The Problem

If you own one of the flavors of the Pocket PC Phone Edition (made by HTC), then you are likely aware that the headset jack is different from most other mobile phones. Because this device is a PDA, and a phone, they have combined a normal stereo headset jack with a mobile phone earbud jack. The result is that you can't find many stereo headsets or earbuds that will work this device.

Most stereo headsets use the 3.5mm adapter found on personal CD players. This is a stereo jack which has right, left, and ground conductors. Most earbuds use a 2.5mm adapter which is mono, but includes the required microphone conductor. The following picture shows a comparison of the standard Phone Edition adapter and a standard 2.5mm earbud adapter.



The Choices

Pocket PC Techs, Pc-Mobile, and Radio Shack have a variety of adapter cables to help you adapt standard headset accessories to the Phone Edition. There are currently a number of adapters available from these companies, and the features and characteristics vary between them. You can most likely find an adapter that meets your needs here, but you could also be unhappy if you don't understand how they work. We hope to clear that up here.

First, let's inventory the different choices currently available, and one particularly interesting choice that I receieved to beta test. (from left to right in the picture below)

Radio Shack - 2740373 $3.29
Pc-Mobile - PX25HA $5.95
Pc-Mobile - PX35HA $5.65
Pocket PC Techs - PPCPADPT03 $12.50
Pocket PC Techs - PPCPADPT02 $15.00
Pocket PC Techs - PPCPADPT01 $15.00
Pc-Mobile - Beta Retractable Adapter $??.??



Now I'll review each adapter and explain its features.

Radio Shack - 2740373 - Stereo to Stereo Audio Adapter

This adapter became quite popular early in the life of the Phone Edition because it was already available. In fact, it is not designed to work properly with the 4 conductor adapter on the Phone Edition, and this has an interesting and useful side-effect. It allows you to connect a standard set of 3.5mm CD Player headphones, or speakers, to a Phone Edition and have it function normally. Unlike other adapters in the Round-up, the adapter does not properly disable the microphone lead.

I need to take a moment here to explain an interesting feature of the Phone Edition's microphone. The standard microphone has two settings, normal, and speakerphone. If you own this phone, you already understand these two modes, as they are pretty self explanatory. An undocumented feature is that in normal mode, the microphone functions quite well as a car phone microphone (actually better than putting the phone in speaker phone mode in the car). I have used a dash mounted Phone Edition in a noisy Jeep for some time, and never had a complaint from a caller. I have had passengers use it in this manner from the back seat, still with good results. So, this adapter allows you to turn the Phone Edition into a nice car phone. You simply attach the adapter to your car stereo, place the Phone Edition in a convenient location, and you are all set. To attach the adapter to your car stereo, you can use a cassette adapter, an i-Rock RF adapter, or a car stereo with a front panel input.

The only real negative for this adapter is that it is very long and rigid, creating a potential hazard to the Phone Edition. I believe there is some risk that you could damage the Phone Edition if something bumped the adapter very hard. For the price of $3.29, this is the least expensive adapter and a real bargain.

Note: If you are handy, Radio Shack carries other inexpensive 2.5mm adapter cables that can be cut and spliced to 3.5mm adapter cables to create a custom cable for your car stereo. This is what I did to avoid the hazard and unstylish appearance that this adapter leaves you with.





Update - Radio Shack Online shows the following picture of this adapter, same part number. The picture shows a slightly different adapter, but it appears to have the same size problem.



Pc-Mobile - PX25HA - 2.5mm Universal Adapter for Phone Use

PC-Mobile's mono adapter is compact and well made. It allows you to connect a standard earbud to a Phone Edition and have it function normally. In my small test case, the earbud buttons did not work with this adapter. I will attempt to test it with additional devices and report my findings. This adapter does not affect the sound quality. This adapter does not have a mute / answer button. This means you would have to press the green button on the Phone Edition to answer a call. You would have no way to mute the call (unless you have installed a software mute utility, in which case you would need to access the mute function through software). At a price of $5.95, this adapter is a great bargain if you want to attach a standard ear bud to the Phone Edition.


