Samsung WEP850 Bluetooth Headset review: Samsung WEP850 Bluetooth Headset

Samsung makes plenty of Bluetooth headsets in addition to cell phones, and they're just as diverse in order to meet different needs. The Samsung WEP850, for example, is a middle-of-the-road headset for those who want a decent noise-canceling headset that has multipoint technology but also don't want to spend a lot of money. It's not terribly attractive, and we wish there were more fitting options, but it does deliver as an everyday headset with good call quality. The Samsung WEP850 is available for $69.99 retail.

7.3

Samsung WEP850 Bluetooth Headset

The Good

The Samsung WEP850 has easy-to-use controls, a decent fit, and good call quality. It has multipoint technology and is affordable as well.

The Bad

The Samsung WEP850 doesn't have additional earbud covers and doesn't do too well in windy situations.

The Bottom Line

With its noise-canceling and multipoint technology, the Samsung WEP850 is a good headset for the price.

The Samsung WEP850 has a traditional Bluetooth headset design. Measuring 2.17 inches long by 0.65 inch wide by 0.43 inch thick, the WEP850 is slim and rectangular with a shiny metal surface. On the front is a multifunction call button, which is quite big and has little raised teeth for texture. It's easy to find and press when the headset is worn on the ear. The volume rocker is on the right spine, and the charger jack is on top.

Flip the headset over and you'll find a pretty simple in-ear earpiece that nestles gently at the opening of the ear. The earpiece has a soft rubber coating on the outside and it's not too big, so it fits quite comfortably in the ear. You do need to wear the ear hook, though, because it wouldn't be secure otherwise. Also, we wish it came with additional earpiece covers for different-size ears.

Aside from the typical headset features like answering, ending, and rejecting calls, the WEP850 also has multipoint technology. This means it can connect up to two different devices simultaneously, which is handy if you're sharing a headset between two cell phones. You can switch the headset between the two phones without having to reconnect every time. The WEP850 also has last-number redial, call mute, call-waiting support, and the ability to transfer calls from the headset to the phone and vice versa.

We paired the Samsung WEP850 with the Apple iPhone 3G. The pairing process was smooth; the phone automatically recognized the headset without us entering the PIN (this might depend on your phone, however). Call quality was quite good overall. On our end, we did hear a bit of static and hiss at times, but we still heard our callers just fine. Volume was quite good as well.

On their end, callers said our voice came through loud and clear. The voice quality was a little on the harsh and tinny side, but it wasn't too bad. The headset also did a good job with its dual-microphone noise-canceling--call quality in a moving vehicle and in a quiet office environment were about the same, for example. There was a bit of background noise when we were in a busy restaurant, but nothing distracting. It didn't do too well in windy situations, though: we could hardly hear each other when we tested the headset in front of a fan. Still, in everyday situations, the WEP850 works fine.

The Samsung WEP850 has a rated battery life of 8 hours talk time and 10.4 days standby time.