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The $73 (as of February 15, 2008) Samsung WEP500 felt slightly unstable when inserted into my smallish ear, and it lacks a back-of-the-earhook to hold it in place. I also thought that the call button was situated awkwardly. If these issues don't bother you, however, you'll be left to enjoy the diminutive size and impressive sound quality of this Bluetooth headset.
The WEP500 comes in four colors--blue, black, chrome, or silver-and-black--with a cute hard-plastic carrying case that plugs into an AC adapter for charging. No USB adapter is included. Our test unit was light (0.32 ounce) and small, shaped like a quarter but a tad oblong. In fact, it was so small that I lost it several times at the bottom of my purse.
The WEP500 comes with two types of earbuds; the one with an attached rubber loop fit my ear better than the larger one did. But since the WEP500 has no earhook to hold it in place, it felt unstable to me. Then again, iPod earbuds don't fit my ears either, so I forced a few friends to try on the WEP500, and two out of three (both male) said that it fit.
I wish that the WEP500 had fit my ear, because people on both sides of the calls I made thought that its audio quality was great, both in quiet and in noisy places. According to Samsung, the WEP500 has automatic volume control; I didn't notice changes in volume so much as I was pleasantly surprised to be able to hear clear, rich sound in varied environments. Stated battery life is 3.5 hours--half as long as the spec on some other headsets we tested at the same time, but I didn't notice a problem.
The only annoying thing I encountered was that the multifunction button, which begins and ends calls, perches on the top edge of the headset, so the first 15 times I tried to adjust the WEP500 in my ear, I accidentally pressed this button and inadvertently dialed or ended a call. Eventually I retrained myself to grab the headset on its sides.
The daintily eared probably won't feel confident about the fit of the WEP500. Everyone else will really like this device.
