the perfect N95 headset

The Nokia N95 has been on the market for quite some time now (March 2007?) and if there’s anything I always wanted to change about it, then it clearly is the inappropriate headset it came shipped with (pictured below).

The HS-45 headset with its AD-43 remote control unit failed to work after 4-5 months in use, so I went out and bought a few ofter solutions that never really performed the way I wanted it. Also, Nokia never really delivered a better solution, but instead kept on producing other unsatifying headsets.

While reviewing the Nokia E71 business phone that came shipped with the HS-47 headset as well as the state-of-the-art BH-903 Bluetooth Stereo Headset (for review), I quickly realized that I would want to have something similar to the HS-47.

What I needed to do was to merge my Sony MDR-818 earphones with the HS-43 headset I had bought via eBay some time ago. After all, what I need in a working wired headset are the following features:

1. shaped earphones (like on the MDR-818 or the BH-903)
2. an angled 3,5mm plug because the audio/video jack is on the side of the N95 (contrary to many other current Nokia phones who have it on top)
3. a microphone located at the mouth and not on the chest
4. some sort of volume control

So there I went, cutting the 10,- EUR Sony earphones into pieces and opening up the control unit on the HS-43…

some of the tools: a soldering iron (maybe not this Weller as it takes ages to heat up), old Sony MDR-818 earphones, Nokia HS-43 headset

HS-43 control unit opened up

unsolder L+ / L- and R+ / R- to remove the existing earphones + also remove the brass clip on the cable

trim the “new” earphones to the desired length and solder them onto the PCB, refix the brass clip to provide a strain relief on the cable (important!)

Et voilá – JKE’s own headset for the N95 that fulfills all the open issues I ever had with other headsets. Nice!

@ Nokia: PLEASE change your headset policy and – if you don’t want to equip your shipped handsets with decent headsets due to marketing reasons – at least provide us with better alternatives. Headsets are a commodity, and will as such always brake at one point.

Author: jke

Hi, I am an engineer who freelances in water & sanitation-related IT projects at Saniblog.org. You'll also find me on Twitter @jke and Instagram. View all posts by jke