Functionality
The sound on the BackBeat 903s was a solid notch above the Cardo S-2s, which suffered from quite a bit of background hiss. They still aren’t quite as good as my wired Bose In-Ears, but definitely a good wireless alternative. Most of the controls are intuitive enough (hold volume in one direction to skip tracks), but there is some more advanced stuff that requires digging around (holding play to enable bass boost, pressing in on volume to mute call, hold power while plugging in to reset, etc.). The battery life is so-so – I couldn’t quite get through the whole day, but almost. There’s certainly more the enough juice in there for an extended workout session. I’m sure they’d fare fine through a day of intermittant use.
My biggest gripe would have to be signal strength. I know these are some pretty slim headphones, and compromises are expected, but they’re it’s still a big one. With the S-2s, I could get up and go to the kitchen and still have my music while my BlackBerry Bold stayed on my desk in the other room. Not so much with the BackBeat 903s. Even while on the move, it felt like some wayward signal could mess with the Bluetooth connection, sending my music into a choppy mockery of its former self. That situation is the exception rather than the rule, however – it wasn’t hard to find a spot where the connection wasn’t interrupted.