Pc-Mobile - PX35HA - 3.5mm Stereo Audio Adapter

PC-Mobile's stereo adapter is also compact and well made. It allows you to connect a standard set of CD Player headphones, or speakers, to a Phone Edition and have it function normally. This adapter disables the internal micrphone on the Pocket PC Phone Edition, so you would not be able to answer a call while using it. It is primarily intended for listening to music. This adapter does not affect the sound quality. For $5.65, it is bargain priced. If you use your phone a lot, it may be inconvenient to remove the plug to answer the phone.



The following picture shows a comparison of all the adapters. From left to right - Radio Shack adapter, T-Mobile Handsfree, PC-Mobile 3.5mm Audio Adapter, PC-Mobile 2.5mm Phone Adapter.


Pocket PC Techs - PPCPADPT03 - 2.5mm STD Mono Headset Adapter

Pocket PC Tech's mono adapter is compact and well made. It allows you to connect a standard earbud to a Phone Edition and have it function normally. This adapter does not affect the sound quality. This adapter does have a mute / answer button. At a price of $12.50, it is a bit more expensive than the Pc-Mobile adapter, but the button is probably worth it. Without the button, you could still answer the phone with the green button on the Phone Edition, but you would have no mute capability. This adapter solves that problem.











Pocket PC Techs - PPCPADPT02 - 3.5mm Headset / 3.5mm Audio Headphone Adapter

Pocket PC Tech's 3.5mm/3.5mm Stereo adapter is a bit larger than the other adapters. They have provide a double connector to allow you to connect a 3.5mm standard telephone earbud for full telephone functions (I have not seen a lot of 3.5mm telephone earbuds... see the next adapter for a 2.5mm solution), and standard 3.5mm CD Player headphones. With this adapter, you have a jack for each. There is no mic, and the mic is disabled at the phone, so you can not use the phone together with the 3.5mm headphones alone. This adapter does have a mute / answer button. It is priced of $15.00.







Pocket PC Techs - PPCPADPT01 - 2.5mm Headset / 3.5mm Audio Headphone Adapter


Pocket PC Tech's 2.5mm/3.5mm Stereo adapter is a bit larger than the other adapters. They have provide a double connector to allow you to connect a 2.5mm standard telephone earbud for full telephone functions, and standard 3.5mm CD Player headphones. With this adapter, you have a jack for each. There is no mic, and the mic is disabled at the phone, so you can not use the phone together with the 3.5mm headphones alone. This adapter does have a mute / answer button. It is priced of $15.00.







Pc-Mobile - Beta Retractable Adapter Cable

This is a really cool adapter cable... unfortunately you can't buy it yet. If you've used the Pc-Mobile Retractable Handsfree earbuds, this is based on the same retractable cable mechanism. The Boxwave MiniSync cable also uses a similar mechanism. If you are like me, you have a gaggle of cables and adapters that you carry around all the time. I've grown to love the retractables. This is a similar case. No more tangles.

The following two pictures show the business end of the adapter. There is a socket that will accept a standard 3.5mm CD player headphone cable. Unlike the other stereo headset adapters reviewed in the roundup, however this one also has a built-in microphone and mute / answer button. All of this is contained in the adapter shown in the next two pictures.





The retractable mechanism works very well. As I mentioned above, there are several other similar devices on the market. In all cases, you must pull BOTH cables out at the same time to prevent tangles.







There is no price set for this adapter yet, but Pc-Mobile has priced their other products very aggresively. It works well, and allows the best of many worlds... use of high quality stereo headphones AND full telephone functions including mute / answer and microphone. The microphone end needs some sort of lapel clip. The pre-production version I have doesn't have any clip, so you have to hold it. About the only negative I can think of is that you would end up with excessive cable from the headphones. Because you can retract this adapter cable, the obvious solution would be to cable tie the excess.

Plug Comparison

One thing to consider with these adapters is how well the actual plug interacts with the Phone Edition. While they are all well made and have good strain reliefs, the angle of the plugs is different.

