BackBeat 903 Stereo Bluetooth Headphones Review

Presentation

On the whole, the 903s are solid and simple, although on occasion the rubber and plastic part behind the ear separated a bit. At first the ear gel felt a little rigid, but after awhile, I got used to having most of the pressure just above the ear canal, rather than right into it, as tends to be the case with most in-ear headphones. It would have been nice to have a few different-sized/styled gels, just to experiment with what’s most comfortable. The flexible necks and twistable, extendable earbuds allowed for a lot of form-fitting, although you can only rotate the whole piece on a limited axis (maybe 15 to 20 degrees); the buds can move the full 360, however.

In terms of straight-up looks, these are some exceptional headphones. Yeah, they’re not flashy, but that’s their big appeal. Most of the bulk is held behind the ear, out of sight, the black colour doesn’t draw too much attention, and the over-the-ear design makes it hard to tell them apart from standard headphones. For those who are into something a little louder, a selection colours would be a welcome option.

About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

tom

Hi, I would like to know if the ugly white plastic peace which inside the ear can be taken off…

thanx
Mike

@ tom – yes they can be taken off, although you’ll lose quite some level of sound quality. i bought them a few days ago, replacing my aging JABRA BT8010′s – as the reviewer said, sound quality is impressively good for wireless, and battery life can be an issue if you run it all the time. package says estimated 7 hours run-time. but i think it depends on the volume and how much “work-out” the DSP has to do. one word of advice, those buggers can get really loud!
Barb Baarnes

Bought Motorola – cannot use forward and backward. I use them with my iphone. Can I get this feature with altec??
mitch

i got the 903, but can't sync to my iphone.