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Battery Life and Charging
The battery life of the Motorola Mini H9 Bluetooth headset is a big disappointment. With a dismal 1.5 hours of talk time, long conversations using the Bluetooth headset are impossible. The talk time is by far the worst of any Bluetooth headset we have come across. If you are a long-winded talker, this headset is not for you.
However, included with Motorola H9 Bluetooth headset is a portable charging base that allows users to wirelessly recharge the headset wherever they may be. Just stick the headset onto the portable charger and you can extend talk time up to 7.5 hours by constantly topping off the headset’s battery. This is a great accessory that we hope eventually comes with all Bluetooth headsets.
Fortunately, you can charge both the H9 Bluetooth headset and the portable charging base simultaneously. The charger base has two indicator lights for charging status. After inserting the headset into the charger base, the headset Battery indicator light will turn on. Once the headset is done charging (takes about 3 hours), the charger base will continue to charge, which takes about 6.5 hours. The corresponding indicator lights turn off once each is fully charged.
Pairing
The pairing process is quite simple. Just press the call button to turn the headset on and it should automatically go into pairing mode after a few seconds. Sometimes it takes longer than expected to get the headset into pairing mode. A solid blue light lets you know the headset is in pairing mode.
Once the headset is in pairing mode, you are able to pair to any Bluetooth enabled cell phone. Refer to your phone's instruction manual if you do not know how to put your phone into pairing mode. You will be asked for a passkey, which is 0000.
Range
The range of the Motorola Mini H9 Bluetooth headset gets close to the advertised distance of 33 feet. I was able to get approximately 27 feet away from my cell phone before I lost the Bluetooth connection.
Functionality
The Motorola Mini H9 is a simple Bluetooth headset that offers basic functionality. It is made up of 3 buttons: the call button and two volume control buttons. The call button controls powering on and off, voice dialing, redialing, answering and rejecting phone calls while the volume button obviously controls the volume.
Depending on which ear you prefer to wear your Bluetooth headset, the volume buttons can be assigned accordingly. To do this, simply hold the call button and the volume button you want to assign as volume up until the indicator flashes twice.
Style and Comfort
Outfitted in a stylish black and silver color scheme, the Motorola H9 Bluetooth headset is remarkably tiny (23 x 33 mm) and incredibly lightweight, weighing a measly 7.5 grams. It is a beautifully designed headset.
Being such a small headset, you might think people would have a hard time noticing you wearing it. However, this is not the case. The H9 Bluetooth headset sticks out of your ear and a constant blue light flashes, highlighting the Motorola "M" on the headset's face.
When looking for a Bluetooth headset, you should always consider comfort a priority. I found the Motorola Mini H9 headset somewhat uncomfortable to wear at first. Without any ear hooks, the only way the headset fits securely in your ear is with flanged eartips. Basically, you are sticking the eartips down your ear canal. However, Motorola includes different size ear tips, so we suggest testing them all to determine which one fits you best and offers the best seal.
I eventually got used to the headset being in my ear, but after using it for awhile, I found that the inside of my ear would become itchy and I would have to remove the headset. I also thought the headset would easily fall out my ear, but to my surprise, it never did— unless I violently shook my head to force it out. I can’t think of a scenario where this will ever happen!
Sound Quality
Sound quality is another vital aspect of any Bluetooth headset. For our sound quality test, I tested the Motorola H9 Mini Bluetooth headset with 3 different phones; Motorola E815, Motorola SLVR, and LG VX8700. To my disappointment, the headset’s sound quality was adequate at best.
One reason for the poor quality is that the Motorola H9 Mini lacks digital signal processing (DSP) technology, which eliminates background noise. This feature is sorely missed on this Bluetooth headset. Many people had a difficult time understanding me because they always heard rustling in the background. This happened numerous times, and once I was actually asked to stop using the headset. For best use of Motorola H9, I suggest using it in a noise-free environment. Sound quality should be at its finest when there is no movement or background noise.
Conclusion
Overall, I would not recommend the Motorola H9 Mini Blue. For the retail price of $149.99, there are much better Bluetooth headsets on the market. With a dismal battery life, sub par call quality due lack of DSP technology, the H9 Bluetooth headset does not offer what we consider necessities for a Bluetooth headset. For a Bluetooth headset that was delayed for so long, I was anticipating a much better product.
Pros- Tiny size
- Lightweight
- Decent sound quality
- Portable charging base is a great addition
- Somewhat uncomfortable (headset fits deep in ear canal)
- Only 1.5 hours of talk time (without charging)
- No Digital Signal Processing (background elimination)
- Expensive
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