from Off to On or pressing the Call button when in standby mode

Additionally, because all ears are not created equal the H550 uniquely also includes a set of three differently shaped earhooks (below) which can be easily switched to ensure that you will be able to find your perfect fit.  Also, both the earhook and headset itself are robust and small enough that you will not have any problem fitting it in your pocket.

Finally, because Motorola (unlike Jabra) has also standardized its charging connectors around miniUSB you will be able to very easily charge your headset from your PC while on the go.  Having said this the H550 kit does not unfortunately include the cable so you will need to buy one separately.

Below is a comparative chart of the Motorola H550 with my four other favourite Treo Bluetooth headsets: the Jabra BT125, Motorola H700, Jabra JX10 and Palm Wireless Headset.

Please note that all my H550 review tests were made using a Treo 700p and performance can sometimes vary with other Treo smartphones.

Treonauts are always ready to speak wirelessly…