Let's start with the factory provided earbud. It has a well made molded plug with a 120 degree angle.



This is the Radio Shack adapters primary weakness. The adapter plug is long and a straight 180 degree plug. It is a definite risk for bumping, would be difficult to leave plugged into a mobile Phone Edition (not so bad if mounted in a car).



Pc-Mobile has a well molded 90 degree angle on their plug. This allows the cable to tuck very nicely against the side of the Phone Edition and be well out of the way... also minimizing the possibility of getting it hung on obstacles.



Pocket PC Techs uses a well made molded plug that is nearly identical to the factory earbud's plug. It has a 120 degree angle on the plug. This tucks fine because it is flexible, but not quite as well as the 90 degree plug. It works as well as the factory earbud.



Pc-Mobile's Beta retractable adapter has the same 90 degree angle on the plug. The cable, however, is very thin and feels like it may break over time. I have not a had a problem with it because I'm pretty careful, but The cable tucks well against the side of the Phone Edition.



PC-Mobile has been great to work with. The company was responsive to my emails and questions, and they shipped the product promptly. They packaged the products in a manner that kept them safe in transit. I look forward to many other great affordable products from PC-Mobile. They also have a number of GPS adapter cables and power accessories for the Pocket PC Phone Edition, as well as other pdaPhones and PDAs.

Conclusion

Radio Shack - 2740373 $3.29

Inexpensive, standard 3.5mm CD player headphones can be used, does not disable Phone Edition mic, very good solution for car phone applications, adapter protrudes out a long ways and good be a hazard that could damage the phone. Conclusion - Use if you need the Phone Edition mic left on, like in car phone use.

Pc-Mobile - PX25HA $5.95

Inexpensive, standard 2.5mm earbud can be used, no mute button, Phone Edition mic disabled, must answer phone with Phone Edition green button, very small and compact. Conclusion - Use if you want to use a standard 2.5mm earbud, and don't need the mute button.

Pc-Mobile - PX35HA $5.65

Inexpensive, standard 3.5mm CD player headphones can be used, no mute button, Phone Edition mic disabled and no mic provide so no phone use, good for listening to MP3s, very small and compact. Conclusion - Use if you want to use 3.5mm CD Player headphones to listen to music, and not be able to use the phone with the headphones.

Pocket PC Techs - PPCPADPT03 $12.50

Standard 2.5mm earbud can be used, Phone Edition mic disabled, mute / answer button on adapter, small and compact. Conclusion - Use if you need to use a standard 2.5mm earbud, and you need the mute button.

Pocket PC Techs - PPCPADPT02 $15.00

Dual adapter so not the smallest, standard 3.5mm CD player headphones can be used, ALSO... 3.5mm earbud can be used, Phone Edition mic disabled, flexible solution, can't use phone with just the CD Player since no mic provide. Conclusion - Use if you need to have the flexibility to use standard 3.5mm CD player headphones or a 3.5mm relephone headset, and you need the mute button.

Pocket PC Techs - PPCPADPT01 $15.00

Dual adapter so not the smallest, standard 3.5mm CD player headphones can be used, ALSO... 2.5mm standard earbud can be used, Phone Edition mic disabled, flexible solution, can't use phone with just the CD player headphones since no mic provide, must answer phone with earbud. Conclusion - Use if you need to have the flexibility to use standard 3.5mm CD player heaphones or a standard 2.5mm earbud, and you need the mute button.

Pc-Mobile - Beta Retractable Adapter $??.??

Not available yet, standard 3.5mm CD player headphones can be used, mute / answer button provided, Phone Edition mic disabled, mic provided on adapter, retractable cable, potential excess headphone cable when in use. Conclusion - Use if you want to listen to music with 3.5mm CD headphones, and also use the phone with those headphones, and you need the mute button.

Where to buy?
You can order these products from:
PC-Mobile
Pocket PC Techs (purchases through this link will be given a discount, and they support pdaPhoneHome... see pdaPhoneHome Store for details).
Radio Shack