Nextlink is finally getting ready to roll out their Bluespoon 5G headset, which will take over the title for smallest (3 x 1.7 cm) and lightest (G stands for grams, natch) Bluetooth headset from the previous recordholder, their Bluespoon AX. Pocketnow has a hands-on review of the headset and overall finds it pretty slick. Some marks were withheld for having to semi-frequently swap out its four small rechargeable batteries, and for the two-button interface which made accessing some functions at times awkward. Nextlink will be selling the 5G through their website for an eye-popping $399, so this’ll pretty much only be for those of you who’ve got some bling to burn.

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Nextlink Bluespoon 5G
Review by: Adam Z Lein

INTRODUCTION

Nextlink has always been an innovator when it comes to Bluetooth headsets. Their Bluespoon headsets have always been the smallest of their time. Even their original Bluespoon headset is smaller than most current headsets from other manufacturers. With the Bluespoon 5G, Nextlink has once again outdone themselves. The 5G trumps Nextlink's previous smallest headset (the Bluespoon AX.)

WHAT'S HOT

The Bluespoon 5G is the lightest and smallest Bluetooth headset ever. The technology used here must be so far beyond anyone else. I don't see the competition catching up anytime soon.

SETUP

Before you can use the Bluespoon 5G, you'll have to charge one of the batteries. It comes with 4 of them, along with a 2 battery USB charger. The Bluespoon 5G only needs one battery at a time, so you should have plenty of juice.

The process of pairing the Bluespoon 5G with your phone will vary between manufacturers. I used my imate JAM Pocket PC. After you charge a couple batteries, you'll have to install one of them. The Bluespoon 5G is not like other headsets which can recharge themselves while being plugged into a wire or docking cradle. The 5G requires the battery to be replaced and recharged separately, which can become annoying, but at least you don't have to let it sit in a cradle and wait for it to recharge. This way you can have continued use of the Bluespoon 5G with only a minor inconvenience of having to swap out batteries occasionally.

Once you've got a fresh battery in there, the next step is to turn it on. Hold down the button closer to the pointy end (also known as the "volume up" button) for about 7 seconds. You should see a blue light blink in between the buttons. That means it's on. Continue to hold down that button for a few more seconds until the light alternates between red and blue. This indicates that the Bluespoon is in pairing mode. Now you can go to your Pocket PC Phone (or other Bluetooth phone) and search for bluetooth devices within range. When the Bluespoon 5G shows up in the list, you can initiate a pairing with it. The PIN number to enter when requested is "0000". After a successful pairing, your Bluespoon 5G will be functional as a Handsfree or Headset device depending on which Bluetooth profiles your phone supports. In my case, with the imate JAM, the headset was bonded as a Handsfree device.

PRODUCT FEATURES

The Bluespoon 5G only has two buttons on the top. These are used to carry out all of it's functions. The 5G does not have any special features like noise reduction or a Caller ID display, but who needs that? It's just going to sit in your ear and handle audio communications.

There are only two buttons on the Bluespoon 5G. The clear center area is where you'll see the LED indicators. You have to look at the light window at an angle to see the LEDs as they were designed to be much less obtrusive than those in the Bluespoon AX. People on the street won't notice the blinking lights on this one.

After you've bonded with a mobile phone, when you start a call the audio will be transferred to the headset. While you're on a call and connected via the Handsfree profile, the lower button functions as the volume-up button, while the upper button handles volume-down controls. Holding down the upper (volume down) button for 2-3 seconds will end the call, however there is no audible indication that the call has ended. So, if you're call already ended when the recipient hung up, and you press the volume down button down for 2-3 seconds something else will happen... the headset will initiate a redial function with your phone and you'll begin calling the last person you called.

