Nokia BH-301 Review

The hands-free device, like some of the company phones, gives you the freehand to choose by yourself the color you will wear today. There are two color variants of sales packs - Light and Dark depending on the panels in the delivery package.
The Light pack is designed for the ladies and it includes pink flower, rose lines, and vanilla white cover designs. The Dark pack is designed for the men and it has petrol blue dots, wood grain, and deep plum cover designs.

Standard delivery package includes:

Design:

BH-301 is made of white plastic, which is the main color and you can vary the look of the front cover with several changeable cover designs in the package. In this way, you can easily change the look of the headset to suit your mood and even the occasion or your clothes. You have at your disposal three front covers, which you can change by lifting them from the side of the microphone – a few seconds and you have a hands-free with a completely different look.

The device is designed to be universal – for left or right ear, without any change or adjustment.
The attaching is achieved by two opposite hooks and it is very stable and reliable, as well as avoiding all moving parts which are possible to be broken in a careless handle.

The control buttons of BH-301 are three. Inside you can find the on/off button and the LED indicator, which lights in red and green. On the side you can find the scroll key for volume control and the multifunction key is on the front.

The buttons are very easy-to-use and you can press them with no effort. They are placed very comfortably and even people with ticker fingers will have no problems to use the device. The multifunction button is large and wide, and it is very easy to press on it, even with the soft part of your finger. The scroll key is controlled easily, no matter which ear the device is attached to.

Functionality:

With BH-301, as well as with other models of Nokia, there is no pairing mode. The device is ready for this as soon as it is activated. Besides this, you are again prompted for the standard code 0000. If the device was connected with other phone before that, first you have to disconnect it from it, only then it will be possible to connect it with the new one. Another way to pair the devices is when you clear all the pairing settings and reset the hands-free device and then pair the devices. To reset the settings you have to press and hold down the on/off button for 10 seconds.

The multifunctional button has the standard functions for answer/end call, last number redial (press two short times), reject call (press two quick short times), voice dial activation (holding down). And by holding it down during a call you can transfer the call to the phone and back to the headset. Resetting of HF is possible by one short press of on/off button simultaneously with the multifunctional button, when the device is recharging. This is very useful when the device does not function properly and it causes problems.

Performance:

According to Nokia official specifications, the BH-301 stands up to 7 hours of talk time and up to 200 hours of standby time. These specifications depend on the way of use and the distance to the phone. We have tested these specifications and after the test, BH-301 stood up to 5 hours and 40 minutes talk time and the sound volume was on maximum, which is over an hour less than the officially declared time by Nokia. It is a good achievement for the device, compared to high class models of Nokia such as – BH-600, BH -700 and BH -801.

The volume of the sound in the headset is very loud, so you will not have problems when you talk in a noisy environment.
The volume of the sound on the other side of the phone line is loud, but there is strong echo that vastly reduces the quality of the sound and the microphone gets many of the surrounding noises.

While trying to make a call, surrounded by loud music, your voice will not be distinguished from the song and the other side will not be able to understand you. Also the wind will be an obstacle and if it is strong you won't be able to make a conversation. If it's slight wind, the other party will still understand you and the quality will be above the average. This is quite normal for all headsets which do not feature DSP.

BH-301 fits differently to the ear because of its specific attach mechanism, and that depends on the shape and size of the ear. That is why the echo is experienced differently by the person on the other side of the line – very loud or very quiet.

The test for the power range of the device went extremely bad. After reaching 15.9 m, it was impossible to communicate and that is one of the worst results of all Nokia models.

Comfort:

Attaching of BH-301 to the ear is easy with one hand only, but it must be adjusted properly to be comfortable when you use it. The specific attaching does not allow the headset to slip or fall down, even when you make abrupt movements. Explanation of how to attach the device is shown on the back of the box. Attach one of the hooks and turn the headset along the outline of the ear to fit best. For a start the device is felt nice and comfortable, but in 2-3 hours of use you can start feeling the push of the hook, which is at the bottom of the device. This may cause you some discomfort in 5-6 hours of use, which to a great extent depends on the shape and size of the ear. With its 13 gram weight, it is one of the light models of the company, which guarantees that you will not feel its weight even after long hours of use.

Conclusion:

The interchangeable, stylish covers can make you different, when you want and in a way you like it. So you have the possibility to personalize the device the way you most like it and to stand out from the crowd. The model is placed in the middle of the production line of Nokia. For this model, they have put the accent on the stable attaching and the outward appearance. We are deeply convinced that Nokia BH - 301 will draw the attention of people searching for the different and non-standard.

Another model with similar characteristics is Jabra BT160, where you can choose from several interchangeable covers in the package too.