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Reminder: If you want to win a Bluetooth headset from Plantronics, the contest is still going on and will end on October 11. Please enter our giveaway! You can read on for the contest details and rules.

You've shared the love with us by following us on Twitter, keeping up with the Windows Mobile news, and interacted with the community in the forums and discussions. Now, we want to share the love by offering you some cool tech that we personally use, own, and endorse!

Born from the Chuong's Picks series, we're offering you a chance to win a Bluetooth headset of your choice--either my personal favorite the Voyager Pro, which offers stellar performance (valued at $99), or the stylish and sophisticated Discovery 975 (valued at $130).

These are some of the choicest Bluetooth headsets on the market, and two that I personally continue to use in my search for the best call quality, performance, and stylish street sophistication! Read on to find out how to enter and get your gab on!

Since we don't really get to hear from you--literally hear you as this is an online community--we want to do just that! What better way to listen to our audience than to celebrate with a contest that gives away a Bluetooth headset to communicate--speak and listen?

To enter this contest, call us from an unblocked, unrestricted, and non-private number on our Google Voice number at (310)-(the number eight)-POCKET--no telemarketers or spam, please--and tell us:

1. Who you are and where you're from, but please do not state your number in the voicemail message as we already have that from caller ID.
2. Why you deserve to win--be creative and tell us your thoughts, opinions, memoir, life history, or bio if you want. Just let us know we're not speaking to a bunch of faceless randoms on the internet. Let your voice be heard!
3. The model that you want for your Bluetooth headset.

Remember, we reserve the right to use your name, voice recording, and/or likeness on pocketnow.com, Plantronics marketing materials, and or affiliates. Your telephone number will not be publicly disclosed nor used for any other purpose but to contact you back regarding this contest. If you are a winner, you'll receive a personal call from me--whether you like it or not--where I will ask for shipping information.

This contest is sweet and simple. You add the sass to the equation in your message. That's it. Dial away and get ready to gab! Contests ends October 11, 2009. All the usual fine print applies!



A special thanks to Plantronics for providing these wonderful headsets to our audience!

The Jabra HALO is a sleek Bluetooth stereo headset that delivers music and phone calls to both ears. Its old style over the head on the ear headphone design is married with a contemporary look featuring angular lines and high tech functionality, which makes the HALO a cool headset, which looks more modern than the Bose Quiet Comfort series.

Read on to find out how the HALO performs.

Form: The HALO is an attractive stereo Bluetooth headphone, delivering plenty of style for music lovers who don’t want to look like a DJ that has escaped from a nightclub booth with thick padded headphones.

Out of the box, Jabra included quite a few accessories for the HALO, which is a nice plus since most manufacturers are skimping on the bundled accessories. Out of the box, you get a micro USB charger, a micro USB to 3.5 mm headphone adaptor and a micro USB to USB charger to charge from your laptop if you don’t want to carry a separate charger. You also get a carrying case that is made from a Neoprene wetsuit material.

The HALO comes with a number of cables and a carrying pouch

When folded, the HALO actually looks like large, oversized wrap-around sunglasses. There are hinges on the right and left side that snaps to lock and unlock, allowing users to open the headset to power on, and fold the headset for easy portability and power off the headset. There is actually no power button.


When closed, the HALO looks a little like some Men in Black sunglasses

To use the HALO, open the headset at the hinges and push the bottom piece up to lock the hinge in place. The locking mechanism also gives the HALO a seamless, hinge-less appearance. When opened, users can grab the earpiece and pull down to extend the headset for a more comfortable fit and adjusted size.


Pull the earpieces down to extend the HALO to a more comfortable fit

Function: Simply open the handset up by unfolding it and the HALO will power on. You can search for the headset from your Windows Phone and pair it by entering “oooo” as the passcode. The HALO will accept two connections at the same time so you can easily switch between a music player and phone for music and conversations respectively, or a phone and laptop if you wish.

On the right earpiece on the outside, you have a multi-function button and a touch sensitive volume controller. On the positive side, there’s only one button so you don’t have to fumble around trying to find different buttons to control different functions, like to place or end calls, or stop or start your music. On the negative side, the one button fits all trick can get confusing, especially if you hit the button and expect a certain result to get a different action all together.


