Review: Great sound quality from Kyocera headset

Story Highlights

• Easy-to-use with tactile controls and great sound quality
• Pendant controller feels a bit awkward when worn
• Use it with a Bluetooth-enabled phone with built-in MP3 player

By Nicole Lee
CNET.com

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(CNET.com) -- Kyocera may be better known as a maker of hip cell phones for Virgin Mobile such as the Marbl and the Cyclops, but it has also churned out a number of Bluetooth accessories in the past.

Its latest is the Kyocera Wireless Stereo Bluetooth Headset with Pendant Controller, which is made to be used with a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone that has a built-in music player.

Though it has a rather clunky around-the-neck style, it has excellent sound quality and easy-to-use controls.

It's currently available for $41.99 from Kyocera Wireless.

This Kyocera Stereo Bluetooth Headset consists of two parts: a slim and compact pendant, which contains the main hub of controls, and a lanyard with the two earpieces attached to it via two short wires.

You are meant to wear the lanyard around your neck with the pendant hanging down against your chest.

This arrangement felt a bit awkward after a while, as the pendant kept swinging back and forth if we moved around a lot, and this is even after we clipped the pendant onto our shirt.

That said, it works just fine if you don't wear it for any rigorous activity such as running or jogging.

The pendant measures about 2.5 inches long, 1 inch wide, and 0.5 inch deep, and is quite lightweight at about an ounce.

Dressed in a simple silver and black color scheme, it looks rather ordinary but not unattractive. On its face is a simple four-way joystick-like toggle that can be pushed up, down, left, and right, as well as inward.

The toggle has a variety of functions and can be used to increase and decrease the volume, change music tracks, answer, end, and reject calls, and initiate a voice-activated call; it also has last-number redial.

The toggle feels really tactile and was very easy to use. Rounding out the pendant's exterior is a hold switch on the left spine, an earphone jack on top, a clip on the back, and a charger jack on the bottom.

Though the lanyard felt pretty comfortable when hung around our neck, the length does not seem to be adjustable. Also the earpieces do not come with different-size ear tips, which could lead to some discomfort for some people.

We tested the Kyocera Wireless Stereo Bluetooth Headset with Pendant Controller with the LG VX9400 (Read review). Pairing was a breeze and we were ready to go in no time. Call quality was great -- we heard callers loud and clear, and callers had no problems hearing us. However, we did have to bring the pendant up close to our mouths to do this, which defeats the purpose of having a hands-free headset.

Along with the typical answering, ending, and rejecting calls, the headset also supports voice dialing, last-number redial, and has a battery status indicator as well. Music quality was quite spectacular. We streamed a couple of songs from the VX9400 over to the headset without a hitch, and the audio sounded crisp and clear.

The Kyocera Wireless Stereo Bluetooth Headset with Pendant Controller has a rated talk time of 6 hours and a rated standby time of 8 days.

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