Hasta La Gadget!

There’s apparently more to life for Mophie than power packs, as the accessory designer has pushed its first Bluetooth headset, the Powerblu, through the FCC. In a shock to no one, the stand-out is a separate charging station to keep the earpiece going well past what its internal battery can manage: where the headset normally lasts for four hours of talk on its own, that lifespan grows to 30 when it’s periodically revived through the mothership. Other traits will be familiar to anyone who’s used to wireless earwear, whether it’s a noise-cancelling microphone array, text-to-speech or voice commands. About all that’s left after what we’ve seen is for Mophie to seal the deal with a formal launch.

[Thanks, Dave]

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile

Mophie Powerblu Bluetooth headset sneaks through the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For the most part, the headsets we’ve seen from Plantronics this year have been aimed at gamers, but make no mistake, the outfit is still churning out Bluetooth earpieces for road warriors: the company just announced its fifth-generation Voyager headset, the Voyager Legend. In many ways, it’s an iterative product, with longer battery life (seven hours, up from six), and more mics (three instead of two). It also has an elongated windscreen and is 25 percent smaller than its predecessor, though Plantronics claims the in-ear fit hasn’t changed. Key internals include Bluetooth 3.0, not 4.0, and support for streaming over A2DP. All told, exactly what you’d expect from the latest and greatest BT headset.

But even more important than enhanced performance and a more compact design, the headset responds to voice commands in a smarter way. Say, for instance, that you receive an incoming call and happen not to be wearing your headset (maybe you took it out to charge). You can put the earpiece in and the headset will automatically pick up the call. Or, if you’re not wearing your headset you can have it route calls to the phone instead. As for answering calls, you can say “answer” or “ignore,” and you don’t even have to press a button to activate the voice recognition. The earpiece can also announce your caller’s name, so long as it’s in your phone book. Additionally, the headset responds to about 10 other commands such as “check battery” and “pair me,” but in these cases you do have to press a button first. Rounding out the feature list is a new Android-only Find MyHeadset app that uses tones and geolocation to help you figure out where you last saw your earpiece. The headset is available today for $100, and the company is also selling a desktop stand and charging case, both priced at $30.

Filed under: Peripherals, Mobile

Plantronics outs Voyager Legend Bluetooth headset with enhanced voice recognition, improved battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sometimes the most fascinating bits from a tradeshow come from those booth in between major manufacturers, and while we’re certainly not claiming that the Hi-Call is “the best product at IFA” as its spokesperson suggested to us with a smile, they’re nothing if not interesting. Hi-Fun’s gloves are Bluetooth headsets — or, well, handsets — with the speaker built into the thumb and the mic in the pinky, so you can talk by doing the traditional “call me” hand gesture.

Pairing is simple enough for anyone who’s done the process on a more traditional headset — the button is built into the top of the glove, along with a button to end the call. We took the gloves for a spin, as you can see in the video below, calling the rep’s very confused boss. In spite of turning up the handset volume as loud as possible, we had a lot of trouble actually hearing something on the showfloor — and the fellow on the other end seemed to be having similar issues, leading to quite probably the first time I’ve ever used the phrase “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you, I’m talking into a glove.”

Hi-Call will be out in the beginning of October, just in time for the cold weather. It’ll run you a not particularly cheap €49 for the pleasure of speaking into your pinky. Video evidence after the break.

Continue reading Hi-Fun’s call-receiving Bluetooth gloves, hands-in (video)

Filed under: Wearables

Hi-Fun’s call-receiving Bluetooth gloves, hands-in (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don’t let the name fool you, Sony’s Smart Wireless Headset pro won’t clip on your ear. That’s because it looks and functions more like a traditional MP3 player, using its powers of Bluetooth 2.0 to communicate with compatible Android devices. The two-tone peripheral comes with a headset, four sets of earbuds, USB cables and a 2GB microSD card pre-installed (expandable up to 32GB) to let you store music. If the feature set stopped right there, this accessory would be just another underwhelming PMP, but factor in its text-to-speech functionality and you get a PDA of sorts to keep you abreast of incoming emails, texts and social media updates. The device will also let users receive incoming voice calls and even dial-out using a recent call list. It’s hitting Sony’s online and retail shops now, so if you’ve got a spare $150 and a taste for extraneous peripherals — by all means, take the plunge.

Continue reading Sony Smart Wireless Headset pro hits retail with $150 price in tow

Sony Smart Wireless Headset pro hits retail with $150 price in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jun 2012 05:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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