The latest product found at Boxwave is a Keyboard Buddy case for the iPhone 4. This provides your iPhone with a physical keyboard through a blue-tooth connection, something most users want while others may not be interested. These cases are available now so read more to learn how to get one.

The design and durability of the case, according to sources, fit the phone quite well. The protecting layer on the case comes as a rubber coating instead of hard plastic. This provides a great amount of grip while holding the phone in your hands.The only disadvantage that may bother you or may not is it’s weight. When put with the phone it does tend to be a bit heavy. This is something the sources got used to after a few days though.

The keyboard seems to be impressive in every area but the layout. Some of you may be able to adjust, as most of us do get used to new things, but others may not like the setup. You can see how it’s made in the image above. However sources say the keys seem sturdy, reliable and very responsive.

As with most products, here are pros and cons to getting this case and getting used to it. There are also many benefits to using it, according to your daily duties, wants and needs.

Boxwave, if you’ve never heard of them, has a 100% customer satisfaction policy that includes a 30-day window for returns. If you want to try one out for yourself, click here to do so. You can get this for $69.95 with free shipping in the U.S.

Source: BGR

I was privileged in being able to write a review on the BlueAnt SuperTooth 3. This is a speaker phone made for your car and works with text to speech, noise canceling and voice answer. It also tells you when you are disconnecting and reconnecting to a call as well as being able to talk to you in six languages!

Overall first impressions:

The boxing of the unit itself was nice, and simple. It came with a car charger, house charger and two mounting brackets for your visor and of course the unit itself with an owners manual. It was clear wrapped with plastic.  The first time that I used the device it connected without problems. The voice prompts were a little hard to understand when I turned my unit on the first time because the volume was all the way up which is what made it hard to understand.

Set-Up – Simple but time consuming – 3.5

So the set-up of the device was easy; the same standard setup for bluetooth devices with entering a pin of “0000”. It then goes through a brief connection setting up the hands free part. Here is the catch it then disconnects the hands free and then asks to initiate the transfer of your contact book. This is great, and is also super easy but it does take it’s sweet time. I have about 450 contacts on my phone and it took it about 10 minutes to transfer all that data to the unit itself. I think that this could be improved on but it is really nice feature! I love how you get to chose the accent of the device, of course I choose American English.  The other languages are: British English, Spanish, French, German, Italian.

As far as it goes installing in the car you slip the metal clip over the visor and then attach to the BlueAnt SuperTooth 3 via the two magnets on the back of the unit. This is super nice if you have to take the speaker phone with you into a building it comes off easy with little hassle. It comes with two clips so I guess for two different cars and it is nice not to have to pull the clip off and switch cars.

Size – 5.0

Well the unit itself measures 4.8 inches in width and 2.4 inches in height. I have to say that it feels about right when you hold it in your hand. When it is clipped on your visor I can say you don’t notice it at all! I really like how it feels and also looks when in use in a vehicle.

Overall Quality of Calls 4.5

Ok so this is the brass tax of everything and is what we all care about…Let me explain how I tested the unit and what was told to me by the person on the other end of the calls.

Inside Test – 5.0

First I tested it in my basement in our utility closet, this is by far the most quiet room there is in my house. I called both land line and cell phones and also made sure to switch who I called to get good quality feed back. I tested this with a land line first and the other party told me it was very clear, they couldn’t even tell I was on a cell phone. Understand this was a “perfect environment”. I then hung up with them after a total of 30 minutes. (Hey I am a guy that likes to talk)

I then called another friends cell phone. This is the interesting part, during our call of 30 minutes they had to ask me to speak up several times and said I sounded gargled. When I turned off the unit itself, and talked via my cell phone microphone they said all the sound issues were gone and to stop screaming at them. I do not know what happened there, but it did seem strange.

So for my third call I figured I would do a party call – one to a land line and one to a cell phone at the same time. I have to admit I called my parents on this, figure what better way to test it. We talked for a little under 15 minutes, and they both told me that they loved how crystal clear I sounded. I personally feel the second test just had a bad connection – somewhere in the loop.

