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No more nerdy headsets! - designers get the message at last

Consumer resistance to being given Bluetooth headsets that convert the user into a cyborg alien has finally penetrated the market research departments of all the leading headset makers.

With luck, this Jabra design is the last of the big, ear-mounted lumps aimed at mobile phone users.

Future designs will be much more discreet, according to the company which makes a substantial number of the chips inside Bluetooth devices, Cambridge Silicon Radio.
Vodafone is just one of many headset resellers to have asked customers what they want, and Marketing VP Gordon Petrie at CSR says the message is now getting back to the designers: "Just because it is wireless, doesn't mean it can't have a short cable!"
The initial, first-generation designs from people like Ericsson were "attention getting" - with microphone, battery and speaker all built into an ear-mounted spike. Not only is it distinctly Borg-like (a reference to Star Trek characters) but it's a compromise between weight and battery life.
"Also, devices like that can fall off, or be easily stolen," agreed Petrie. "What user focus groups have said they want, is something which clips to a tie pin or a collar, with a small discreet cable connecting it to a tiny, almost invisible ear-piece."
A good example of interim designs would be the BlueSpoon

earpiece from Danish designer NextLink - a device so small, it fits inside the ear, using contact with the jawbone to feed the user's speech into the microphone.
Petrie believes that his company's new silicon core will be shipping by mid-year in consumer products. This brings new silicon technology to Bluetooth, with the all important features size down to 0.18 microns, half the dimension of the previous 0.35 micron technology - with huge savings in power consumption.
"The new designs will also be easier to connect up, for the user," Petrie promised. "They have a single-chip design, which means we can embed the software to allow users to link different Bluetooth devices (in the 'discovery process' when they are turned on) far more easily, once the user software is written by the device maker."