Could not find any reasonably priced earbuds/phones with inline controls that would definitely work for my Nokia 920. I already have several sets of earbuds with inline controls from my old GNex and Iphone, but the none of them seemed to work on the Nokia 920, even the basic Samsung ones with a simple single button. Of course, there's always the Nokia branded earbuds, but those things are way overpriced for their quality. I just wanted controls that were not on the phone because I lift a lot of weights in the gym and my hands are all covered with chalk.
I ended up with the Noisehush Clip-on Bluetooth for $32 from Amazon Amazon.com: NoiseHush NS560-11978 Clip-on Bluetooth Stereo Headset for all Tablet, Apple iPad/iPhone and Cell Phones - Retail Packaging - White: Cell Phones & Accessories so I would have volume and playback controls. This comes with a set of earbuds that are of the $5 variety that you only use in an emergency. I coupled the BT unit with a Koss Porta pro headset (which is an outstanding lightweight open-ear sports oriented headset, if you don't mind the retro look) that I got on 50% sale at the local KMart for $25 (man that place is a craphole; I haven't been to Kmart in years). Amazon normally sells the Koss Porta Pros for about $36 Amazon.com: Koss PortaPro Headphones with Case: Electronics
There were no Bluetooth coupling issues and all the controls work well. Just hold middle button until red and blue lights alternate on Clip-on and then pair to phone (didn't even have to enter the normal "0000" authentication code. The control buttons are logically laid out and easy to use without looking as long as you clip it in the same relative piosition each time. The little BT clip-on has plenty of power for the Koss headphones and will actually get louder (when both the phone unit volume and Clip-on volume are set to max) than directly wired to the Nokia. If there is any Blue-tooth induced loss of sound quality, I cannot tell, but I'm getting old, so if I'm wrong on this, i have a good excuse
. I also only use it about an hour a day in the gym, so I don't know the full length of time the battery will last. For the price, it was one of cheapest BT adaptors I could find; it seems to suit my need just fine though. The only weird thing is that on inital start of playback, sound comes through the Phone's speaker for a sec before it cuts to the Bluetooth (think it's a phone issue versus the BT Clip-on issue).
So for cheaper than official Nokia earbuds with known-to-work inline controls I got two items that seem to provide better sound and have full controls (including being able to answer/talk on the phone as it has a microphone built into the Clip-on BT). The only thing I don't care for is it uses a USB to pin type power charger instead of mini/micro usb, but when you go cheap, you don't get everything like you want it. Oh yeah, it also doesn't work with the phone when it's charging.
Pros
-Small and light so it can be clipped anywhere without dragging on the clothes.
-Controls laid out well
-Volume controls work
-Forward and back to next songs work
-No sync problems with Nokia 920
-No sound quality loss that "I" can detect (but I'm no super audiophile).
-Can take/make calls with standard earbuds/phones that do not have a mic (obviously, it has to be clipped somewhat near your mouth for the microphone to pick up what you're saying.
-All voice command stuff works through it
-Seems to charge fast
-Cheap in price (relative to others) but looks nice and seems made decent
Cons
-Charging cord is USB to prong rather than mini/micro USB
-Included earbuds are cheapies (I planned for that, so no biggie).
Don't know the longevity, but so far so good (week-ish of use).
As an aside to this mini-review, I'm going to rant about the WinPhone music players. I noticed that whether I use the Nokia music player or the WinPhone one, if I start up my playlist (which REALLY needs fixing of the on-phone management capabilities) and then just hit the power button to turn off the screen, power usage is MUCH higher than if I start the playlist and then back out back to the desktop before I hit the power button to shut off the screen. As in 3-5x as much power over time drain for no good reason... Either Nokia or MS needs to get their **** together on a decent music player, especially for someone like me with all the the music I will ever want already owned. I don't want the new/free junk music services from XBox or Nokia music or the associated power draw. I just want to be able to manage and listen to the stuff I already have on the phone without having to hook it up to another computer just to manage something as simple as music playlists. The current on-phone method is complete and rediculous BS, not even counting it drawing so much power for simply having it open while I play music. In this management and power usage regard, the music player on Apple's IOS, and Android cornholes Windows phone hard in the ass. Fancy album-art graphics and poorly integrated free-crap services don't mean anything if your basics suck.