My Truck – 4.5

Let me explain my truck it is a 2005, Chevrolet Silverado Crew Cab. I have 4 windows and a big V-8 engine. What a better way to test it then in this vehicle. Normally the cab is really quiet and very little road noise, engine noise but lots of radio noise. I love my music! So I called the same people over again with windows rolled up. Other than places where my cell phone would lose a bar or two in signal strength everyone said it sounded awesome. They could not hear my engine when I revved it up, and when I had my radio on. They also said that it seemed to be better than my normal cell phone conversations with them. I did have many complaints that the other end would hear themselves talking – like reverb… I.E. the microphone was picking up themselves from the speakerphone.  This is not all abnormal but it was bad enough that I had to end a couple calls because of the echoing the other parties had.

I then decided on a nice day of 55 – 60 degree weather to drive with all four windows rolled down, and talk to them again and really test the SuperTooth 3 voice DSP voice and echo canceling technology. This was amazing that I was able to have a conversation with all windows rolled down doing 70 MPH down the freeway without them having any trouble understanding me, and with a little volume control I was not having hard times hearing them. I was really surprised that this unit canceled out a lot of the wind noise.  I did get complaints that I did sound abnormal though, and I figure this was the unit trying to over compensate for my windows being rolled down.  Overall I really liked the quality it gave me in this situation and I was really surprised how well it functioned with my windows rolled down.

Battery Life – 5.0

So after getting the unit a full charge I have yet to charge the device back up. It gives you about 30 days of standby time and 15 hours of talk time. I have used the device for about 8 hours of talk time and it has been in stand-by time any other time, I do not shut this device off ever.  It has a really awesome feature that it detects when your car door is open, and closed and will reactivate and reconnect to your phone whenever you get in and out of your vehicle. This is super nice if you forget to turn the unit off – it goes to sleep. I find that it is quick to reconnect to – and it is quick to disconnect when you walk away.

Volume – 4.5

Ok so this thing does have “SUPER” in it’s name. But I did not expect it to have such a loud speaker. I mean this thing is fantastic – windows rolled down, radio cranked up and I can still hear my friend on the phone! This has to be one of the best functions of this speaker phone! I just love it. I never have to ask for my friends to repeat themselves and I hear them crystal clear. A disclaimer though, if the unit is set to full volume, the person on the other end of the phone hears themselves talk, the microphone is very sensitive. This is a drawl back to the overall unit in my opinion and I wish something could be done to fix it.

Price – 3.5

The list price of the unit when we asked to do the review was $129.00 dollars. This was hard for me to swallow because I hate to think of spending that much for a Bluetooth device. I like to buy accessories for my phone in the 40 – 70 dollar range. I don’t know just seems more practical. Now that we have had the unit the price is $79.00 dollars. Even this is a little hard to swallow but hey it is better than $129.00. The device was worth it though, and if you’re not shy about spending that kind of money on an accessory I would tell you to do it. It is amazing to talk to someone without having to hold your phone to your ear in the vehicle and not have something coming out of your ear.

Overall – 4.0

I like the device it is worth the money; despite the fact that the unit did have faults with connection the few times I did use it. It does seem to be a good solution to having a bluetooth device stuck in your ear all the time to enjoy a phone conversation. The other thing that is nice is if you have a car full people and you call a friend you all can laugh and joke with each other. It is nice device overall. I highly recommend it for road trips, now that I have one I can’t live without it. I find myself on my phone more in the vehicle now that I don’t have to take my hands off the wheel and have no issues hearing the other person. Check this device out or purchase it when it is available from right here!

Hello
Hello, baby; you called
I can’t hear a thing
I have got no service in the club you say, say
Wa-wa-what did you say?
Huh?; You’re breaking up on me
Sorry; I cannot hear

Maybe with a certain Lady Gaga Bluetooth headset this phone call could have been heard. Well if you are searching for such a design than you are in luck! Earloomz has come out with 4 different Lady Gaga designs for their bluetooth headset. The 4 designs, whose naming are Famous, Monster, Speechless, and The Fame, are glamtastic and very Gaga-ish.

Other than the design, the rest is pretty standard fare. Each of the headsets support Bluetooth v2.1+EDR and use an internal rechargeable lithium polymer battery that can last for 8 hours of talk time and 120 hours of standby time. Each headset can pair to two devices at once and the package includes two ear hooks and three different ear buds. The Earloomz headsets can be picked up for around $60 dollars and are readily available for purchase.

Source- Slashgear

Where Bluetrek has set themselves very apart from their competition is in a way that seems logical with the progression of today’s smartphones and accessories, but has yet to been seen. Until now. The headset has its own free apps via the Talk2Me App Store, with some very intriguing offerings, such as the Personal Handsfree Assistant Dial2Go and bing411. The Personal Handsfree Assistant Dial2Go offers the user the ability to not only place calls via voice prompt, but also listen and reply to emails and text messages via voice, and much more. The bing411 app will allow the user to get news, weather, stock, traffic conditions and more all through simple voice prompts.