The Bluespoon 5G uses the same ear mounting soft-springs as the Bluespoon AX. If you've already customized a soft-spring to fit your ear with the Bluespoon AX, you can just snap that one on to the 5G. The soft springs were way too large for Jackie's ear though it would stay in with no soft-spring at all. It could probably be mounted just fine for most people with just a soft foam cover around the speaker part. The 5G includes a high quality microphone taking from Nextlink's Invisio headsets. This gives you much better voice quality than the Bluespoon AX (not that that was bad.)

The Bluespoon 5G nicely compliments the size of the imate JAM Pocket PC Phone. I did have on problem where callers would hear a lot of noise on my end even if I was in an empty room. It turned out that it was an issue with my imate JAM, and recreating the bond with the 5G fixed this problem.

HELP SUPPORT

As the Bluespoon 5G has not been released yet, you will not find much information about the product on the Nextlink.to website. The included manual takes care of all the instructions with very helpful illustrations, however. There are very few things that you may need help with other than replacing the battery and mounting the headset in your ear. Both of these are covered in detail in the manual. You will also find a instructional video (WMV) on how to change the 5G's battery on the Nextlink website. If you have any other questions, Nextlink is very communicative with their customers and will usually respond to your inquiries very promptly. The Nextlink staff is also quite active and helpful on a number of mobile phone forums that discuss their products. Nextlink earns a lot of points for their customer support.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

You need a Bluetooth enabled phone, PDA, or Computer with the Headset or Handsfree profiles in order to use the Bluespoon 5G. You'll also need some kind of USB port to charge the Bluespoon 5G's batteries since it does not come with a normal AC power adapter.

BUGS AND WISHES

Since the Bluespoon 5G is so small, it's very difficult to find a battery that can power the device for extended periods of time without significantly increasing the size. Nextlink chose to make the size a priority so instead of getting one large high-power battery, you get 4 very small rechargeable batteries. You'll probably have to replace the battery everyday, but this isn't such a problem as it's easy to always keep another fresh battery in your pocket. For the production version, Nextlink is working on providing newer batteries that provide more talk time and longer life.

The other problem is that the headset only has two buttons, which means some functions have to be assigned to a "hold button down for a few seconds" interface. What's worse is that the "end call" and "redial" functions are assigned to the same command and are dependant upon whether you're in a call or not... and it's not easy to tell if a call ended since there is no audible indicator.

I also don't like the size of the USB cable that's included with the 5G for attaching the charger. This is the bulkiest and most cumbersome part of the package. I would much rather see a small retractable USB cable included for the charger.

Lastly, where do you put it? The 5G does come with a nice soft cloth baggie to keep the headset in, but that's not a whole lot of protection. I seriously wish that Nextlink could team up with a Windows Mobile Phone manufacturer to develop a phone that had a clip-on Bluespoon headset similar to the 5G. This would open up so many great usability enhancements such as charging both devices at the same time, not losing the headset, etc.

PURCHASING

While the Bluespoon 5G is not available to the public just yet, Nextlink plans on selling the product in small quantities at $399 through their website and other retailers including Pilcon. You may also be able to find some prototypes on eBay. One has already sold there for over $1900 USD! If you're really looking to spend some money, you can contact Nextlink, have them send you a 5G cover, embed a couple diamonds at your local jeweler, send it back to Nextlink and they'll build one with your custom cover. If you have to ask how much that will cost, you probably can't afford it.

PROS

* Smallest Bluetooth headset
* Lightest Bluetooth headset
* Bragging rights
* Comes with 4 batteries
* Diamond mounting option

CONS

* Frequent battery swapping
* Expensive
* Must keep away from children


OVERALL IMPRESSION

If you have a tendency to swallow small non-edible objects, I'm going to have to recommend that you do not purchase the Bluespoon 5G. The same is true if you're highly prone to losing things. This is not for the budget conscious users either. For those folks, check out the Bluespoon AX instead. The Bluespoon 5G is astonishingly small and powerful. It's even smaller than most wired handsfree headsets. If you like to spend money and you can't get the future to come fast enough, this is the headset for you. Take caution if you're captured behind enemy lines while wearing this headset... make sure it doesn't get into the wrong hands.