I ended up with the Noisehush Clip-on Bluetooth for $32 from Amazon Amazon.com: NoiseHush NS560-11978 Clip-on Bluetooth Stereo Headset for all Tablet, Apple iPad/iPhone and Cell Phones - Retail Packaging - White: Cell Phones & Accessories so I would have volume and playback controls. This comes with a set of earbuds that are of the $5 variety that you only use in an emergency. I coupled the BT unit with a Koss Porta pro headset (which is an outstanding lightweight open-ear sports oriented headset, if you don't mind the retro look) that I got on 50% sale at the local KMart for $25 (man that place is a craphole; I haven't been to Kmart in years). Amazon normally sells the Koss Porta Pros for about $36 Amazon.com: Koss PortaPro Headphones with Case: Electronics
There were no Bluetooth coupling issues and all the controls work well. Just hold middle button until red and blue lights alternate on Clip-on and then pair to phone (didn't even have to enter the normal "0000" authentication code. The control buttons are logically laid out and easy to use without looking as long as you clip it in the same relative piosition each time. The little BT clip-on has plenty of power for the Koss headphones and will actually get louder (when both the phone unit volume and Clip-on volume are set to max) than directly wired to the Nokia. If there is any Blue-tooth induced loss of sound quality, I cannot tell, but I'm getting old, so if I'm wrong on this, i have a good excuse
. I also only use it about an hour a day in the gym, so I don't know the full length of time the battery will last. For the price, it was one of cheapest BT adaptors I could find; it seems to suit my need just fine though. The only weird thing is that on inital start of playback, sound comes through the Phone's speaker for a sec before it cuts to the Bluetooth (think it's a phone issue versus the BT Clip-on issue).So for cheaper than official Nokia earbuds with known-to-work inline controls I got two items that seem to provide better sound and have full controls (including being able to answer/talk on the phone as it has a microphone built into the Clip-on BT). The only thing I don't care for is it uses a USB to pin type power charger instead of mini/micro usb, but when you go cheap, you don't get everything like you want it. Oh yeah, it also doesn't work with the phone when it's charging.
Pros
-Small and light so it can be clipped anywhere without dragging on the clothes.
-Controls laid out well
-Volume controls work
-Forward and back to next songs work
-No sync problems with Nokia 920
-No sound quality loss that "I" can detect (but I'm no super audiophile).
-Can take/make calls with standard earbuds/phones that do not have a mic (obviously, it has to be clipped somewhat near your mouth for the microphone to pick up what you're saying.
-All voice command stuff works through it
-Seems to charge fast
-Cheap in price (relative to others) but looks nice and seems made decent
Cons
-Charging cord is USB to prong rather than mini/micro USB
-Included earbuds are cheapies (I planned for that, so no biggie).
Don't know the longevity, but so far so good (week-ish of use).
As an aside to this mini-review, I'm going to rant about the WinPhone music players. I noticed that whether I use the Nokia music player or the WinPhone one, if I start up my playlist (which REALLY needs fixing of the on-phone management capabilities) and then just hit the power button to turn off the screen, power usage is MUCH higher than if I start the playlist and then back out back to the desktop before I hit the power button to shut off the screen. As in 3-5x as much power over time drain for no good reason... Either Nokia or MS needs to get their **** together on a decent music player, especially for someone like me with all the the music I will ever want already owned. I don't want the new/free junk music services from XBox or Nokia music or the associated power draw. I just want to be able to manage and listen to the stuff I already have on the phone without having to hook it up to another computer just to manage something as simple as music playlists. The current on-phone method is complete and rediculous BS, not even counting it drawing so much power for simply having it open while I play music. In this management and power usage regard, the music player on Apple's IOS, and Android cornholes Windows phone hard in the ass. Fancy album-art graphics and poorly integrated free-crap services don't mean anything if your basics suck.
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