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Nokia BH-800 review: Nokia BH-800
The Nokia BH-800 is one of the best handsets we've seen to date, with a great design, a comfortable fit, and good sound quality.
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.
The Nokia BH-800 is a tiny little headset that looks like a piece of candy, measuring only 1.6 by 0.7 by 0.35 inches and weighing an airy 0.3 ounce. Because it's so tiny, it's inconspicuous when worn, a far cry from most other Bluetooth headsets, such as the Jabra BT500, for example. We liked the simple rectangular design with its stylish minimalism. The BH-800 has a square multifunction button on the front, the power button on top, the volume rocker on the left spine, and the charger jack on the right. While the multifunction button was easy enough to press, we thought the power button was a little small, especially for larger hands. We also found the volume rocker a little difficult to maneuver while the headset is worn on the ear.
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On the back of the device is the earpiece and a slot for an optional ear loop. The earpiece fit snugly in our ear, and though we didn't need the ear loop, we liked having it for added security. The ear loop is changeable to accommodate both right and left ears. The BH-800 also comes with a metal neck strap, which you can hook the headset on so that it almost looks like a fashion accessory. But as handy as it sounds, the headset does not fit securely on the neck strap, and you may lose it if you wear it this way.
We tested the Nokia BH-800 with the Sidekick 3 and the LG VX8100 and were able to pair the headset with the phones without any problems. Call quality was great on both ends, though callers did report that we sounded a little faded when in noisier environments. You can answer and end calls, reject calls, redial, switch calls between the headset and the phone, and voice dial, all with the BH-800. The Nokia BH-800 has a rated talk time of six hours and a rated standby time of seven days.