Bluetooth Headsets for Cellphones Finally Small, Affordable
June 23, 2011 — -- Once a novel and noticeable protrusion emanating from the ear, Bluetooth headsets have become small, sleek, and not so expensive. According to NPD's Mobile Phone Accessories Tracker, the average price of a Bluetooth headset in Q1 was $51.58, and prices have held relatively steady over the past three years.
To maintain differentiation, headset companies have now turned to smartphone software to add features that could be awkward or difficult to fit on the limited real estate available on most headsets. Here's what some of the Bluetooth boosters are doing with bits:
Jawbone has followed up with Thoughts, which is a nicely designed iPhone app that lets you record audio messages and send them off to your contacts using e-mail, phone and a variety of other means. Thoughts can also send messages to a group of contacts created within the app, plus transcribe voice messages for text delivery via a service. The service allows ten message transcriptions before requiring users to purchase more. This handy and free app works with any Bluetooth headset; in fact, it doesn't even require a headset, and it can work when the phone is used normally without the headset or with speakerphone.
For example, one part of the software lets you customize the audio output of the headset by tapping at various points around the handset's screen. Another is a button that allows the user to find a mislaid headset by having it beep very loudly. (You'd probably have to be in the same room to track it down, though.) EarPrint is limited to the company's flagship headset and requires the latest version of the headset's firmware to be installed before using.
