Review: Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-503

Hot-Wire-Telekom has sent us the Nokia BH-503 Bluetooth Stereo Headset some weeks ago. The BH-503 features Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, Headset Profile (HSP), Handsfree Profile (HFP), Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) and Audio Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP). So, you cannot just hear music but also make phone calls through the build in microphone. In this review I’ll check out whether it is more than a simple headset.

We like:

• Design
• Fit
• Volume & Sound Quality
• Battery live

We hate:

• not foldable

Sales Package:

The Nokia BH-503 comes in a grey box which measures about 18×18x7.5 cm. It has some kind of blue “light circles” all around the box. On the front there’s the Nokia-logo, an image of the headset and a little slogan: ,,Beats to your heartbeat. In stereo”. In the box there is the headset, a charger, a carrying pouch as well as a user guide manual included.

Connection:

It is very easy to set up the BH-503 to use it with your mobile phone. You just need to press the  multifunction key till the LED is flashing blue. Then you have to search the BH-503 with your mobile phone as a paired device. If you have found it just enter the passcode 0000 and the headset is paired with your phone. After done this you will not need to do it again. You just need to switch on bluetooth on your mobile-phone and press the multifunction key of the headset for 3 seconds and both devices are connected. As you can see it is very easy to set up the BH-503 with your device and after the first time you get connected with the headset within a few seconds. Bluetooth, and so the BH-503, works within 10 meters quite well and also when the headset and the phone are separated by a wall or a door.

Design & comfort:

The BH-503 has a pretty stylish over the neck design and is available in red/black and silver/black. This over the neck design ensures you perfect fit and it won’t fall off, also when jogging. There is only one problem when lying in the bed. Unfortunately, the headset cannot be fold or cannot be adjusted so that it is quite ‘big’ and cannot be transported in your jacket. Nevertheless, when your ears aren’t to small the BH-503 will feel like it is made only for you.

Usage & keys:

The usage is easy as nothing else. There are just six keys in total. The fast forward key, play/pause key, the rewind key, volume up and volume down key are the only keys you need to control the music player.

After connecting with your phone and opening the music player you can leave your phone in the pocket and control everything with the headset-control-keys. Clicking the multifunction key for three seconds you can turn the headset on, press and hold it for six seconds and the headset is turned off. Of course you can answer a call when pressing on the multifunction key and end it when pressing on it once again. Double clicking on the multifunction key you call the last number dialed. This is a really cool feature I use pretty often. Holding this key for 5 seconds you open the voice commands. The keys are all quite big so that you can control the headphone really sure.

Sound quality:

The sound quality of the headset is superb and there is no cracking to hear. Due to A2DP and the other stadarts listening to music is a real pleasure. It is better than my wired headset I’ve had before and the volume can be set to really loud too. However, also the sound quality when calling is good, indeed. I can understand the caller clear, loud and even better than holding the phone on my ear. The caller understands me also loud and clear. Talking to some friends I’ve called they even didn’t noticed that I was talking through the microphone of a bluetooth-headset.

Size:

The size of the headset is 150×75×155mm. As I already said you cannot fold the BH-503 so that transporting it is quite hard. Nevertheless this is the only downside of the size and when wearing the headset it looks quite normal and not huge.

Battery-life:

According to Nokia the music and talk time is up to 13 hours and when fast charging, so 20 minutes only, the music time is up to 7.5 hours. I actually tested the fast charging and in the end the music time was even more than 8.5 hours by 50-70% of volume. So I expect the music and talk time when charging it more than an hours to be more than 14 hours. This is indeed really good so that you don’t need to charge it every day. Of course the battery is built into the headset.

Verdict:

This bluetooth headset is in my eyes the perfekt bluetooth headset when it comes down to music and confort. It fits good to almost every head, the music quality is good as well as the control and the battery life. However, this also has it’s price. At ebay you can find the BH-503 for about 50-80€. Thank you to Hot-Wire-Telekom for providing us with the BH-503.