Motorola Stereomoto HT-820 Review (pics, specs)

Introduction

Most people nowadays have headsets. I use my headset for skype, instant messengers, music, and an occasional game of Counter-Strike, so after doing some research, I found that the new Motorola’s Stereomoto HT-820 was what I wanted.


The Motorola Stereomoto HT-820 Box


What Is In The Box:

• Bluetooth Headset
• Motorola Charger
• Quick Start Guide
• Motomanual

Contents of the Motorola Stereomoto HT-820 Box

Specs:

These were taken off the motorola website.

• Length: 165mm
• Width: 165mm
• Height: 63.5mm
• Weight: 100g
• Talk Time: Approximately 17 hours
• Music Time: Approximately 12 hours
• Standby Time: Approximately 500 hours
• Bluetooth Version 1.2
• Range: 10m (Class 2)
• Supports any OS but bluetooth dongle/card must be A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) compliant
• Supports pausing and changing tracks with AVRCP (Audio Video Remote Control Profile)

Setup:

Setup was very easy when using the right bluetooth dongle/card. Before you begin, you must already have a bluetooth dongle or card. With that said, the Quick Start Guide says "Charge, Start Bluetooth, Pair, and Test/Use." Basically that is all you have to do for the setup of the headset. However, I did have trouble with my IOgear GBU211. I contacted IOgear about it, and they said that the broadcomm bluetooth chip that the GBU211 has does not support A2DP. I did get A2DP to work with the GBU211, but the computer was very unstable. That is why I purchased the BlueTake BT007Si. The BlueSoleil software recognizes both resources that the HT-820 has. Moreover, I use the same procedure to setup the HT-820 with my Motorola E815 cell phone. Edit: For connecting the HT-820 to computer and phone, all you have to do is turn on the headset, and the headset will connect itself to both devices.


BlueSoleil Software sees the HT-820's AV Service and Headset Service

Design:

The design of the HT-820 is sleek and small. They conform to my head feel comfortable when wearing them. What is special about the HT-820 is the controls that are on the headset. The left earpiece has the incalling switch between music/cell phone button and the volume control buttons. The right earpiece has the buttons for pausing and changing tracks. The right earpiece also has the microphone that is supersensitive. When I talk trough it, people can hear me very clearly. The best thing that I love about the HT-820 is that it has no wires. When comparing the HT-820 to the Logitech Gaming Headset, all I have to say is that my desk looks cleaner because of no wires. This is why I think the overall design is great for what it does.


A look at the right earpiece


A look at the left earpiece


A look at the back of the headset


A comparison of the Logitech Gaming Headset to the HT-820

Performance:
The performance of the HT-820 is amazing. I can play high quality stereo music while I walk around the house, and when paired with both cell phone and computer, if a call comes in during streaming, the HT-820 will beep in my ear until I answer the cell phone. When I get done with the call, I just push a button on the HT-820 and the music resumes. The range I get is about forty to fifty feet from the computer. There are some things that I do not like about the HT-820. First, I cannot have A2DP on the upstream because of the Bluetooth Version 1.2 720kbps. I have to switch to the Headset Service in BlueSoleil before I can talk on Skype or cell phone. This is a bluetooth software problem, not the HT-820. Switching to the Headset Service downgrades the audio to mono channel just like the single bluetooth earpieces run. Also when I have the HT-820 paired with the phone, I cannot stream my mp3 songs from the phone to the headset. I have contacted Motorola about this, and Motorola said that more likely that an update will be made to accomodate the HT-820.

Conclusion:

If you are wanting a headset that is wireless, this headset is for you. The option of streaming music from your computer will make you wear headphones for a long time. (It does for me) All in all, this is a great product from Motorola.

