Hands Free Advantage

A few phones ago I purchased a handset that supported stereo bluetooth. At the time I had no idea what that provided me, but I quickly learned and haven’t looked back. What does it mean you ask? If you have a phone that supports stereo bluetooth you can pair a stereo bluetooth headset with the phone and listen to your music wirelessly in full stereo. Think about what that means for your daily jog, or trip to the gym… no wires to catch on your clothing or the equipment and you don’t have to sacrifice sound! Did I mention you can take calls too and in many cases control both the phone and music player from the headset?

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How Do I Know If My Phone Supports Stereo Bluetooth Headsets?
It’s not always obvious, but you’ll want to check the phone specs and look for the following:

A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile)
If you see reference to A2DP in your phone’s specifications then it was designed to support stereo bluetooth headsets. Just to be sure you should try pairing that type of phone with your headphones of choice in the store to ensure there won’t be any issues, but A2DP is what you’re looking for.

AVRCP (Audio/Video Remote Control Profile)
This isn’t necessary to listen to music in stereo via bluetooth, however it is necessary in order for your device to be controlled remotely from the headset. If your phone supports this you will most likely be able to control volume, track forward / back / pause and switch from music to phone calls remotely from the headset. This is extremely handy to have and I used it more often than I thought I would.

Common Phones
If you have an iPhone 3G or 3Gs, a current Windows Mobile phone, Android or many other recent smartphones you should be in good shape.

Are There Limitations?
Stereo Bluetooth & Distance
Bluetooth is not like wifi in that it has a more restricted range, roughly 30 feet between phone and headset. In my experience that is plenty of distance, however if you were planning to leave your phone in a gym bag and then hop on the eliptical across the gym you’re out of luck. That said, you probably won’t have your phone long if you make a practice of leaving it sit across the gym while you work out.

Stereo Bluetooth & Obstacles
Another important callout is that in my experience bluetooth signal doesn’t handle corners / heavy obstacles well. Again, if you’re going to leave your phone at location A and move your person to location B you may find the connection will drop if that movement introduces any substantial obstacles.