Sony Ericsson HBH-662 Akono

Design/Comfort
Like Bluetake, the HBH-662 plants the speaker wedge above the ear canal, but Sony Ericsson’s softer design took more time to become annoyingly uncomfortable. The HBH-662 is only a pinch larger and heavier than the Plantronics, but opts for a Volume rocker on the bottom. We found it hard to tell + from - during use. There is a Multifunction button and an eight-character LCD display on the side that shows Caller ID notifications and battery status.

Features
The LCD is what differentiates this unit from its competitors. Functionally, the voice dialing, call transferring, and other features are practically identical.

Performance
The HBH-662 easily delivered the finest sound out of the five headsets tested. Even at maximum range, we observed almost no increase in noise or decrease in voice quality. Maximum volume is a bit weak, and the noise cancelation in our wind and music tests was average at best. Talk time was a comparatively disappointing 3 hours and 25 mintues, and the unit issued a single warning beep before starting to drop connections.

Verdict
Given that most users will keep their headset within only a few feet of their phone and Caller ID doesn’t matter if the headset is hanging on your ear, the HBH-662 is an average performing headset at an above average price.