A pleasant surprise

After eschewing that 'new, trendy technology,' I bought a new cell phone and became a bluetooth afficiando.

Fortunately for Jabra and other BT companies, I picked up a pair of Jabra's BT620 stereo headphones and was instantly hooked.

Using either a USB cable or an AC power supply, the headphones can be charged to full strength after just three hours. Immediately, the lights on each earpiece become important as they change from solid red [charging] to solid green [100 percent].

The light flashes blue on the left side after you power it up, simply by pushing a large button on the earpiece for one second. Turning on pairing mode isn't difficult either; hold the same button for a few seconds and the blue light turns steady. It's connected very quickly with both my cell phone and Jabra iPod adapter.

I should note that Jabra claims you can use the headphones with the iPod adapter and cell phone [only in headset mode] at the same time, although I have yet to get this function to work, despite following step-by-step directions.

The sound quality varies to a degree with the device connected and the music file itself. Initially I thought the same mp3s on my phone sounded better than the ones on my iPod, but eventually it all sounded very similar. In any case, the quality was never worse than the cheaper Sony wired headphones I had been using.

I also find this set of headphones comfortable, although I've read quite a few reviews on other sites saying the exact opposite. These offer the over-the-ear style, while a plastic strip rests against the top of each ear and around the back of the head. The earpieces are a little heavier than other headphones, so maybe some find the hard plastic piece pushing down more painful?

Small volume controls sit on top of the left earpiece and the same power button can be tapped to accept a call. A built-in microphone is attached to the right earpiece, although it is functional, I've been told it doesn't sound great. The bulk of the right earpiece, however, is designed to use in stereo mode. The large button function as play/pause/stop, while the small buttons along the top skip tracks/fastforward/rewind.

Aesthetically, the Jabra 620 headphones don't look bad, with a black plastic strip connecting two silver earpieces. The flashing lights can also be turned off, although I don't dare because I'd never figure out what mode they're in.