The premium MOTOPURE H12 Bluetooth headset – which has been Motorola’s pride and glory, “flagship” headset since Oct. 2007 – yields a split-decision result in this review.
While you’ll love nearly everything about it for you, you’re only half the battle. The people on the other end of the phone won’t feel the same way.
With the H12, Motorola promises to “silence the noise”. In testing the headset, which takes over the audio function of a Bluetooth-compatible cell phone (definition) while in close proximity, the sound clarity for you through the H12 can actually be considered superior to the cell phone itself.
This same experience, though, wasn’t felt on the other end of the call. Tests were conducted using a Samsung Upstage cell phone, a Motorola Z9 cell phone and various others.
Beyond the audio experience, the H12 conducts a number of functions perfectly but also overcomplicates some others. With luxury and technospeak aside, how does the H12 actually perform? We put the Bluetooth headset to the ultimate, real-life usability test.
Usability Testing of Sound Quality
For you, the H12 scores high in the sound quality and clarity department. The only improvement the H12 could muster for you would be the ability to crank the volume up a bit higher. Where the H12 creates grave cause for concern, though, is for the person on the other end of the phone.
John Downey is the senior manager of product line management at Motorola. He had “frequent involvement” in the H12’s creation and testing. In an interview with About.com cell phones guide Adam Fendelman, he says the H12 takes both sides (you and your caller) into consideration when it comes to audio quality.
Downey says the H12 specifically excels for the person on the other end of the phone.
“Especially when you’re in noisy environments, your voice is competing with the background,” Downey said. “We wanted to make sure it’s easy for people to hear you. That’s why the H12 has two microphones: one on the front that’s focused on your voice and a second you can’t see on the top of the headset.”
He added: “They compare the two voice inputs and subtract the background noise so the other person can hear you.”
But can others really hear you better? We put the H12 to the street test. We called various people who didn’t know they were being tested. We used the H12 in conjunction with several different cell phones. We called a diverse group of people who answered on both cell phones and landlines.
The result? Every single person said the traditional cell phone without the H12 headset active sounded “much better” and reported varying degrees of sound degradation when the H12 was active. Here are five comments from five different people who were unknowingly subjected to testing from the other end of the phone:
1. “You sound far away like you’re in Egypt. You sound better without the headset.”
2. “You sound like you’re in a tunnel. You sound better without the headset.”
3. “You sound low, muffled and like you have a cold. You’re much more clear without it.”
4. “You sound like you’re on speakerphone. You sound better without the headset.”
5. “You sound like you’re on speakerphone. You sound better without the headset.”
The last two comments came from two different people with the same exact words.
Downey says the H12 isn’t designed for you to talk for long periods of time right next to the piercing sound of, say, a lawnmower. It’s more designed for you to be in everyday situations you can’t control such as on a busy street where an ambulance screeches by or a car honks its horn.
While there are other products on the market designed to cancel noise more aggressively, Downey says increasing that ability would have adversely impacted the H12’s design. He added: “To completely ‘silence the noise’ would make the headset bigger. We wanted to balance the optimum noise reductions for things people can’t control.”
Simple, Four-Button Design
There’s an on/off switch, a volume up button, a volume down button and a call button. There’s also two built-in microphones, a bright indicator light, a speaker, charging contacts and a detachable piece of plastic shaped like an ear to help the headset stay in place.
The H12’s box closes magnetically, which is an unexpected touch to bolster its attractive, silvery packaging. Its overall size is just right and its design is beautiful. Weighing in at only 12 grams, the H12 is smaller than the size of a pen cap. The H12 measures 42 millimeters by 18 millimeters by 12 millimeters.
Headset Indicators
There’s a challenge with the light indicators on the H12. The headset actually has a whole library of notifications to convey to you depending on the circumstance.
Since there are quite a few, it may be difficult or nearly impossible to remember what the H12’s trying to tell you in the moment when it matters. Specifically:
* Three blue flashes means it’s powering on or off.
* A quick blue flash means there’s an incoming or outgoing call.
* A slow blue pulse means it’s connected and on a call.
* A slow blue flash means it’s in standby mode and not on a call.
* Steady blue says it’s in pairing mode, which means it’s syncing with your cell phone.
* Rapid blue/purple flashing means the connection to your cell phone is successful.
* A red flash means it’s idle and not connected to a phone.
* A slow purple pulse means it’s connected to your cell phone with the call muted.
* A quick red flash means the H12 has a low battery.