Pros:

• Wireless Connectivity
• Lightweight/sleek
• Great range
• Can pair with multiple devices at same time (cell phone and computer)
• Great sound

Cons:

• No A2DP upstream

Availability:

The official site of the Motorola Stereomoto HT-820 is ( http://direct.motorola.com/ens/BTStereoHS_Web_ProductHome.asp?country=USA&language=ENS)
Here, the item can be purchased; however, I purchased mine from www.cellularking.com for $99.00USD. That is with free shipping.

 

Nice context ccbr.

Bluetooth is just going to get more popular. I think you almost motivated me to get the internal bluetooth module for my notebook due to the fact that you can walk around, with no wires or music player in your pocket, and still listen to music wirelessly.

Thanks a lot!

 

Yes, a the high quality stream through A2DP wirelessly is very nice. Hopefully with Bluetooth Version 2.0, they will have A2DP both downstream and upstream.

 

i'd love to have these. it's so hard to find these things for sale, even on the Moto website they're soldout

thanks for the great review ccbr01!

 

Yeah, I just added some more text to the review. I thought I did not give a clear enough statement explaining the high quality audio.

 

Talking about hellomoto.com, the site doesn't even have full support of the HT-820 nor my E815 phone. Hopefully the update page will be built soon, so I can upgrade the firmware in the E815. This quote from the HT-820 page.

I wish this could be the US too. My main thing would be to go back to school in two weeks, and impress the 50% of campus that has an ipod. Say like, "Yeah, I'm wireless, aren't you?" I would jump for joy if I could say that. lol

 

Looks great!!! I've been looking for one for quite a while, but the thing about changing to headset via software is kind of a turn off...I'll have to wait and see when they update that. Overall, intrigues me enough to want to buy it though.

 

It's not really the Motorola HT-820. It's the bluetooth software that runs on the machine. If the software could broadcast two profiles to the same device, it would work. Like the music stream and my Motorola E815 phone. So it is not the HT-820's fault.

Edit: It's the same situation for the HT-820 to the E815. The phone can't run two profiles at on time. Hopefully Motorola will have this fixed soon.

 

So the issues you mentioned that you didn't like are more software-based?

 

Yeah, but its not directly related to it but still happens. maybe I should have put that in the review. I have never really thought of phrasing like that before. Sorry for that. It is software related. The only problem with the headset is no A2DP upstream.

Edit: I found what is keeping the computer from broadcasting two sound profiles because windows doesn't support two sound cards at once. I really didn't think about it, but any bluetooth software installs sound card codecs for each bluetooth sound part. Like now, I'm streaming through the AV service, and I'm using the Bluetooth AV/HS Audio sound codec. With the bluetooth headset service, windows runs a codec called Bluetooth Audio. I hope this clears up anything.

 

Nice review, ccbr01.

Forgive me if I am wrong, but does the HT-820 have a microphone built in, so that it can be used with cellphones?

 

Yes, I mentioned that in the review. I use the HT-820 with my MotoNow E815

 

I'm sure windows can support 2 sounds cards but that another matter. The problems still seems to be switching between music from a pc and answering the phone???

So I'm 20 feet away from the computer listening to music and the phone rings.. are you saying you have to go back to the pc and click something before you can answer the phone and talk?

 

Sorry, I must have missed that part.

 

No, no for switching to cell phone, you just push the left moto button. When you go back to the computer, that is for stuff like skype and voip.

 

Good Morning you all!

I would like to know if is it possible hear a stereo sound in computer, like in a game and speak at the same time! I want play on line games speaking with the others, but i want hear the stereo sound of game. Is it possible to do in HT-820 from Motorola?

Thanks a lot and i wait your answer!

 

Hello, i?ve one more think to complete my previous question!

I like too much to wireless devices, so, i have in my pc now a Logiteck Di Novo bluetooth kit (keyboard, keypad and mouse instaled). The bluetooth hub of Di Novo supports up to 8 equipaments in the same time, so, i want keep my bluetooth kit working (3 equipaments), my motorola V710 (1), my pocket PC (1) and also plug the HT820, for play on line games wireless, so, i want hear the game stereo sounds and speak with the others players.
Do you know if this headset support stereo sound and mic at the same time?
What you know about this bluetooth keyboard and your bluetooth hub?
How could i know if my keyboard support A2DP?

