Review: Seidio 2-IN-1 Earbuds Headphones For BlackBerry 8100 / 8800 / 8830

Seidio 2-IN-1 Earbuds Headphones For BlackBerry 8100 / 8800 / 8830
[rating:7.5] 7.5/10
Link: www.seidioonline.com
Cost: Standard $29.95 / Retractable $34.95

Seidio has quite a lineup of headphone accessories for BlackBerry 8100 and 8800 devices. After the popularity of the review on the Seidio Headphone adapter (~6,000 hits to date) we decided to cover another Seidio Headphone product. This one comes in a few flavors such as with a retractable cable, in ear, over ear, and neckband but we decided to cover the basic earbuds version today. The main drawback of these earphones would probably be fixed if there was a more comfortable way to keep them in your ear but they do work quite well if your a fan of earbuds. Read on for the review.

Look: As you can see from the image above the earphones come in a simple package that actually says “For BlackBerry 8100” but it works with the 8800 and 8830 devices. Once you open the package you will see how the earphones look. Ill go picture by picture so you can see what you are getting.

Above you can see the earbuds themselves. They are a bit large for my taste and are reminiscent of the earbuds you get with any other audio device. Nothing too high quality but the audio quality was actually quite good. They do have decent bass but it tends to get a bit fuzzy around the edges with the treble. Audio quality was nothing compared to my Shure ear buds but was good enough for daily listening.

There is an inline microphone and volume control that I found quite useful. The audio control was much easier than reaching into my pocket and the microphone was dual sided so it was never blocked by my shirt. Click on the images above to get a better look. On one side of the inline control is the Seidio logo and the other side sports a call end and pickup button. You can also tell from here that the wire is quite thin. The distance between the earbuds and inline piece is sufficient to allow you to wear them comfortably.

Inline you will also find the lapel clip which does the dual purpose job of keeping the microphone near your mouth and the earbuds from yanking out of your ear. The clip is adjustable so that you can move it up and down the wire according to your preference.

In terms of nice extras Seidio has also gold plated the headphone jack. They also throw in some foam earbud covers but the openings on them were so small that it was close to impossible to get them on.

Pros:

• Decent audio quality and microphone level
• Nice inline controls for audio and call control
• Gold plated plug and included microphone clip

Cons:

• Flimsy wire
• Earbuds are a one size fits all that may not fit all ears. (As a point of reference if you like the iPod earphones you will be fine with these)

Conclusion: In short these are a good pair of earbuds to compliment your BlackBerry. While I would personally recommend one of the other models that include a neckband or ear loops these do the job quite nicely. They actually look very similar to the OEM headsets that RIM ships with the 8100 Pearl so they also function as a non-OEM replacement. Hopefully we will review some of the other iterations of Seidio’s headphones in the future and will give you full coverage on the options out there. As for now this is a decent deal for 30$ but if you can spare the change I would once again recommend one of the neckband or over-the-ear options from Seidio.