It is unknown as of yet whether the apps install onto the headset itself, the phone that is is paired with or function via a dial-in number. The Bluetrek Crescendo retails for $99.99 and is currenly available through Amazon for as low as $79.99. You can expect a reveiw of the headset soon as I just ordered one for myself. Considering the coolness factor of the apps and the technology that drives it, I couldn’t resist. If you already have the Bluetrek Crescendo, are planning to buy it or just want to give us your thoughts, let us know in the comments.

Source: SlashGear

During my experience, calls were loud and clear. The volume knob controls the volume on your device, so its not an independent volume booster. The answer/end call button is also easy to use. Its large enough so you don’t have to look up to find it. If you’re using a bluetooth speakerphone, you’re obviously going to be looking at call clarity. On our side, the calls were just as clear as your service offers (depending on coverage and reception). On the other side, the party said they could tell I was using a speakerphone, but it still sounded clear with some background noise. We didn’t have to repeat any of our conversation, which is always good.

Overall, we give it a 7 out of 10. For the price, you could probably find a speakerphone that offers a little more features, but if you’re looking for a basic one, this does the job pretty well. Its a bit bulky, but that’s what makes the speakerphone loud.

Buy it at the PPCGeeks store here! ]]> https://www.ppcgeeks.com/2010/02/14/ppcg-review-jabra-sp200-bluetooth-speakerphone/feed/ 2 https://www.ppcgeeks.com/2009/11/30/jawbone-prime-bluetooth-headset-review/ https://www.ppcgeeks.com/2009/11/30/jawbone-prime-bluetooth-headset-review/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:45:14 +0000 http://www.ppcgeeks.com/?p=1645

Jawbone Prime Bluetooth Headset Review
November 30, 2009 by tsowen, PPCGeeks
The Jawbone Bluetooth Headset offers noise  
cancellation and great call quality on both ends of the line

Over the weekend I had a chance to review the Jawbone Prime Bluetooth Headset. Aliph’s Jawbones headsets have always been rated among the highest-rated Bluetooth headsets for awhile now so I was kind of anxious to try this highly rated Bluetooth headset out. So without further ado let’s take a look at what’s in the box.

What’s Inside the Box

The packaging of the box was very nicely done as to be expected. All of the accessories are in an exposed front-facing manner.

The Jawbone PRIME packaging contains the following:

• 1 Jawbone PRIME Bluetooth Headset
• 6 different earbuds (2 different styles)
• 2 earloops (including 1 ‘premium’ leather-wrapped style)
• 1 USB charging cable
• 1 wall charger
• 1 user welcome guide with instructions
• 1 safety informational pullout

Everything you need is nice and neatly packaged in the box.

The Technology
Aliph has been one of the top Bluetooth headset companies priding itself in providing the best sound quality available in a Bluetooth headset. The Jawbone PRIME prides itself on being able to eliminate real word noise better than any other headset because it is the only headset that can accurately separate speech from ambient noise by utilizing a new technology known as NOISEASSASIN 2.0. A quick description of the improvements made to NOISEASSASIN are:

“Jawbone PRIME has even better background noise elimination than the previous generations. NoiseAssasin 2.0 delivers an order of magnitude improvement in the noisiest environments (6 to 9dB) extracting even more noise while keeping the user’s voice natural.

 Acoustic Voice Activity Detector (AVAD) provides a fail-safe mechanism when the Voice Activity Sensor (VAS) doesn’t touch your face. When the VAS is not touching the face, Jawbone PRIME performs as good as or better than any other noise cancelling headset. When the VAS touches the face, you get the turbo-boost to the NoiseAssassin performance.”

Click to Expand

I decided to test the PRIME’s voice detection and background noise elimination at my kids soccer game. During the middle of the game I pulled out the PRIME and made a few calls. The PRIME delivered as expected, the recipients of the calls could faintly hear the cheering and hollering in the background nor could they hear the wind that was in the background. The recipients of the calls were shocked to find out I was talking to them on a Bluetooth Headset. On my end the call was crystal clear as well. I would say of all the Bluetooth Headsets I have owned this one was by far the better when it came to call quality and clarity.