I wait your answer as soon as you can! Thanks a lot!

 

i like to ask who hava the HT-820
i have smartphone audiovox ppc 6700, and SE P910
my HT-820 play/stop and FF/REW buttons dosen't work with my phones.
so my question is! das the HT-820 works with other devices besise motorola? it work's fine with my phones but play/stop and FF/REW buttons is not support

 

The play/stop and ff/rew functions are for the computer only unless you live in asia. If you can stream mp3s from your cell phone, it should work. My Motorola doesn't stream mp3s, so I am stuck with computer streaming.

 

Hey, ccbr1, could you please take a look on my last post on http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1252336#post1252336.

Thanks a lot.

 

Hi,
I got myself HT820 having R52 IBM laptop:centrino:
but the A2DP installed does weird things:
- the system sounds are ok
- Music either glitches or does not get streamed to BT
how can i use ht820 with win xp and R52 ?

Thanks

 

idk if u guys have checked out the hong kong motorola site but these headset were out since last summer, and the only phone that supports the A2DP is the Motorola e680i. i got the phone and the headset last summer when i was in hong kong, i must say i was impressed with it, but the sound quailty is horriable. during some songs with high frequency it sounds very distorted. but its cool when someone calls u and it will pause the music. i discuss this issue with some of the people at www.motorolafans.com and some people say that they upgraded the firmware of the phone and it made it sound a little bit better. but i don't know unless i try to hear it myself. i also try to connect it to my sony vaio z1wa but i didn't have any luck with it. some other companies like samsung and sony ericcson has made their own bluetooth headphones. some pda have A2DP in their bluetooth i heard. current phones that i know of has A2DP are the Motorola e680i, Samsung D600, and the upcoming Sony Ericsson P990i

Just my 2cent

 

well with the firmware update, the e815 is a brand new phone. Bugs were fixed, vibrate is much stronger, and a better camera. Bluetooth was also fixed, but with the new firmare update, you can't enable DUN in an EVDO network. I went to howardforums.com and motomodders.net for info about the firmware update and seem edits. But I do really like the HT-820.

 

Argh! I bought a HT-820 at CompUSA today (they're on sale this week) and tried to use it with my MSI Star Key Bluetooth 2.0 adaptor. Audio streaming works if I start playing quickly enough after connecting to the headset, but after 5 seconds of no audio I can't start it up again without a disconnect/reconnect. I even tried installing the latest hacked Widcomm 5 drivers instead of the MSI-supplied 4's, no diff. I tried downloading the latest BlueSoleil drivers but they don't support my particular Broadcom-based MSI adaptor, and since Broadcom has bought out Widcomm I doubt they ever will.

Sooooo... should I buy one of those Bluetake adaptors? Maybe this one?

Edit: Never mind. It's not going to do what I want it to do anyhow (play stereo audio and take VoIP calls without that disconnect stereo/reconnect as mono headset step) so I returned it. I might try again whenever Motorola comes out with a Bluetooth 2.0 stereo headset.

 

Bummer - I just contacted HP support, and apparently MY DV1000t with integrated Blurtooth does not support A2DP. Any way to upgrade this?

 

I have the E815 and you say with the new firmwire the HT-820 will work ?

Just trying to get my facts stright befor i run out and blow that much money for somthing that wont work.

P.s Whats the firmwire number/version so I can make sure that verison flashes my phone to the working version

 

I was under the impression that the headset working with stereo sound at the same time with voice (skype) might work with a software update and not having to purchase another headset that supports BT 2.0. Is it possible for Windows to run two codecs at the same time? One codec for the mic and another for output (Stereo)?

 

If anyone knows how to run stereo at the same time as the mic please let me know.