Sports headphones with Android compatible controls

floggg

Hi guys,

I posted this in the Android forum, but didn't get much response.

I was wondering if anybody has come across any good quality headphones with android phone/htc desire compatible controls that would be suitable for sports use.

A have a set of monster beats solo hd headphones, which have a built in control system. Its designed primarily for iphones, but is (partly) compatible with my htc desire (can pause, fast forward and rewind, answer calls, and hang up, though volume up and down doesnt work).

I was looking for something similar for sports use - running and cycling mainly. Have gotten so used to having controls on the cable that I'm seriously resenting having to fish my phone out of my pocket to fast forward etc when cycling (where controls would be particularly useful) or running.

I have seen the Monster "Power Beats" which are designed for sports use, but are a bit step at €130 ish for a secondary pair of headphones.

I'm also wary that they are part "hook" earphone and part in ear. I know I'm not alone in this, but I can never get those in ear things to stay in my ear. I've read a few amazon reviews which say the Power Beats are good for staying in, but am nevertheless wary.

Would prefer a hook over ear type, rather than hook in ear!

Thanks in advance.

yimrsg

The spreadsheet in the box in this post mentions if a IEM is ipod/iphone compatible. Just look for the ones with a blue box. I'm not sure if that means they're android/htc desire compatible.

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/478568/multi-iem-review-138-iems-compared-meelectronics-cx21-cw31-added-01-26#post_6492059

Most of the respectively priced models in the list are done by Meelectronics, so maybe you could email them and see if they're any or all of their products are android compatible.

http://www.meelec.com/default.asp

33rdteam

Hi I am just wondering if you had any luck getting headphones compatible with an android phone. I have been looking for couple of weeks now and had no luck.
There are lots of iphone compatible headphones but very little choice for androids. Let me know what you went for in the end.

srsly78

There are no Android specific headphones. Android supports Bluetooth. Any Bluetooth headphones work perfectly. I have a Sony Ericsson MW600 bluetooth dongle, it has headphone jack and microusb charge port. Supports play/stop, answer phone/voice dial, vol up/down, track forward/back, and has fm radio independent of phone. Costs about e50, and you can then plug in whatever headphones you prefer.

People that say "there are no Android accessories" don't get it, Android supports open standards. The same gear for Android will work with all your other gear that supports such open standards, like your Car Stereo etc. The whole "works with iphone" thing is a scam, you shouldn't have to buy proprietary gear in the first place.

33rdteam

Thanks srsly78. That makes sense (once it is explained).

yimrsg

srsly78 wrote: »

There are no Android specific headphones. Android supports Bluetooth. Any Bluetooth headphones work perfectly. I have a Sony Ericsson MW600 bluetooth dongle, it has headphone jack and microusb charge port. Supports play/stop, answer phone/voice dial, vol up/down, track forward/back, and has fm radio independent of phone. Costs about e50, and you can then plug in whatever headphones you prefer.

People that say "there are no Android accessories" don't get it, Android supports open standards. The same gear for Android will work with all your other gear that supports such open standards, like your Car Stereo etc. The whole "works with iphone" thing is a scam, you shouldn't have to buy proprietary gear in the first place.

Someone recently posted they've got the klipsch x10i which several places have mentioned that doesn't work with android phones. People might assume that an "works with iphone" equates to works with android. Also I don't know if bluetooth's controls are standard across all the many different makes and models of android phone. That's without considering all the different mods that can be run on an android phone.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/03/02/review-klipsch-image-x10i-headset/

There are three buttons on the remote, volume up, down, and a multi-purpose in the middle. Depending on the number of times you press it, it will pause, play, and go to the next or previous songs. Unfortunately, this functionality only works on the iPhone 3GS. I tested a few other Android phones with various degrees of success, but nothing reliable. The volume controls do work on a Macbook Pro, if anyone’s interested.

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/549043/klipsch-x10i-120-uk-eu

Reason for selling is that it does not work properly with my Android phone but if you have an iPhone, this will work perfectly.

Meelec are the only ones I know that might work for android and iphones and even then they state a disclaimer for Android phones:

Not all phones are 100% compatible with the remote functionality of the P versions, and may result in different button functionality than listed below.

https://www.meelec.com/Articles.asp?ID=155

I'd imagine the lack of compatibility is down to the various manufacturers, the multiple operating systems, the possible music players (and all their updates) and the greater regularity of new android products to the market. Whatever about iphone only accessories being a scam at least people are likely to have their purchase work rather than take a chance on hoping a product is compatible with their particular android phone.

srsly78

The lack of compatibility is solely down to Apple. Apple added their own extensions to Bluetooth. Android works perfectly with "normal" Bluetooth, but no promises with any wierd iphone version.

Note, as many of you probably know: Bluetooth was terrible in the past. Mono only and low quality. Now we have Bluetooth 2.0 EDR which does stereo at high bitrate (BT 2.0 EDR is what you should look for in the phone specs). Only very old Android devices would have Bluetooth 1.0.

Yes it's complicated, there have been many versions of Bluetooth so far: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth#Bluetooth_v2.0_.2B_EDR

poaster wrote:

I'd imagine the lack of compatibility is down to the various manufacturers, the multiple operating systems, the possible music players (and all their updates) and the greater regularity of new android products to the market.

No. Older devices had old bluetooth, newer ones (last 2 years) have the newer Bluetooth. Your imagination is wrong. Music player has nothing to do with bluetooth. All android devices support "standard" Bluetooth whether old or new.

tl;dr: Get BT 2.0+ EDR phone and headphones. Pretty much everything these days supports it anyway.
This is the yoke I recommended: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Ericsson-Bluetooth-Stereo-Headset/dp/B003DQ1DCM

yimrsg

yimrsg wrote:

Meelec are the only ones I know that might work for android and iphones and even then they state a disclaimer for Android phones:

Not all phones are 100% compatible with the remote functionality of the P versions, and may result in different button functionality than listed below.

https://www.meelec.com/Articles.asp?ID=155

I'd imagine the lack of compatibility is down to the various manufacturers, the multiple operating systems, the possible music players (and all their updates) and the greater regularity of new android products to the market. Whatever about iphone only accessories being a scam at least people are likely to have their purchase work rather than take a chance on hoping a product is compatible with their particular android phone.

srsly78 wrote: »

No. Older devices had old bluetooth, newer ones (last 2 years) have the newer Bluetooth. Your imagination is wrong. Music player has nothing to do with bluetooth. All android devices support "standard" Bluetooth whether old or new.

My imagination is perfectly OK thank you. I wasn't talking about bluetooth. I was talking about the impossibility of testing all android phones past, present and future with the various roms and os, music player versions, networks software etc. and them all being 100% compatible with all android specific products. The bluetooth idea is a good workaround rather than hope for the best in buying a product which might not work as intended.

The openness of Android and the cloistered nature of apple both have flaws for consumers.