Mobility Digest Review: Novero Rockaway Stereo Bluetooth Headset

Hello all, I’m back with another review of a Bluetooth headset that I think you’ll find interesting and unique. Mobile Fun sent these over for my review and they are called the Novero Rockaway Stereo Bluetooth headset that are made for listening to music and taking calls while on the go. I found these to be excellent in both sound and build quality and read on to learn more about them….

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Vendor: Mobile Fun

Price: £57.95 / $89.67

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Specs/Features:

Novero Rockaway Stereo Bluetooth Headset

Play music, take calls, skip tracks and adjust volume from the headset
Exercise is about freedom, about pushing limits and enjoying doing it. Some people like to exercise while listening to music, some talk on the phone. With the Novero Rockaway Bluetooth stereo headset it’s easy to do both – and without the hassle of headset wires that slow you down. You simply stream music and calls via Bluetooth to it. The headset has built in controls which will allow you to skip tracks and adjust the volume, leaving you in control of your workout.

Secure and comfortable fit with interchangeable ear gels
The Novero Rockaway has been designed to be as secure in your ears and comfortable as possible.  Interchangeable rings ensure that the earpieces are snug and secure and you can even clip the headset to your clothes to keep it tight.

Powerful bass

Not only does the Rockaway look great, it has the sound to back it up. It features powerful bass which will motivate you whilst exercising. The high quality stereo sound means you hear every beat and the DSP technology helps to reduce noise and make every phone call clearer.

Receive and end calls from the headset
Conveniently receive and end calls or activate voice commands from the headset (when supported by the phone). Rockaway connects easily via Bluetooth simple pairing to almost any Bluetooth enabled music player.

 

What’s in the Box?

So we’ll start with the box, it’s attractive for a box I guess. It has pictures and specs listed as you’d expect.

Inside you’ll find a plastic tray with the Novero Rockaway headset in it

Under the tray you’ll find all of the accessories which include a cloth bag carrying pouch, user guide, extra sizes of earbuds and a USB cable.

The small sized earbuds are already attached when you open the package and then you have choices for large, medium and extra large as other options.

The microUSB is just your standard one by Novero was nice enough to include a velcro belt or strap to hold the cable together.

This headphones are  rather unique in that they are connected by a cable. The cable is basically a rubber strap so you can take them out of your ears and just let them sit across your neck. The one I got for review is red obviously, it’s red and silver to be specific, but there are other colors available.

There is a remote control in-line on the cable to control music and calls. There are three buttons that do double duty essentially like the volume buttons are also for making the music tracks go forward and back.

There’s also a clip in-line so you can affix it to your shirt. I’m not sure why there’s a clip as you have the cord.

The earbuds or speakers themselves seem well made, they are basically plastic as you’d expect from most things these days.

On the right earpiece is a single LED indicator.

The right one also has a cap on it that twists open to reveal the microUSB port for charging.

 

Impressions / Review:

Charging is simple, just plug the USB connector into the headset and let it go. The small LED turns red when charging. The LED is also used to indicate pairing and connectivity as well, and it will change colors to correspond to the mode. Charging time varies of course on the level of the battery, but it took about 2 hours on a dead battery.

For testing I used the headphones with my PS Vita and HTC Titan Windows phone. For the phone I used the headphones for calls and listening to music. I had no problems pairing with either device, it just connected easily and with no hassles like putting in a code.

According to the specs you should get over five hours of talk time when using it to talk and you should get at least 250 hours of stand-by time. I don’t think I spend five hours on the phone in months let alone a couple weeks, so I’m not exactly sure about that claim. I did however use the headphones to listen to music and play games. Combined between the two devices I got a little over four hours of run time, close to five actually, which isn’t bad.

So I used them for games and music as I said and when I put them in the first thing I noticed was that they didn’t quite fit my ears, it’s good thing they included several sizes of earbuds with these. I changed to a larger size and found the headphones stayed in place much better. The smaller size made the headphones loose and they constantly fell out and it wasn’t exactly a good seal in my ears to help keep the sound out. The larger buds did help keep a lot more exterior sound out but not all of it. Outside sound is only an issue when you’re playing your music or other audio at lower volumes but it’s still good enough to use for calls etc.

These are made for not just phone calls but for exercise really. I have a similar paid of these, the Jaybird Freedom that also feature the strap between them. The key to using these for recreational activities is finding the correct earbud size to make sure they’ll stay in place while you’re moving.

The sound is actually very good, I was really impressed but the good sound quality from these headphones. The sound is full and mostly complete, highs are high and lows are low but mid-range is slightly lacking but overall it’s still very good.

Playing games on my Vita I found the sound to be very good, more than adequate, very full and directional as you might expect. Using the Rockaway headset with the Vita I found I could control the volume with them, but that’s about it. I honestly didn’t expect to be able to do much else so there’s no surprise there. I only needed the headphones for sound and for that they work just fine.

When using the headset with my HTC Titan I found I could control everything with the in-line controls. The volume buttons work fine and then when you long press them they make the tracks go forward or back so you can skip to the next or go back. The multi-function button is for play and pause which worked fine, it’s for answering calls.

Playing music is probably what these are best suited for as I found the whole calling thing a bit annoying as the button is rather hard to activate as it’s so small. It took several presses to get it to activate for me. it does work though to answer and end calls and I could talk through it like a standard Bluetooth headset. Call quality seems fine, but I would much rather use a regular BT headset that’s specifically made for calling.

 

Conclusion:

The Novero Rockaway Stereo Bluetooth headset is just excellent for listening to music on the go no matter if your just going to work or for your daily run. The sound is excellent overall, I’m happy with it and I think you will be as well.

They are simple to use and they pair easily. One of my complaints is that the multi-function is rather hard to use, it’s fine for play and pause but it’s not quite right for answering and ending calls. It does work though for calls, but I’d rather just use it for listening to music.

As far as comfort, yes they are comfortable for long period of use.

The price is a bit high, but I think they’re worth it,  anything is pricey that’s quality made. Overall it’s a nice bundle included for the price.

 

 

Pros:
+Excellent sound
+Comfortable for long periods
+Simple to use and pair
+Includes extra ear buds and carrying case
+Decent battery life
+Quality made

 

Cons:
-Multi-function button can be hard to press
-Controls can be hard to use until you get accustomed to them