Touch strip and multi-function buttons

Here are some of the control options:
-Play/Pause music: Tap multi-function button
-Initiate/End call: Press the multi-function button for 1 second
-Skip track forward: Double tap on the volume up portion of the touch sensitive strip
-Back track: Double tap on the volume down portion of touch strip
-Mute/Unmute microphone: Double tap on the volume up or down control

The touch sensitive volume strip works exactly as it sounds. Touch and slide your finger up to increase the volume and do the opposite to decrease volume. It’s actually quite easy to feel your way around.

On the right side of the headphones on the inside (the side that faces your head and not the outside world), you also get some LED indicator lights for power and Bluetooth status. Depending on the behavior, the lights also serve as multi-function indicator, but the most important thing is the battery LED: red flashing means that it’s low on battery, solid red means the headset is charging, and solid green shows that the headset is fully charged.


LED indicator lights also serve many functions

Technology: Although music is definitely a priority for the HALO, the headset can actually perform call handling as well so you don’t actually have to carry a separate Bluetooth headset, which is a nice bonus. The HALO features dual microphones for noise cancellation called Noise Blackout, and also has digital sound enhancement via DSP technology. Depending on your background noise, the volume control is actually noise dependent.

On the music side, if your phone supports A2DP and AVCR capabilities, you’ll not only be able to stream stereo music over Bluetooth to the headphones, but also control your phone’s music player via the headset (skip forward and back tracks). On most Windows Mobile phones, both A2DP and AVCR profiles are supported; on the iPhone, only A2DP is supported—you can’t forward or back tracks using the headphones and have to do that on the iPhone itself.

Utility: The cool part about the HALO is that it will serve as a wired headset in the event that you don’t have access to Bluetooth or want to conserve your phone’s battery life by turning off the Bluetooth radio. There is a 3.5 mm headphone adaptor that plugs into your phone and the other end is a micro USB connector that plugs into the same charging port on the bottom of the right earpiece. Jabra made the charging port seamless—I actually couldn’t locate the charge port and had to refer to the manual for that one! That actually is a compliment to Jabra’s design team.



The HALO is listed at $129, cheaper than some noise cancelling solutions out there. However, in daily use, the on-the-ear HALO isn’t as comfortable as the Bose over-the-ear headsets, but that’s a matter of personal preference. What Jabra could have done to improve the HALO is use a softer, more contouring memory foam rather than just regular foam to provide a better fit and seal between the headset speakers and the ears to better isolate background noise and deliver a richer music experience. All in all, music sounded good and call quality was decent. If you’re looking to use the HALO on a plane to block out the crying baby in the aisle seat next to you, you may want to look elsewhere. However, for basic music needs, the HALO does a good job.



Pros:
-Beautiful minimalistic industrial design
-Can handle both music and calls with dual microphones
-Can be paired with 2 devices at the same time
-Listed 8 hours of battery—I got closer to 7 in use
-Includes a lot of accessories
-Folding design for easy transport

Cons:
-Multi-function buttons and LEDs can be cumbersome to remember what they mean and how they work

With the new Touch Pro2, HTC has implemented a different Bluetooth software. Instead of using the one from Microsoft which is generally guaranteed to work, they've included a Broadcomm Bluetooth stack.

The non-standard software includes a prettier interface with nicely colored icons and generally provides the same type of bluetooth functionality that you’d get anywhere else. The problems arise when other programs like Microsoft Voice Command need to use Bluetooth.

First off, the new Bluetooth software actually does let you activate Microsoft Voice Command from a Bluetooth headset (at least on the T-Mobile Touch Pro2), but it takes a really really long time. After pressing the voice command button on your headset, be prepared to wait more than 5 seconds before Voice Command turns on listening mode. That’s pretty annoying!

What’s even worse is that Voice Command is unable to open audio on a connected Bluetooth headset itself using the Touch Pro2’s Bluetooth software even when Voice Command’s option for this feature is turned on. That means incoming caller ID name announcements do not play via Bluetooth, nor are text messages, email subjects, and appointment reminders read aloud.

You might say, well… most people don’t use that, and you’d probably be right, but the reason I’m using Windows Mobile instead of some other platform is because of power user features like Voice Command. I want to be able to interact with my device using the Bluetooth radio inside my motorcycle helmet, and I want my phone to be able to communicate with me that way as well. HTC’s decision to break Voice Command on the Touch Pro2 makes the voice interface much more difficult to use.

Jabra just announced the HALO Bluetooth headset, which delivers untangled, unfettered, cord-free access to your music on a smartphone like Windows Mobile that supports the A2DP Stereo Bluetooth profile. The HALO also delivers voice conversations as well, and can pair to two devices so you don't have to pair each time.

The device has a long battery life with up to 8-hours of listening, enough to power you through a work day if needed. If you'd rather sit at your desk and be plugged into your computer, it could also adapt with a 3.5 mm cord.

It looks like Bluetooth headphones have gone a long ways. Hopefully, we'll get a review of the device soon. The Jabra headset features a foldaway design for easy storage and transport.

Here are some of the features according to the Jabra press announcement:

* Compatible with Blackberry Smartphones, Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch, Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones, MP3 player, televisions, video game consoles, and laptops
* Connects to two Bluetooth-enabled device
* Fades out music to allow for incoming calls
* 8 hours of talk time or music time and 13 days of standby time
* Offers 3.5 mm corded option
* Zirene® Power Bass creates an immersive listening experience
* Available at U.S. Best Buy stores and BestBuy.com now (Best Buy Canada in October)
* MSRP $129

I was extremely pleased with the Plantronics Voyager Pro, a Bluetooth headset that combined business class communications into a comfortable, easy to wear package despite its bulk, and Plantronics surprised me several days ago by bringing the technology and robustness of the Voyager Pro, a previous Chuong’s Pick as my personal editor’s choice recipient, beating out the venerable Jawbone Prime. Because of my pleasure with the bigger Voyager Pro, I didn't know what to expect when Plantronics gave me a call and told me that they had readied the Discovery 975 with the same great technology of the Voyager Pro, but in a compact and more fashionable package.

While stylishly chic and contemporary, the Plantronics Discovery 975 actually is a technological masterpiece, even improving on some of the technologies found on the Voyager Pro but housed in a sleeker body. If you look at the Discovery 975, you’d think that the Voyager Pro is like New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady while gorgeous wife Gisele Bundchen is the Discovery 975--both equally powerful and exquisite in their own right. The Discovery 975 is a headset that defies classification and proves that you don't need to sacrifice form for function and could have the best of both worlds.

With strong performance in an even prettier body, there is a lot to like about the new Discovery 975 and like it I do as this headset wins Plantronics a second spot on Chuong’s Picks list.

Chuong’s Picks is a series that features electronics, gadgets, and gears that I have used and selected due to the product’s balance between performance and value, form and function. Essentially, it is my personal “Editor’s Choice” and recommendation to you to hopefully help the beginning gadgetphile pick from among the best products in a category without having to spend too much money or time researching a group of products.

Read on to find out more about the Discovery 975.

Form: If gorgeous is what you’d describe Gisele, then the same can be said about the Discovery 975. It seems that the company listened to feedback from the Voyager Pro and stripped the headset of its corporate roots and improved on the stylish looks of the Plantronics 925, a headset that made a fashion statement when it first appeared.

The Voyager 975 is simple, but elegant. It has a darker titanium coat on its plastic body with a leather-like trim. The end that goes in your ear has a square and an arm extends out to house the microphone.


The Discovery 975 has leather accents housed in a body with a glossy titanium finish

The gel ear tip (comes with small, medium, and large ear tips) is comfortable, though not as cozy as the Voyager Pro, but definitely one of the most comfortable headsets I’ve used. Plantronics wanted to keep the headset simple. Where the square meets the micrphone arm, like the Jawbone Prime, you’ll find a simple white LED light that is subtle--Plantronics reps said that customers were complaining because they thought they saw police lights at night when the blue bluetooth light is flashing. Pressing on that end of the lever with the white LED is the call send and end button.


White LED shown; doubles as a call send and end button

Surrounding the back end of the square design is a power button and a micro USB charging port.


A glimpse of the ear gel and power button; the charging port is on the other corner and not visible in the photo; you can also see a slit on the side as this is used for wind cancellation, to be discussed later

The Discovery 975 also comes with a built-in carrying case that can be placed in a pocket, tossed in a purse, or ported in a briefcase or however else you wish to travel with the headset. The case is made of a leather material similar to the accent on the headset itself. The case serves to both house and charge the headset with its built-in battery pack.


Discovery Pro shown with leather carrying case

While Plantronics conservatively estimated battery life on the Bluetooth headset to be about 5 hours of use, I find I can talk for 5.5 hours. The case is supposed to provide two additional full charges for a talk time of up to 15 hours claimed (actual usage is around 16-17 hours) of talk time. That is a huge leap from the predecessor, the Plantronics Voyager 925, which only provided 1 additional charge cycle.

Opening up the case, you will find an LCD screen that displays the battery life and charging status of the headset and the case’s built-in battery, and a Bluetooth icon to indicate pairing. Unlike other wireless headsets, the Plantronics Discovery 975 can be charged and can still receive calls at the same time--other headsets turn off when charging, requiring you to turn on the headset when a call comes through.

When charging, the LED changes from white to red and the case’s LED screen flashes white. There is also a convenient ejector switch to quickly remove the Discovery 975 from its charging and carrying case when a call does come in.


Carrying case opens up to reveal LCD display

The case charges via a micro USB charger, which is included. It’d be nice if Plantronics also included a car charger, but with a charging case that already provides two full charging cycle that may be overkill.

Function: The beauty of the Plantronics Discovery 975 is not just skin deep. The headset’s technological innovation is a marvel, with noise cancellation, wind cancellation, and acoustics that deliver good incoming and outgoing speech tones. It really is no surprise that Plantronics focuses on the acoustics engine of the Voyager Pro and the Discovery 975 as the company also makes great Altec Lansing speakers.

The headset’s focus on natural speech pattern begins with its’ dual-mic patented AudioIQ2 technology, which serves to ensure that the user’s speech is natural and clear. However, speech isn’t just one-way. Plantronics made sure to have incoming call quality sound great and natural as well. The headset features a 20-band equalizer to deliver rich sounds and the AudioIQ2 engine automatically adjusts incoming calls to comfortable audible levels, automatically increasing the volume in noisier environments. In use, I find that incoming call quality was good and on-par with the Aliph Jawbone Prime, but not as warm and rich as the previously reviewed Voyager Pro. The Discovery 975 did a great job of noise cancellation and my voice still came through fine in a loud bar.

Wind cancellation is where the Discovery 975 excels, even beating out the Voyager Pro in this department. I drove around in a friend’s convertible and callers didn’t even know I had the top down! All of this is thanks to the grooved vents on the arm that houses a discrete boom microphone, to allow air and wind to escape. Inside the arm that holds the microphone, Plantronics uses GORE-TEX fabric to further insulate the voice tube, enabling clean, crisp voice conversations. On the software side, there are electronics that filter out noise while at the same time ensuring that voices sound as natural as possible and not robotic.

Unlike some of the BlueAnt headsets, the Discovery 975 doesn’t come with a visual or audible caller ID engine. However, Windows Mobile users who utilize Microsoft Voice Command can get caller names or numbers read to them over the Discovery 975. Plantronics’ reasoning for not including a caller ID engine is that it may not be compatible with all phones. That said, the Discovery 975 does include audio prompts for mute status, low battery status, and lost connection to tell you that you're out of Bluetooth range; the last one comes in handy as the headset is so comfortable that you forget it's on and that you have left your phone behind in a car or on a desk.



Value: The Voyager 975 is available at Plantronic’s website for $130 and is classified as a premium headset. The headset is $30 more expensive than the Voyager Pro. Users will have to decide whether they want the slightly stronger performance of the Voyager Pro at the sacrifice of style or the stylish looks of the Discovery 975 at the sacrifice of price. In my use, I liked both headsets. Both were surprisingly comfortable to use for extended durations and the gel tip of the Discovery 975 is more comfortable than models from Jabra or Jawbone. The strong wind cancellation and noise cancellation performance of the Discovery 975 along with its good looks will make this headset a big hit among consumers.

Pros:
-Amazing wind cancellation
-Good noise cancellation
-Good focus on incoming and outgoing calls and acoustics
-Stylish, sleek, sexy design
-Charging case provides up to 15 hours of use
-Simple to use
-One of the most comfortable ear tips

Cons:
-Pricier than other offerings, but offers a lot of features
-Good noise cancellation, but not as good as the Voyager Pro
-Good acoustics, but not as rich as Voyager Pro, also made by Plantronics

Other Chuong’s Pick items for the gadget-phile:
-Plantronics Voyager Pro
-Novatel MiFi WiFi Hotspot

From pda4x comes E-mail Triage, an extension to Outlook, both for Windows Mobile 5 and 6, which will help you transform an e-mail into either a Calendar appointment, Task or even both.

