When we got the BH-905 for review, I expecting a regular bluetooth headset and wasn’t expecting the big box which was delivered to us. A quick search on the internet lead me to Nokia’s microsite for the BH-905. The specs published over there blew me before I even opened up the box.
The BH-905 comes with it own carrying case, with a host of goodies. You’ve got the charger, audio cable (in case you want to listen to music from a non-bluetooth device), various types of connectors (including an aircraft connector to hook this into the entertainment system on-board) and the headset itself.
I couldn’t wait to try this out, so I connected this up (without charging it) with the cable to the N900 and ran it through its paces. The sound clarity from the headset is very good, even without the Active Noise Cancellation. You’ll need the headset charged up in order to use it in bluetooth mode and activate the active noise cancellation feature of this device. The extra buttons on the headset like the “next track ” and “previous track” also didn’t work at this point when we had it hooked up to the N900 using the cable.
Before we continue, here some quick facts about the BH-905. This unit has 8 microphones (YES EIGHT!!) to capture ambient noise and use it for it’s noise cancellation, and two microphones to capture your voice when you use this headset to answer you calls. The headset also comes with keys to control your media player, so you don’t have to hunt for your device to change the tunes playing. You can get details specifications of this device at the end of this post.
How does the BH-905’s Active Noise cancellation work in real life?
The Autorickshaw Test: To test this out, we decided to take the headset on a spin during a trip in an auto-rickshaw. Ever tried listening to music using a regular pair of headphones while travelling in one? Even if you crank up the volume high enough to render you deaf, you’ll still be able to listen the autorickshaw’s loud engine and the 100 other vehicles blaring their horns on the road.
The BH-905’s noise cancellation technology came to the rescue here. Even though I had the volume in a comfortable mid range, all the surrounding noise was removed by the unit, and I could hear the music without any disturbance around.
Even taking calls using this headset was a pleasure, because you could clearly listen to the other end of the call with all my surrounding noise removed.
The Coffee shop Test: Another place we tried out the headset was a busy coffee shop with lots of people around and music playing from their sound system. Not an optimal place to enjoy your own collection of music at all. The BH-905 performed beautifully here as well. All the unwanted noise removed and crystal clear sound from my music collection on the N900.
What do we think?
The BH-905 is built sturdily and doesn’t feel like it’ll fall apart in your hands any time soon. It’s also quite flexible and fits over your head comfortably. The padded ear-phones provides the first level of noise reduction. Just having the headset on without the noise cancellation on, cuts down the ambient noise a few levels.
I love the supplied cable and headphone adapters which Nokia packaged along – this really helps when you want to use this unit with my iPod or use the flight entertainment system. I’ve used this headset with non-Nokia devices and it works as just well with my Nexus One through bluetooth and my iPod using the cable.
The Noise cancellation takes a few seconds to activate once you flip the switch, but once it’s on, it works beautifully. If you’re interested in how the noise cancellation works, check this pdf which had details about it.
Here’s a tip for you if you’re travelling and don’t have access to a plug point to charge your headset, don’t use bluetooth to connect. Connect the headset to your music device using the cable provided. This way you can get up to 40 hours of noise cancellation, compared to the 10-16 hours if you’re using bluetooth to connect to your handset.
BH-905 Specifications:
Dimensions
- 7.08 in x 6.1 in x 2.32 inches
Weight
- 6.17 oz
Operating keys
- Multifunction key for power on/off, answer/end, voice dial, and redial
- Volume up
- Volume down
- Play/pause
- Next track
- Previous track
- Active noise cancelling on/off
Connectors
- 3.5 mm Nokia AV connector
- Supporting adapters for:
– 2.5 mm Nokia AV connector
– Standard 3.5 mm jack
– Standard 6.3 mm jack
– Standard airplane jack
Operating range (maximum)
- Up to 33 ft (Bluetooth use)
Power supply
- Rechargeable 600 mAh Li-Ion Polymer battery
Operating time (maximum)
- Talk (Bluetooth): 24 h
- Music (Bluetooth): 25 h
- Talk (Bluetooth, with active noise cancellation): 15 h
- Music (Bluetooth, with active noise cancellation): 16 h
- Music (Wired, with active noise cancellation): 40 h
- Hands-free phone calls and music listening (without active noise cancellation) possible even with empty battery (wired connection)
Standby time (maximum)
- With Bluetooth: 600 h
Charging time (maximum)
- 2 h
BH-905 Picture Gallery:
