Iqua BHS-303

Iqua is a Finnish company that makes Bluetooth headsets, and it's slowly making headway into the U.S. market. One of its models is the Iqua BHS-303 (we saw the company's BHS-302 headset earlier this week). Though we did miss having volume buttons on the BHS-303, we liked its simplicity, clean design, and good sound quality. Plus, it's quite affordable at $39.95.

The Iqua BHS-303 has a very clean no-nonsense design. Clad in all black, it looks quite modern and measures a compact 2.2 inches by 0.76 inch by 0.4 inch. The top third of the headset functions as the multifunction button, which powers the device on and off plus manages all the calls. Even though it's flush to the surface, the button is easy to find and press because it is so large. In fact, the button may be too easy to press, as we often accidentally pressed it when we were simply adjusting the headset in the ear. A tiny LED sits on the face of it, which acts as an indicator for calls, pairing modes, and battery life.

On the back of the headset is the earpiece, which is clad in a rubber shell casing for better fit. There's also an optional ear hook for better security. The ear hook is very flexible, and can be stretched around for more comfort. It can also be configured to fit either ear. Iqua provides you with an additional rubber shell casing just in case you lose the first one. We did wish the headset had a volume rocker though--instead, we had to adjust the volume via the phone itself.

We tested the Iqua BHS-303 with the RIM BlackBerry Pearl. Call quality was quite good, and callers could hear just fine without a lot of noise and interference. It did suffer somewhat in noisier environments, and we sometimes wish the earpiece would fit a little deeper in the ear so we could hear our callers a tiny bit better. Otherwise though, call quality was just about right for a headset of this price range.

The Iqua's features are fairly standard--there's answering, ending, and rejecting calls, last-number redial, voice dial support, plus the ability to transfer a call from the headset to the phone and vice versa. The rated talk time on a full battery is 6 hours, while the rated standby time is 6.25 days.