The $89 Marque instead comes in a white finish with a grey border, with the only blinking light concealed on the inside half of the unit. The almost Apple-inspired design is Plantronics' most attractive yet, and the build quality follows suit.
Plantronics' national retail sales manager, Peter Petrides, told SmartHouse that the company was hoping to "reinvigorate the category of headsets for people who don't normally use them" earlier this year with the release of its Vocalyst service and its then-new Savor M1100 headset. Part of this was chipping away at the somewhat uncool, niche image of the headsets. The Vocalyst service doesn't come stocked in this new outing, but the Marque is a very enticing option for newcomers with a discriminating eye against Bluetooth headsets.
The headset is the company's lightest yet at 7 grams. Dropping 2 grams since the last headset might not sound like a big feat, but when you're suspending the little device in your ear canal all day, you begin to feel the difference. The super light unit is a definite breeze to wear, and stays in snug and comfortable thanks to the interchangeable rubber ear pieces and an additional over-ear hook for the more active users.
On the topic of bundled accessories, it also comes with a handy USB charger with a microUSB tip to fit into the device. For one thing, it's the same charger that pumps juice into most of today's smartphones, so odds are you'll be able to power the M155 with one of the many microUSB cables you'd have swimming around the house by now. Second is the cable itself, which has a USB plug and a USB socket in one, so that even if you plug the charger into a PC, you don't waste a USB port. Consumer tech genius is always in the simplest of touches.
This is a simple device right from the get-go, with voice guided pairing on your first use that talks you through connecting the device. Even without this it's simple, holding down the call button for a few seconds on a smartphone to link the two devices. Controlling calls is as simple as tapping a button to answer a call or just saying answer, or holding down the answer button for a second or just saying ignore to reject calls. The user manual says ‘get talking in minutes,' but it's more like seconds.
