As announced earlier, the new Motorola H17 Flip Bluetooth Headset arrived here at JAMM, and I have had the opportunity to test it out for the last two weeks.

Motorola H17 Flip Bluetooth Headset

Overview

Once you take the headset out of its package, you will be pleasantly impressed by its size, which Motorola claims it is the smallest and lightest in its class. Moreover, I found it to be a classical-sexy device, in its black suit.

The main feature of this headset is the flip, which is a Motorola distinguishing feature seen before only on the Motorola Motopure H15, shown below for comparison.

Motorola Motopure H15 Flip Bluetooth Headset

Design comparison with the previous H15 starts and stops here, due to the different proportion of the H17 and of the lack of silver parts, which I liked.

Once you open the package you will find the headset, the power charger and multiple ear buds and hooks with rubber rings, in order to find the one that fits best for you. In my case (big ears!!) the one already mounted on the device fit very nicely.  I was able to wear it from 8:00 am until I took it off at 7:00 pm. I also used glasses with it, with minor annoyances. I tried the ear buds, but I ended using the hook, because I am (and always have been) paranoid about losing the headset.

The mounted hook is slightly more refined, giving you the ability to turn it for both left and right ear wearing. This is not possible with the additional hooks, which you have to unmount and mount again in order to change your ear. Obviously, this is not a problem at all.

Motorola H17 accessories: extra hooks and ear buds are in the package to find the one that fits best

Motorola H17 headset and its charger

The charger plug seems a standard micro USB, and allows you to fully charge your device in 1-1.5 hour.

Buttons

The headset has a rocker style silver button to increase and decrease volume. In the middle of the rocker a light will change its color to indicate a different headset status. An easy to use black button on the side of the headset allows to answer and drop calls, as well as to call the last contact of the call registry.

There is no button to switch on and off the device, and this should be no surprise, given that this is a flip headset. The power function is assigned to the flip which is something I really like!! Why? Just because it’s so damn simple to switch on and off and that frees you from another button on the headset and you don’t have to learn any special button combos. I like it. Period.

Using The Headset

When your phone rings just open the flip to answer a call on the fly, with no additional effort (just close it to end the call). This is what is called RapidConnect. In principle, once the H17 is paired to your phone,  you can leave the device off and answer an incoming call simply by opening the flip. In this way you will switch on the headset and answer in one move. However, I found it to be a bit strange to use the flip to answer a call.  In order to open it, I had to lift it away from my cheek, find the flip, and open it. Leaving the flip open and pushing the easy to find answer button was really more straightforward.

Motorola H17 side view, flip closed

Motorola H17 side view, flip open

Motorola H17 upper view, flip closed

H17 upper view, flip open

Voice Prompts

The headset also includes voice prompts, which proved to be very helpful at the beginning and have allowed me to take the full advantage from the headset. The first time you switch on the device (i.e. the first time you open the flip) a voice says:

• Ready to pair. Go to Bluetooth menu on phone to complete pairing. Enter 0000 if required.

This will  start the Bluetooth pairing procedure  with your phone.  The H17 will be ready to be used in seconds. This worked flawlessly for me and my Palm Centro.

Once paired, the next time you will open the flip you will be informed on the H17 battery and connection status:

• Battery level is high. Phone 1 connected.

Other voice messages will inform you on what’s going on with the headset:

• Phone call on phone 1
• Phone 1 connected
• Phone 1 disconnected
• Headset not connected

while a simple sound will notify you of signal drops due to poor coverage.

If you pair your H17 with two phones, the voice prompts will come handy. The headset will identify the different phones as “Phone 1″ and “Phone 2″, and the messages will be personalized with the additional phone information, as in “Phone call on phone 2″.

If you do not feel comfortable with voice prompts, the headset allows you to disable them, by pressing together volume up and volume down until you hear “Voice prompts off”. To activate them back, follow the same procedure until you hear “Voice prompts on”.

Call Quality

The H17 sports noise reduction, thanks to Motorola’s CrystalTalk dual-mic technology. This means that it should be able to make calls clear even in noisy environments.

I made several calls in different environments, from a quiet room to a car with a high volume stereo. In every case, no complaints were made from the other side of the call, and I have none either.

Battery

Motorola claims the H17 offers up to 5 hours of talk time and a standby time of up to seven days, with a quick-charge feature that will take 15 minutes to charge it up for 2 hours of talk time.

During the review, the headset was left switched on (flip open) at night, in order to check its standby time. After 90 hours of standby and approximately 1 hour of calls, the headset was still working, with the “Battery level is low” prompt.

Conclusions

I am more keen on stereo Bluetooth headset (I own myself the Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970) and I have never been satisfied by mono headsets.

However, this one made me reconsider that choice.  Today, after I returned the unit Motorola loaned me, I found I was missed using it. I am seriuosly thinking I may give Motorola my $79.99 to keep the H17 with me at all times.

Pros: clean button arrangement thank to flip, voice prompts, RapidConnect to save battery, spare ear buds and hooks to fit your ear

Cons: flip action not suitable during wearing