Stylish and compact yet still managing to produce excellent audio quality, Sony Ericsson’s HBH-PV770 is the latest in a long line of stylish hands-free solutions.

Aesthetically, the PV770 is certainly attractive. A chequered finish on the front sets it apart from the competition, with gloss black edging and a matte black finish providing the finishing touches. Despite the fairly compact size, the plastic casing feels solid and the headset well built.

The PV770 doesn’t come bundled with an ear hook, so it simply relies on an ear bud which sits firmly inside your ear. Although the rubber edge around the ear bud does soften its feel against your skin, the large bud may be a hindrance to some. For prolonged conversations, the PV770 can cause some slight discomfort as it digs into your ear. Thankfully, the device can be worn on either ear, which may solve some comfort issues, and Sony Ericsson does include three different sized ear bud surrounds in the sales package.

Operation is simple as there are only two buttons on the PV770: a tiny power button at the top and a call handling button on the right. Unfortunately, this headset doesn’t include any volume control keys, meaning you’ll have to adjust volume via your mobile phone. This really defeats the purpose of a wireless headset in the first place, though, so it’s certainly an annoyance to say the least.

Audio quality is certainly above average. Outgoing audio is excellent, with the PV770 blocking out most background noise and callers being able to hear us despite holding a conversation with busy city traffic in the background. Incoming audio is slightly less appealing as volume does tend to fluctuate and slight distortion was evident at times, even when our phone had full reception.

In addition to the regular call handling functions, the PV770 also allows you to redial the last called number, transfer the sound from the headset to your phone and vice versa and activate voice dialling (provided this is supported on your phone).