The Law and You (Bluetooth Speakerphone Review)

July 1, 2008 marked the day that talking on a cell phone in a car becomes illegal in California…while putting on make up and eating still remain legal…and messy. Cell phone talking can be legal if it is hands free.

As the de facto gadget tester for the Ward Davis Companies, I am pleased to review what I think is the best of the Hands Free Products to come down the pike. Mind you earpieces designs are so varied that I will not review here…but the best earpiece I have found is the IPhone Bluetooth Headset…best charger…best fit…Best sound. With the only downside of “easily lost”. As to the other models ..too each his own…just like sunglasses. But if some battery breakthrough happens…or noise cancellation breakthrough…I will post here.

But Today I am talking about the Cream of the Crop: Blue Ant

Blue Ant is a Australian company that gets as closest to the BMW/Mercedes style of bluetooth integration in a small portable unit.

The Blue Ant SawTooth 3 $115
This is their newest hands free speaker phone unit.. It adds text to speech to the great Sawtooth Lite model. Which means…its tells you who is calling, when it is on, when it is powering down ,when the battery is low and when it is connected to the phone. When it is first paired to your phone (the unit itself walks you through it) it downloads your cell’s phonebook into speakerphone so when a call comes in it says “Calling coming from JOE BLOW”.  If it isn’t in the phonebook it says the number. At this point you can hit the green answer button…or just say OK…how cool is that.  The real boost to the Blue Ant systems are the batteries…USB charged Lithium Ion…800 minutes of standby…15 hours of talk. Normal usage for me last about a month before recharging. The DSP chip is great for background noise (tested with windows down and A/C on full) It has a very loud speaker and the prompts are easly heard with all the windows (or top) down. The metal clip goes on the visor…and the unit is magnetic. Charging is by a standard mini USB plug…so you can charge with a 12v auto plug (included) a 120v wall jack (included) or and laptop.