* No headset indicator means the H12 is off.
But will you ever really remember all that and be able to differentiate between all these variations? The H12 would have been improved by conveying these indicators to you in a much simpler way.
Making Calls
Here again, many functions are available and would need to be recalled when the time’s right in order to be useful. A device this small should be all about simplicity, simplicity and more simplicity.
When it comes to all the actions to make a call, there’s again too much to remember. Specifically:
* To receive a call, tap the call button.
* To mute or unmute a call, tap both volume buttons.
* To reject a call, press and hold a volume button until you hear two descending tones.
* To end a call, tap the call button.
* To redial the last call, press and hold the call button until you hear two ascending tones.
* To dial a call by voice, tap the call button and speak a name or phone number after the tone.
* To answer a second incoming call, press and hold the call button.
* To end an active call and resume a call on hold, tap the call button.
* To reject a second incoming call, press and hold either volume button until you hear an audio tone.
When questioning the complexity of these indicators, Downey said: “You hit the nail on the head. Because it’s a wearable product, we wanted it to be as small as possible. Since you’re not taking the headset off on regular basis, putting a screen on the H12 [to help with the clarity of the indicators] doesn’t make sense.”
He added: “We did studies to determine what people focus on and people always use the on/off button. That’s why we separated it out. It’s easy as a light switch. Also, the battery indicator is important to know how much time you have left.”
As for the more advanced functions and the more confusing light indicators, Downey says they’re “not used as much”. Motorola had to “sacrifice some usability” in order to balance other more important factors.
In other words, aside from the battery-life lights, some may ignore the others and many of the advanced functions you may never use.
Battery Life, Light Indicators
Various colors on the headset indicator signal the H12’s battery level. When the charger is plugged in:
* Red means it’s charging with a battery level less than 80 percent.
* Yellow means it’s charging with a battery level more than 80 percent.
* Green means charging is complete and the battery level is full.
* No light means it’s not charging.
To check the battery level, you can magnetically attach the H12 to the small charger. The charger has a cord that plugs into a standard electrical outlet. Once plugged in:
* Green means you have up to 5.5 hours of talk time remaining.
* Yellow signals a wide range of available talk time from 30 minutes to 4 hours.
* Red means you have less than 30 minutes of talk time remaining.
While there are too many overall light indicators, the indicators for the battery are clear, simple and memorable. Indeed, green would signal to the natural brain full, yellow would signal half full and red would signal almost empty.
In addition, Motorola scores big for its rechargeable battery life. There’s no sense for the H12 to exceed the battery life of your cell phone. If your cell phone dies, the H12 is useless.
When most cell phones today range from 3 hours to 5 hours in talk time, setting the H12’s maximum talk time at 5.5 hours is perfect. As well, the H12 has a standby battery life of approximately 8 days. The battery is rechargeable but not replaceable. The charger is wonderfully compact and the H12 attaches magnetically.
Tip: If you don’t have your H12’s battery charger with you, you can still check the headset’s battery level. So long as it’s not paired with your cell phone, just depress the up and down volume buttons simultaneously and you’ll see the corresponding color of your battery life.
Distance Range
The H12 is rated to work up to 33 feet (or 10 meters) away from your cell phone. This, of course, depends on what’s in the environment around you.
If you’re “in a building with cement walls, microwaves or heavy wireless waves, on any headset you’d hit your range limit sooner,” Downey said. He added: “Our goal was designed around being in your pocket, briefcase or on the seat the next to you. We spend a lot of time on radio frequency performance and ultimately over test our headsets [to outperform what you’d need].”
In testing, the H12’s distance range was excellent based on how you’d typically use it. You wouldn’t have the H12 in the other room and be on your cell phone from across the house. There’s no cause for concern here.
Price
Available from Motorola directly and from other retailers, the H12 has a shelf price of $119.99.
The price of a Bluetooth headset (definition) today varies widely. They can come as cheaply as $15 and can go all the way up to $200. At $120, the H12 is on the slightly pricey side, but it is marketed as a “luxury” product. The price is fair.
Overall
Beyond sound clarity, the design and features of the H12 are nearly flawless. The only feature concern is its complicated light indictors, but if you keep the H12 in your ear the majority of the time and don’t focus on the light indicator, the audio signals may be satisfactory for you.
The result of this review ultimately yields a strong recommendation of the MOTOPURE H12 for you but serious hesitance for those you’re calling. Because they’re arguably equally important and what you hear is only half the battle, proceed with caution.