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LG HBM-730 review: LG HBM-730

LG HBM-730

Nicole Lee Former Editor
Nicole Lee is a senior associate editor for CNET, covering cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, and all things mobile. She's also a fan of comic books, video games, and of course, shiny gadgets.
Nicole Lee
2 min read

LG seems to be churning out Bluetooth headsets like there's no tomorrow, with a slew of styles to fit a range of consumers. The HBM-730 is one of the more affordable models, and its style emulates that of the LG Chocolate in a way. It's tiny and comfortable, and has decent sound quality. Plus, as we said, it's affordable at only $39.99.

6.7

LG HBM-730

The Good

The LG HBM-730 is a simple Bluetooth headset that's easy to use and wear. It has good sound quality and is very affordable.

The Bad

The LG HBM-730 has an awkwardly placed LED indicator, and there's no call mute function.

The Bottom Line

The LG HBM-730 is a basic Bluetooth headset with decent sound quality and an affordable price point.

Measuring 1.66 inches long by 0.79 inch wide by 0.4 inch thick, the HBM-755 is certainly on the small side as far as headsets go. It has a curved bottom with a smooth, glossy black finish plus a red border that mimics the look of the LG Chocolate. Though it may not seem as if it's there, the multifunction button is actually on the device's front face, located underneath a red LED indicator. This presents a bit of a problem however, as we can't see the red LED while the button is pressed, and the LED is often an indicator of whether the headset is powered on or is being paired. Other than that, it's easy enough to press even when the headset is worn on the ear.

On the back of the headset is the traditional in-ear style earpiece as well as a very thin and flexible plastic ear loop that can be rotated to fit either ear. The earpiece is small enough to fit in the ear comfortably and securely. We also liked that the ear loop is thin enough to accommodate eyeglass earpieces. The HBM-730 comes with a foam earbud cover for additional padding, but we didn't think it was necessary. The left spine is home to the volume rocker, while the right houses the headset's charger jack.

The HBM-730 is quite basic when it comes to features. Of course they include the normal answering, rejecting, and ending calls, voice dial support, last number redial, a low-battery status indicator, call-waiting support, and the ability to transfer calls from the headset to the handset and vice versa. Oddly though, there is no call mute function.

We paired the LG HBM-730 with the RIM BlackBerry Pearl, and it did so successfully. Call quality was quite good--inbound audio had sufficient volume, and we could hear our callers loud and clear, with natural-sounding voices. Outbound quality was also good, but our callers did report slightly muffled sounds, and the noise cancellation wasn't great, especially in windy environments. That said, the headset worked fine in relatively quiet surroundings such as a car or the office.

The LG HBM-730 has a rated battery life of 3 hours and 50 minutes of talk time and 6.25 days of standby time.

6.7

LG HBM-730

Score Breakdown

Design 7Features 6Performance 7