The Design
The Jawbone PRIME like its predecessor the Jawbone 2 is slim and lightweight measuring 2.1 inches long by 0.5 inches wide by 0.5 inches thick, the PRIME is small enough to be discreet when worn. The Device is very lightweight as well weighing in and a petite 0.36 ounces so you barely even notice you have it in your ear. The PRIME sports a rather elegant dimpled loop pattern on the front giving it a very fashionable design.

The buttons on the prime can be a little difficult to find because they’re almost invisible. There is a slight dip towards the top third of the headset which hides the multifunction talk button, pressing the very top of the headset will activate the NoiceAssasin or volume button. Speaking of volume there is only one volume button which I was a little disappointed in so you will have to cycle through the volume levels a couple of times to find the perfect setting.

Flip the headset over and you will find a soft squishy rubber earbud covering the earpiece. The earbud was very comfortable and I found using the large size earbud cover the PRIME felt secure and snug in my ear. The earbuds were probably the most comfortable I have used with any other headset. I give the design on the earbuds and comfort Two thumbs up! There’s also an optional ear hook if you prefer, but I found that I didn’t really need to use it. Towards the back of the PRIME is a tiny nub that acts as the Voice Activity Sensor, which is used to amplify your voice. I found the inside contours of the PRIME followed my face perfectly in a comfortable manner. The PRIME also comes in several different colors also called “EARCANDY”.

“EARCANDY is our summer color burst, to bring self-expression and a smile to our line-up. The 4 colors represent great skin-tone complements and contrast, as well as personal style one cannot resist, this reinforces the basic notion that anything that the consumer wears makes a statement, and it should be designed as such…this is what we call EARCANDY.” Yves Behar, Chief Designer

Paring and Setting Up
I paired the Aliph Jawbone Prime up with my Sprint HTC Touch Pro 2 in less than a minute. Pairing was quite easy and effortless. The PRIME comes with a very detailed instructions manual on setting up and using the device. I tested the device in several different settings, at the mall, in my car, at home and at my kid’s soccer game. In every environment all the callers said I sounded loud and clear, with a natural sounding voice and volume and background noise was minimal in each environment.

The Jawbone Prime has all the typical calling features for Bluetooth headsets such as answering, rejecting, and ending calls; voice dialing support; call waiting support; battery status indicator; call mute; last number redial; and it has multipoint technology that lets it connect up to two devices at once. It has a rated talk time of 4.5 hours and a standby time of 8 days.

Bottom Line
The bottom line is the Aliph Jawbone Prime is a great Bluetooth headset that combines high style with high performance. The device packs some innovative design and technology into a small device. To read about the Aliph Jawbone Prime or to order from our store follow this link.

Full Specifications

Plantronics Discovery 975 Review
November 16, 2009 by tsowen, PPCGeeks
The Discovery 975 offers great-sounding call
quality on both ends of the line

There are headsets that are stylish, and headsets that sound great, but somehow Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset managed to combine these two features into one device. This week I had the privilege to test drive this device and I have to say I was blown away by it. The Discovery 975 has a sleek boom packed with microphones and windscreens that give it a surprisingly sound quality. It is sleek and stylish and comfortable.

Like its predecessor, the Discovery 925, the Discovery 975 requires no futzing: With one hand, you can place the headset in your ear, point the microphone boom down toward your mouth, and tap the call button to get rolling. Measuring 2.7 inches long by 0.8 inch wide by 0.5 inch thick, the Discovery 975 appears almost like a piece of jewelry when worn. Visually the Discovery 975 resembles a slimmed down Discovery 925, and is far less bulky than the Voyager PRO.

The Discovery 975  has a nice ear tip gel cover, with a square loop that lets the earpiece sit snugly within the folds of the ear without the use of an ear hook. Plantronics provides small, medium, and large ear-gel tips, so you have a good shot at obtaining a comfortable and secure fit. Using the meadium earpiece cover felt light–almost breezy–and stable, too.

The Discovery 975’s battery is rated for up to 5hrs talk time or 1 week standby from its 85mA Li-ion polymer cell. The case has its own rechargeable battery, just as the Discovery 925 did, which will recharge the Discovery 975 up to three times. The Discovery 975 can remain powered on and connected while it’s recharging in the case. The case lights up and flashes when a call comes in, just to make sure you notice it. There’s also an integrated display, which shows the separate battery status of both the headset and the case, together with the Bluetooth connection status.

