Review: Samsung WEP-500 Bluetooth Headset

Samsung has been making quality electronics for years. From HDTVs to Cell phones, Samsung is one of the largest electronics manufacturers in the world. The WEP-500 ($69.95 from the WMExperts store) is Samsung’s entry into the ultra-small Bluetooth headset market. So how does it stack up? Keep reading to find out.

Look and feel

The WEP-500 is one of the most stylish headsets that I’ve seen. The colors are professional and the size (about the size of a quarter) and shape are smart and clean.

Ease of use

The pairing process is fairly typical with a default passkey of ‘0000’. The headset has volume controls as well as a large multifunction button. The multifunction button allows you to power the device on and off as well as start and end calls and pair it with a phone.

Features

Bluetooth 2.0 allows you to pair the headset with multiple phones if you choose. The headset includes noise and echo reduction as well as dual microphones in order to improve call quality. The battery life is slightly better than the similarly featured Motorola Mini H9, giving you a talk time of around 3.5 hours and a standby time of up to 80 hours. Samsung also includes a carrying case/charging station as well as a set of ear gels in order to achieve the right fit no matter the shape of your ear.

Although having a case for the headset is nice, it is a little annoying that it is the only option for charging the headset - you cannot plug the power cable directly into the headset, it needs the charging station. The charging station also uses a proprietary plug instead of mini-usb.

Quality

The headset has all of the standard features you would expect from a modern earpiece as well as some additional niceties. The device has a solid feel to it and the weight feels right for the size.

Design

After using this device for a couple weeks, I have some annoyances with it. The talk button covers most of the back edge of the headset. The problem I came across is that when trying to seat the earpiece in the ear, you automatically push on the back edge, which activates the headset and redials the last call. This also happened several times when I just had the earpiece in my pocket.

Conclusion

The feature set for this earpiece is robust, and it gets bonus points for style. My biggest issue with the device is the placement of the talk button. If you can get past that and the somewhat short battery life, it’s a very well implemented piece of technology.