"Review": Nokia BH-505. The BEST Bluetooth Headset evaaarr! (updated with video)
WOMWorld sent over some Nokia original accessories last week but I didn’t get a chance to really share my findings with you guys due to exams.
Ha, I should really be revising. This wasn’t meant to be a review (haven’t used it long enough really- but best to get it done now than forget eh), but it sort of turned into one.
Video will be updated some other time. YouTube is currently giving me stupid “The upload failed due to an unknown error”
Somehow it’s appeared.
In the mean time, I’ve taken some photos of the BH-505 which is now probably my favourite of all Nokia’s headsets. Wired or Bluetooth.
Prob my favourite audio accessory ever really. I was surprised as I didn’t expect this at all to be this good.
Why do I love it so much?
1. Design
- It is unbelievably comfortable to wear.
- It is light so it doesn’t drag your ears or squash them.
- It is extremely secure. Great for any sporty activities (I think that’s what this headset originally aims for) but even more so just for everyday use, so you can bop your head to your tunes without fear of it falling off.
- It feels invisible – you forget you’ve got it on.
- it is invisible (design is small, discreet, and hides away if you have enough hair :p).
- Very strong, flexible material (it’s somewhat very springy – bend it and it jumps back to original shape),
- has nice rubbery/velvety feel all over with metal music player control buttons. It feels great.
- This trumps the BH-214 for me as it kills all wires.
2. Well Placed Controls
- It’s great and all having music controls but annoying when it’s hard to use them.
- BH-505 has the easiest placement of buttons.
- Volume rocker on the right, skip/back rocker on left.
- Call/End button on right
- Play Pause Button on left.
- It’s such a breeze to use – even if you’ve got a big woolly beanie.
- Power button is at the curvy bendy bit. Very easy to press, good location as you won’t confuse this as the play button and turn headset off.
- Power button can still be accessed when worn
- You get three coloured light indicators to indicate connection. Green, red, blue.
- Green is when it’s just turned on. It may seek a previously paired phone and connect automatically.
- Intermittent blue when connected
- Flashing blue is when in pair mode (long hold of power button.
- Brief red when you’ve turned it off.
- Oh – it’s very easy to pair (bluetooth)
- THE CONTROLS WORK WITH PC TOO. ^_^ Very nice pausing movies with BH-505
3. Sound Quality
- Excellent sound quality
- VERY LOUD! It can get super, super loud if you want it to! Warning!
- Bass is fantastic. I’ve embarrassingly used “Candy Shop” over the years to listen out for that distinctive rumble and it can give my Ultimate Ears Super.Fi Extended Bass a run for its money.
- Excellent stereo separation.
- Videos sound great too. Very immersive.
- Connection over bluetooth is very strong. There are no disruptions in connections when phone is in pocket (does with BH-501) and I can be at some distance away from N900 with this.
- Calls – pretty good. Need further extensive testing but it’s clear on both ends (though being sound isolating, it sounds weird hearing your own voice dampened – eerie sensation)
4. Sound Isolation
- BH-505 uses passive sound isolation techniques, i.e. creating a vacuum with those silicone buds to prevent external noise affecting your music.
- Against the BH-905 (which has active noise cancelling with 8 microphones) the BH-505 outclasses it in terms of sheer noise blocking.
- That’s because the BH-905 sits over your ears so any gaps will let sound through (although it is still an excellent solution).
- The strength with the BH-905 is that you can achieve sound isolation at lower volumes due to that active sound cancelling, but with BH-505 you will need to ramp the volume a little bit more.
- That of course depends on how loud ambient noise is anyway. Outside traffic – 60-70% cuts it out completely. A little dangerous, haha.
- In doors, you could set it to about 40%.
- It’s not simply due to the silicone buds. Many other similar in ear buds do not produce the same sound isolations. E.G. my Shure E2C>Super.Fi (not advertised for noise cancelling) and I might even say the BH-505>Shure E2C
- Material/Fit is of course important. You need to get the right combination to fit you. The default buds were perfect for me.
5. Battery Life
- A really strong point in Nokia’s headsets recently.
- Haven’t ever had it die yet but so far >24h 60% volume with lots of standby time.. Will rigorously test this out after exams.
- Charging is really quick. Haven’t charged it that many times but it goes blue (full) in under an hour?
Charging Port
Charging port hidden. Bit fiddly to open but fortunately you won't be needing to charge too often.
6. Price
- It’s about 50GBP depending where you look.
- I feel gram for gram, for me, this is a superior product to the BH-905 (160-250GBP!)
- I’m not an audiophile (maybe Devin/thenokiaguide) can point out where the differences are in audio quality but for the majority of users this is an excellent headset.
Negatives:
- White. I don’t know how easily this may get stained.