Overall the call quality was excellent on both ends incoming calls sounded crystal clear; and at the other end, my voice sounded crisp and natural. The Discovery’s handling of background noise was somewhat disappointing to me. I tested the Discovery 975 in a somewhat windy environment. The parties on the other end could hear sounds of wind, but my voice was crystal clear.

The Discovery 975 has all your normal features such as answering, ending and rejecting calls, last number redial, call mute as well as voice-dialing. The Discovery 975 also features voice prompt that lets you know when you’ve enabled or disables call mute and the battery and Bluetooth connection status. At the base of the boom arm in the middle of the square diamond is the multifunction call button. The multifunction call button requires a bit of pressure to press since it is part of the overall boom arm. The volume control is a single button that is located on the side. I found myself having to use my fingernail to press this button. Also the volume control is a single button so you will have to cycle through several volume settings before you find the right one.

As for that Bluetooth connection, the Discovery 975 uses v2.1+EDR and supports Secure Simple Pairing (SSP),Hands-free and Headset profiles. It’ll also use Multipoint technology to simultaneously hold an active connection with two Bluetooth devices which is a nice integrated feature. Like the Voyager PRO it comes with Plantronics’ AudioIQ2 noise-cancelling technology and WindSmart systems for avoiding wind noise, with the two adding up to incredibly natural sound.

The bottom line: Despite the finicky controls, the Plantronics Discovery 975 is a stylish headset with a comfortable fit, and sounds great. Few headsets offer the complete package. With excellent comfort, superior sound quality, and beautiful styling, the Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth headset is by far the best headset I have tested.

For more information on the product or to purchase this product please follow this link.

The new headset has a unique ear-wrapping shape that is filled with comfortable soft rubber and promises 8 hours of talk time and 12 days of standy time. More features include:

• Portable charging unit (doubles as carrying case)
• Dual Mic. With Noise Blackout^TM Extreme
• Touch volume control
• Ergonomic Design
• Multiuse^TM – connect to two devices at the same time
• StatusDisplay^TM – check battery level and Bluetooth^® status at a glance
• Enjoy your tunes – stream music from A2DP enabled phones

The unit will retail for $129.99 and can be purchased on November 8th at all Jabra authorized dealers. More pictures and details on the STONE can be found on the Jabra web site.

Motorola MotoRokr T505 Review
October 9, 2009 by tsowen, PPCGeeks
Motorola’s T505 is easy to use while your eyes are on the road.

All too often we have all witnessed that driver who has been talking on their cell phone and driving at the same time. It is something that has become a habit especially here in the United States but with an in-car speaker system such as the MotoRokr T505 it’s a habit that can be broken.

I was given the opportunity to take one of these for a test drive and I have to admit it was love at first site. The device is slightly bigger that a garage-door opener and has a nice clip that attaches to your car’s visor. Not to be confused with a Bluetooth headset, the device is a speakerphone so you probably wouldn’t want to walk around with it strapped around your waist. The device pairs easy with any Bluetooth cell phone and is very easy to set up. The instructions that come with the device were easy to follow and in a couple of steps you are ready to cruise down the road and chat hands-free. With the T505 you are not limited to just phone calls either; if your device supports stereo Bluetooth you can stream music to the device or to your car’s stereo via the built-in FM transmitter.

Motorola has put a lot of thought into this device making it a breeze to use. While streaming music through the FM transmitter, you can shuffle through tracks by using the volume controls. Another nice feature was while streaming music through the FM transmitter if a call was received the music was paused automatically so you could receive the incoming call. Calls sounded great playing across my FM stereo. If your device supports it, you can make a call with voice commands.

Setting up the FM transmitter function was a breeze. Simply hold the FM button on the back of the T505 and it will search for the clearest channel in your area. Once the channel is found the device will tell you which channel to tune your radio to.

The device comes with a car charger that plugs into your cigarette lighter. It would have been nice to see the device come with a storage case when not in use. The device does not come with a wall charger but you can pick one up for $20.

The bottom line: Even though the T505 is not a full duplex speakerphone Motorola has packed some nice features into the device such as how A2DP Bluetooth works with the FM transmitter and making the device simple to use. Motorola also claims the device can provide up to 18 hours of talk time when using the FM transmitter.

Note: For those users worried about privacy should know that when operating in FM mode, their conversations can be picked up by any FM radio in the area, but the transmitter is relatively low power and has a short range.