Most mobile accessories manufacturers have till now focused on mono Bluetooth headsets, though there have been a couple of stereo versions too in the past. An accessory now so common you’ll find every second person driving a car sporting one. One of the major players in the industry, Plantronics, however, has recently tried to bring wireless convenience to a Bluetooth-enabled stereo headset. I plugged in the Plantronics BackBeat Go to see how it fares.
Design
The Plantronics BackBeat Go was extremely light at just 13 grams. The device is designed very simply – two ear buds at either end of a noodle-strap thin wire. When we got it out of the box, it already had some charge in it so we could start using it right away. Pairing it with our smartphone (I was using the new Samsung Beam at the time of review) was an easy-breezy affair.
The only controls lodged in the headphones are on a thin rubberised panel close to the right earbud. The three buttons, to increase / decrease the volume and to activate Bluetooth or engage/disconnect a call, felt a little plasticky. The wire strung around the neck barely made its presence felt.
Voice calls
The company has packed in 6 mm neodymium speakers in the BackBeat Go.
The microphone for the headset is integrated into the thin wire connecting the ear buds. Callers said that my voice was heard clearly on the other side most of the times that I used the headset for voice calls.
The noise isolation on the BackBeat Go works fine and I could hear the caller on the line clearly while on a voice call. However, if you are on the road or stuck in a really crowded (read noisy) place you might have to strain just a bit to hear what the caller is saying.
Streaming music
When it comes to music, the acoustics don’t match up to the kind you would get in dedicated audio equipment. However, the quality of streaming is quite satisfactory. The music does get a little ‘shrilly’ when the volume is pumped up and hence it might get a little uncomfortable if you are plugged in for long hours. We listened to a couple of songs including ‘Dog Days Are Over’ by Florence + The Machine and a bunch by Bruce ‘The Boss’ Springsteen.
It doesn’t really emphasise on bass either so those who thrive on the thump in their headphones might be a tad disappointed.
The ear buds themselves are quite comfortable. The company packs in about three different sizes in the box and you can pick and choose one that will suit you.
In the rare case, that none of these are the right fit for you, you can use the optional ear stabilisers that are included in the box to ensure your ear buds don't fall out.
Performance
You can charge the device with the microUSB charger that it comes with. The plug-in smartly enclosed behind the right earphone. One advantage of the headphone is that I could use it, not just with my smartphone, but my laptop and tablet as well. You don’t have to restrict yourself to just receiving calls with the headset. You can even plug it in when you are streaming videos on your iPad or watching a movie.
I didn’t have the headset plugged in constantly during the span of the review. However, at the time of writing it had given me close to three hours of usage with some power still left in the device. The company claims that the BackBeat Go can keep you company for about 4.5 hours of active usage and about 10 hours in standby mode.
Those using the headset paired with their iPhone or an iPad can see the battery status directly on the smartphone or tablet. Those using an Android device will have to download the ‘Plantronics MyHeadset’ app to glance at the headset battery meter on their phones and tablets. On the device itself, you can check for the light flash – red or blue – to see if you have enough battery life left.
Rs 4,990
Love – Super light, decent sound quality
Hate – Low on bass, gets shrilly at high volume
mahananda.bohidar@thehindu.co.in