As some of you might recall I was enamoured with the Jabra BT 3030 - dual earpiece Bluetooth [see previous review here] However recently I was crippled with an ear infection ensuring my beloved Jabra BT3030 was not of great use. However Jabra stepped in and I had a very handy BT4010 (single earpiece Bluetooth) to review. Ta muchly.

Now as a general rule, I am a bit of a geek extrovert - I like things to have a little pizzazz about them. I looked at the 4010 and looked harder. Nope, looked like a standard run-of-the-mill Bluetooth earpiece to me. Sigh

Then I recalled being thoroughly annoyed by another headset a while ago that had constantly flashed blue when you were on a call - a nightmare distraction when driving at night - I had kept wanting to pull over to let my headset fly by and arrest someone.

Maybe the simplicity of this headset wasn't so bad after all.
Tiny, light, very simple in its operation... too simple? Would it have the power to hold a Bluetooth connection and allow for free communication...?
I charged it up - as always wonderfully simple with clear Jabra instructions - including what the first charge time length should be - and again effortlessly linked it to my phone.

One of the downsides of reviewing Bluetooth headsets is constantly putting my long suffering friends and family through endless bad calls ... and due to the ear infection and workload I realised I'd make best use of my time if I trialled this one whilst at work... so I did.
To my delight those I called had no idea I was using a Bluetooth headset at all. There were no comments about "Alex, you're very faint / I'm having trouble hearing you" etc etc.
Definite brownie points - with a cherry atop, I think.

My ears are too tiny to hold the device securely without the ear hook provided - apparently some people will manage fine without - lucky! That was and remains a bit fidgety. I am used to adapting - it's like a little mini-mystery at first, getting those things to sit right - but strangely enough I've yet to master it. The earpiece comes with two sizes but .. pah! No doubt this review will get posted and I'll master it the very next day. In the meantime it's by no means enough to put me off the device.

I was also hugely impressed with the re-pairing of the headset to phone if I left my phone on the desk and walked out of range. Returning to my desk the headset re-connected automatically at ridiculous speed, almost unfailingly so prior to me speed dialling a number. Incredibly useful.

I did complain to two reviewers yesterday however that the internal speaker section - the little round bit that sits just inside the lobe was inordinately large and uncomfortable and had in actual fact bruised my ear ... My two colleagues pointed out that one wasn't supposed to wear it for eighteen hours a day non-stop and I was doing precisely that.

This brings me to the finale of the brilliance of this earpiece - it didn't go flat! I was using it all day, every day and not once did the battery give way; not once did the connection falter or fade or cut out. With 6hrs of talk time and 150hrs of standby (I had to look that up) this device allows a very really confidence in its performance.

Would I buy it? If I was constantly in a smart professional environment (us journo's get to slob about far too much) and I needed an unfailingly reliable effective headset, you bet! It's nothing to look at but by goodness it delivers.

See www.jabra.co.uk for more details