I own about 8 stereo Bluetooth headphones (I’ve lost count). I use none of them as my main music headphones, because none of them satisfies me. Usually, one of the four important features are missing:
* Good sound quality
* Good battery life (10 hours)
* HSP/HFP and sometimes AVRCP support is missing
* Are uncomfortable and painful to the back of the ear

The best pair I got, made by Plantronics, feature everything I need except good sound quality. Some Bluetake headphones I got have everything except good battery life (5 hours). A Logitech pair I got is perfect, except that it doesn’t have phone hands-free support. And the list goes on this way. I wonder what these companies are smoking when they screw up such a seemingly simple product. Why can’t they get it right? Especially for the price tag of $100-$150 that these headphones are usually selling for.

I almost wish that Apple will eventually offer such a product for their iPhone, as I would buy it in a heartbeat, because I am certain that it would be a product that it is as I expect it. The only fear that I have about such a potential Apple product is that it won’t be tested against other A2DP/AVRCP devices and so their compatibility might be limited to the iPhone. And that would suck.

I was watching an ST:TNG episode tonight, the one where lieutenant Barkley professes his fear for transporters. It reminded me of another situation.

In 2001, just a few days before our wedding, JBQ and I were waiting for my parents and brother at the Paris airport. I asked my brother how he liked the flight and he said “it was better than my first one”. I asked him to elaborate and he told me the story.

A few years back he was serving in the Greek army (which is mandatory for all males). He hated it. He had lost a lot of weight there as he was pretty depressed of the situation. One day, their superior officer asked for volunteers for a project. The volunteered soldiers would take 10 days off as a ‘thanks’ for taking part. My brother volunteered. The project was… parachute jumping off a plane. While this might not sound too terrifying to some, you must understand that my brother had never being aboard an airplane in his life at this time. So, not only he had to overcome the anxiety of flying for the first time, but he had to jump down too.

While he almost fainted mid-air, he came out of it a stronger person. I could not believe my ears when he told me last summer that he has a new hobby, hang-gliding!