- The battery flap is a touch difficult to undo if you haven’t got long nails
- It’s not mine. Ha :p
Category: Accessories, MNB, Nokia, Reviews
About the Author (Author Profile)
Hey, thanks for reading my post. My name is Jay and I'm a medical student at the University of Manchester. When I can, I blog here at mynokiablog.com and tweet now and again @jaymontano. We also have a twitter and facebook accounts @mynokiablog and Facebook.com/mynokiablog. Check out the tips, guides and rules for commenting >>click<< Contact us at tips(@)mynokiablog.com or email me directly on jay[at]mynokiablog.comSubscribe
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Sites That Link to this Post
- Video: Nokia N900 and BH-505, music controls and pairing instructions. | My Nokia Blog | May 15, 2010
- Nokia BH-505 Bluetooth Headset « Mobyday – Your Source For Mobile Updates | May 16, 2010
- Review: Nokia BH-505 Bluetooth Headset | May 17, 2010
- Other Great Bluetooth Headset Reviews | Best Bluetooth Headset Review | June 11, 2010
- Compatible head phones | November 29, 2010
- Video: The Amazing Nokia BH-505 available in Red, Green, Black (and Blue?!) – now only £35.99! Bargain! : My Nokia Blog | May 6, 2011
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Hi Every One,
Recently i purchased BH-505 i.e., it’s been almost 2weeks, it’s “awesomely” working, please don’t be upset about other reviews where they commented as it’s not a good product, but lemme tell you one thing, I guess they aren’t following the user manual provided by the NOKIA. I read all the instructions and one main “con” is that it is a water resistan product. So better be careful with that and remain thing, it works like a charm. I’m using BH for my Samsung Netbook NC108 and it’s working better and the sound quality is superb
Very true..I use it with my nokia N900 and it rocks..I wore it on cricket match with a lot of sweating but no problems what so ever occurred…The comment “you can’t hear most things around you” would be compliment to any stereo headset…request every one to not be bothered about negative responses..just go for it and u will never regret it…!!!
Went bad soon after I started using it for jogging. Have given it to Nokia Care for repairs.
Wonder how soon I will have to dump it. More or less a waste of good money.
NOKIA ARE YOU HEARING!!!!!
Same with me – went jogging with it and it went bad and cant connect with the phone – all it does is flash a red light if I try to charge it – lasted 3 weeks – and this was a replacement after the first one did the same thing!!
Refer my last post above.
Maybe NOKIA CANNOT HEAR.
After all the headset has gone bad!!!!
i was abt to buy it ystrday bt droped d idea n was chkin itz specz n reviews bt now m bit confused so userz of bh 505 temmme i shd go for it or nt while testin it i found it gud n voice was also clear bt question abt itz life……..????
Nice one
I bought this headset this week.
very good music quality, and light weight,
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Well despite the “spoiler” comments, all I can say is that I have been using mine every day for over 3 months on a Nokia E71, Sony netbook and now a Galaxy Nexus phone without a single glitch.
The sound quality is very good as is the isolation. This review, in my humble opinion is about as accurate and complete as it should be.
If you are looking for a bluetooth headset that delivers the good….. this could be for you too!
BH505 i paired with my acer aspire lap top. But i can’t listen any thing. Next, forward, play, and pause is working normally. Somebody can help me to solve this problem.
I’ve had mine for about two weeks, and forgot to change to smaller buds, and I still love it. Even while letting it bleed in it outside sound, it sounds great, even better when it’s all the way in. Call quality for the other end isn’t great (VZW moto droid 2), but it’s great on my end. I used it moderately, not kidding you, for a week before I charged it. Like, 20ish hours of playback. No skips because of signal loss. I have to go into another room and put a wall between us (headset and phone) before there are issues. Make sure you have good bluetooth drivers for your laptop, and it works great for that too. No experience with using it for exercise, as I don’t listen to music when I run.
I am very pleased, and I’m finding it more convenient than my Logitech Ultimate ears, and the sound quality is on par. It’s also very well designed. I would buy these again in the future.
Great headphone…very easy to connect and use thereafter…great sound quality. Used Motorola S9-HD and S10 in past and this pretty much provide the same quality of music at half the price..Using it with Samsung Galaxy S2 and dell laptop.
Very well designed and comfortable while travelling as well..buttons are very handy and well placed..
Hey I Too Bought THe Same Product…But I AM Unable To COnnect It With My NOkia C7 Through Bluetooth And NFC As Well..!
heyy guys…i just ordered this nokia bh-505….there is only one reason for me to buy these headset, i want a wireless connection during my run….
are these headset compatible with blackberry 9300, please reply
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You actually make it appear really easy along with your presentation but I to find this matter to be actually something that I think I would by no means understand. It kind of feels too complicated and extremely broad for me. I am looking forward for your next put up, I?ll attempt to get the hold of it!
wat is d price f BH-505. Nd ne new headfone btr en dis.
thanx!
Wow! This is really nice. Thanks NOKIA!
I bought the BH-505 headset today after using the Nokia BH-501 headset for ages. I guess the shop I bought them from had them for a while as the came out in 2010! I am using the with my Samsung galaxy S3 and they are amazing! True tones, better bass than my Dre Beats and NO wires! I would tell anyone to buy these if they can find them in a shop. Also love the white colour, matches my S3
Recently brought NOKIA BH 505, @ 3500.00. Sound quality is superb, battery life is superb, so as the controls. a little noise while on call. worth buy if compare to other blue tooth stereo headset.
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Major attribute not mentioned is that BH-505 IS nfc enabled.
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Hello i would like to purchase the Samsung galaxy s 2 metal cover, are you from Chennai, how can i get it from you