Ye Giant Nokia BH-905i Review

Accessories

by Clinton Jeff | on November 3rd, 2010 | 28 comments

We were big fans of the Original Nokia BH-905 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones. Then Nokia went and announced the BH-905i.

Are they worth the title of Nokia’s new Flagship Bluetooth Headphones? Read on to know.

The BH-905i improves on the Original, by having a more conventional headband design, with bass boost and stereo widening features included, as well as support for the SBC codec.

The Size has also come down now, measuring just 190mm x 140mm x 35mm vs the 180mm x155mm x 59mm of the Original. Weight too slightly, at 167g vs 175g on the BH-905. While the weight is still a bit heavy compared to your average pair of bluetooth headphones, the balance is much better now, and hence the BH-905i’s dont feel like they might fall off when exercising, or jogging, for example. I still wouldnt recommend actually running around with them on though.

There’s also adapters for in addition to an adapter for VoIP Calls and an 3.5mm iPhone compatible AV connector.

Otherwise it’s more or less exactly the same as the Original, with a Multi-Microphone Active Noise Control eliminating 99% of ambient surrounding noise.

The carrying case though, has been ‘tweaked‘ a little bit. Not only is it smaller, but no longer are connectors placed around in the case.

Now instead, there’s a nice small case to keep all the connectors and cables in, along with the charger. This helps keep things a lot neater, avoiding all that wire-ry mess.

And just like the original, there’s a very comfortable adjustable headband and pretty soft supra-aural ear pads.

I’m glad that the redesigned headband is a lot more conventional, and closer to your head-shape, and hence doesnt make you look odd wearing the BH-905i in public, as was the case with the Original.

I mean look at me wearing the Originals:

And me wearing the BH-905i’s:

Much better, yes?

Coming to the design, the face of the left Headphone is pretty minimalistic, having no controls on it’s side at all.

However, underneath, is the Switch for the Active Noise Canceling (ANC) and the charging port.

The ANC on the BH-905i works just as bit as great as the one on the original. Every Day I have to take CNG-powered-loud-motor rickshaws to and from work, and the 905i’s do a fabulous job of blocking out all outside sounds. It’s honestly, just freakkin brilliant. The advanced digital signal processing (DSP) that’s in there somewhere, also definitely helps.

Just like the original, the top of the headset has “Nokia” Engraved on a metal plate.

On the right headphone, is the volume keys and 3.5mm Audio port.

The 3.5mm audio port ofcourse, can be used with the provided connectivity cables, to connect the BH-905i to a variety of different devices, containing everything from VoiP and Airplane adapters, to an iPhone and 2.5mm adapters.

That’s if you choose to connect it in wired mode. The ANC works irregardless, so you have to remember to switch it off, or it’ll stay on and drain your battery. I wish Nokia had put in some magic voodoo to switch off the ANC when the device wasnt being used. I’ve forgotten to switch it off tons of times, only to find my headset completely drained of battery in the morning.

On the face of the right headphone, are the media controls.

This contains the Rewind, Fast-Forward and Play/Pause keys in addition to the Power button on top, which is multi-functional and can be used to answer/end calls, as well as turn on the bass boost.

Turning on the Bass boost on the BH-905i, is a function you might not realize if you dont check the manual. The ‘volume‘ on the 905i is quieter than the Original, but once you turn the bass boost on, it gets much better.

While connected via Bluetooth, you have to press the power button briefly once, and you’ll notice an increase in volume and bass, with a single audible ‘beep‘.

There are three stages to this. Press the power button briefly again, and you’ll hear even more bass and volume, with two audible beeps. The Maximum setting has three audible beeps, and is the loudest setting on the BH-905i.

The bass boost is quite powerful. However, if you’d like to turn it off, just press the power key briefly again, and it’ll return to ‘normal’ mode. The boost worked fine on both my Mobile devices (Nokia N8 and Sony Ericsson Satio) but the iPhone refused to work with the BH-905i. Though, that’s mostly the iPhone’s fault me thinks, because it never worked with the Original either, but works fine with my BH-214. The boost doesnt work on wired connectivity though.

This placement of ports and keys is exactly the same as the Original, by the way. So if you’ve played with a BH-905 before, you’ll feel right at home with the BH-905i.

The underside of the headband is now leather instead of nylon like the original. Slight difference here and there, even with the ear pad’s which look a bit thinner in padding.

Sound-wise, like I mentioned earlier, the BH-905i sounds a bit quieter than the Original. You still hear a full array of music frequencies and such, and the quality is great. But you will find yourself turning on that bass boost to get the volume up. The sound, really is crisp and clear. You might even find some hidden tones in the percussion that you werent aware about earlier.

Pairing the Headset is exactly the same as previous Nokia headphones. You hold down the power button, until the led glows blue, pair it with your phone via bluetooth, and that’s it.

Then we tested the BH-905i with phone calls. Call quality was pretty good as well. Incoming call quality was nice, loud and clear as expected without any problems.

On our callers end, they could hear our voice clearly, even when we were in rush hour traffic in Delhi (which involves a lot of Honking incase you werent aware). They could still hear the background noise, like cars honking, for example, but our voice still came through with plenty of volume.

All the typical headset profile features such as answering, ending, and rejecting calls,last-number redial, voice dial support (where available), call mute, and the capability to switch calls between headset and phone is present with the BH-905i, ofcourse it depends on what device you’re using it with.

Battery life is pretty amazing on the 905i. Via Bluetooth, it got us about 22 hours worth of Battery life (With a couple minutes of talking and the rest playing music) on one charge, which is actually pretty darn good in our books.

With Bluetooth, and the active noise cancellation turned out, we got about 14 hours in the same scenario. Which, admittedly, is impressive. A lot better than any other Bluetooth Headset we’ve trialed, and almost exactly the same as the Original.

Conclusion:
Rating:

Would I recommend the BH-905i? Definitely.

The price tag though, is a bit high. So this one’s only for the serious Audiophiles who are looking for a high-end, flexible pair of headphones to wear at home, and have the loot. If you’re looking for much else in a pair of Bluetooth headphones, you might want to consider looking elsewhere.

There was nothing that we could really find wrong with the Original BH-905, except from not that much bass, which they have solved, with the Bass Boost on the 905i. However, it isnt big enough of an update to warrant BH-905 owners sell off their headphones and go for the 905i. But if you are in the market for a new pair of serious wireless headphones, this is the way to go.

In terms of audio quality and comfort though, the 905i is certainly one of the best stereo Bluetooth headsets out there. That’s for sure. Pretty balanced midrange and treble performance. We said the same thing about the Original, and we honestly thought nothing could come close to it, at the time.

The fact that it supports both wired and wireless modes was the piece de resistance for us. Oh and sound is just as smooth and balanced in wired mode too. Not to mention, it comes with a huge array of audio adapters too.

I’d say, go out to your nearest Nokia Store, and check them out and decide for yourself. Because unless you hear this thing, you wont really know how great it is.

Note: Remember we have a whole album if you’d like to check out our Nokia BH-905i Album on Flickr.

Have any questions about the BH-905i? Something we missed? Do let us know, in the comments below y’all.

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Author Description

Clinton Jeff

Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile and mobile-related accessories. Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus or on Facebook or Twitter: Follow @clintonjeff