06Jul The Supertooth 3 from BlueAnt Wireless
As mentioned previously, a new law was passed in California whereby drivers 18+ years of age have to now use a handsfree device as of July 1st. That being the case, it was perfect timing as I had the opportunity to give the Supertooth 3 by BlueAnt® Wireless a whirl over the past few weeks, and as an added bonus, I gave it to my mother to try out. I’ll let you know what she reported on the device later. First, let’s start with the basics.
Features:
- Text-to-Speech Technology
- Voice answer
- Six languages supported
- Automatic vibration sensor reconnection
- Digital signal processor for noise and echo cancellation
- Full duplex and high performance speaker
- Digital volume control
- Mounts on a sun-visor using two-sided magnetic clip
- Supports voice dial activation, redial, and call rejection
- Supports multi-paring to eight devices
- Supports USB charging
- 15 hours of talk-time or 800 hours standby
Setting up the Supertooth 3 was a breeze. After unboxing the unit, I decided to let it charge for two hours. After the charge, I had the phone paired to my phone in less than five minutes. The bulk of that five minutes was due to the contact syncing between my phone and the Supertooth 3.
During the pairing, the Supertooth 3 makes a local copy of your contacts (note: your phone has to support this) in the device. This comes in handy because when a call comes in, the Supertooth 3 tells you who is calling or the caller ID! To answer the call you can either press the multi-function (green) button or audibly answer by saying “answer,” “answer call,” or “OK,” and your incoming call is connected. If you have a voice-tag associated with one of your contacts on your phone, you can also initiate a call by the voice command you specified.
The device has four buttons: two for volume, one multi-function, and one disconnect. The multi-function button does various tasks, such as powering the device on/off, voice calling, and redial. It took some time getting used to the number of seconds I had to keep the button pressed in order to perform the desired action. The main problem I saw was that when I tried to initiate voice calling, it would redial. The voice quality was pretty darn good for a speakerphone device. The calls that I made on the device were clear to hear, and the persons on the other end were surprised at the clarity of my voice.
I mentioned my mother earlier on. I’m a tech-savvy guy, but I wanted to see what a completely non-technical person would say about it. I gave it to my mother to use. The first issue she had was the timing of the multi-function button. In fact, when she tried to power off the device on the first night (this was around 11pm, mind you) her phone kept redialing one of her acquaintances. Needless to say that person was not pleased to be receiving so many calls at that hour. Another problem she had was installing it in her car. The Supertooth 3 comes with two magnetic clips, as mentioned earlier. These clips, however, do not easily fit on thick sun-visors. My mother’s sun-visor is farily rugged and the clip just won’t slip on. She has been storing it in a compartment below her stereo. Lastly, since she couldn’t get the device to turn off, it would remain on, and there were several instances where a call would come in, and when she answered from her handset, the device (located in her car — located in the garage) would pick up.
The device overall is superb. The voice quality, text-to-speech technology, contacts retainment, and form-factor make the Supertooth 3 a must-have bluetooth headset. Its capabilities are far more advanced than your average handsfree device. You would only need to get past the nuances mentioned above.