Download the appropriate cab file for your Operating System and install, without the need of a Soft Reset. After that, your e-mail view soft menu will get richer by the two newly available commands, "Move to Tasks" and "Move to Calendar". The extension will create a new Calendar event or Task with the same title as your e-mail which generated it, having the e-mail's text as a description. You can then edit proper date and time of the occurence by editing the entry.

Thanks for the tip, Michael!

Chuong’s Picks will be a series that will feature electronics, gadgets, and gears that I have used and selected due to the product’s balance between performance and value, form and function. Essentially, it is my personal “Editor’s Choice” to hopefully help the beginning gadgetphile pick from among the best products in a category without having to spend too much money or time researching a group of products.

I have been on a mission to find the best Bluetooth headset from among the flagship models of easily obtainable popular three brands--Plantronics, Aliph, and Jabra--which you can find on a shelf at most brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy or Fry’s Electronics. For this comparison, I pitted the Jacob Jensen Jabra designed JX20 Pura (a review is forthcoming; we had previously reviewed the JX10), the Aliph Jawbone Prime (a review to follow soon; we had looked at the Jawbone II before), and the Voyager Pro from Plantronics.

In the end, despite being larger than its competitors, the Plantronics Voyager Pro wins my choice as Chuong’s Pick for a major brand Bluetooth headset, with great incoming and outgoing audio, good noise cancellation mechanisms, and a comfortable fit; it is also the cheapest of the three coming in at $99, though you can probably find cheaper prices online.

Read on to find out more about the Voyager Pro.

Form: There is no doubt that the Voyager Pro is a big headset, and Plantronics does little to conceal this facial obtrusion. When seen on the busy streets of San Francisco, its retro look with a behind the ear battery pack and swiveling boom microphone is reminiscent of an escaped office receptionist or an pouncing telemarketer. However, despite its heft, the Plantronics representative that I had spoken with at GDGT SF told me that the Voyager Pro builds upon Plantronics’ best selling and runaway success on the Voyager 510 series.

The Voyager Pro with its comfort ear gel and swiveling boom microphone

Despite its large stature, I was surprised to find how comfortable the headset is. It feels better in my ears than the slicker Jawbone Prime, and the silicon ear gel (the device comes with three sizes for the soft silicon ear gel or two sizes for the more retro foam eartip covers) offers a nicer fit than the standard rubber ear grips on the Jabra JX20. Moreover, the weight of the battery pack is barely noticeable in the ear and I had forgotten that the headset was even in my ear after a few minutes until a call came in.

The microphone’s tip comes with a steel mesh guard, which the company promotes as helping with wind noise. In addition to the dual microphone and steel mesh offered for hardware noise cancelation, the Voyager Pro also has an intelligent software noise cancelation mechanism.


Steel mesh guard over the microphone protects against wind noise

The joint at the ear where the swivel is for the boom mic houses a raised bar that serves as a button for the call send/end key. At the very top of the battery pack (right above your ears) are the volume up and down keys, and at the bottom of the battery pack is the power button, which serves double duty as a Bluetooth toggle switch so you can have two phones paired to the same headset and toggle between them with a light tap of the power button (depressing the power button for a few seconds turns on or off the headset).


Volume rocker buttons at the top to control in-call volume

The headset is a Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR piece, which means that it should get good range and I had no problems walking between different rooms in a small townhouse. It is rated at up to 6 hours of talk time with 5 days of standby, which comes in at the long end of the battery life spectrum, coming at no surprise considering it has a large behind the ear battery pack. Weighing in at 17 grams, the Voyager Pro is heavier than most on the market.

Other technological features listed by Plantronics include the company’s proprietary AudioIQ2 technology, two noise canceling microphones, a stainless steel mesh to help against wind noise, and QuickPair technology for easy pairing.

Function: When turned on, the headset went into QuickPair mode and is instantly recognized and paired by most phones. If a manual pairing is required, find the Bluetooth name on your device that says “PROVoyager” and enter “0000” as the key code.

In use, I tested the Voyager Pro in a car driving in city streets with the windows down, in a quiet room, and in front of some loud speakers to see how well the hardware and software noise cancelation mechanisms touted by Plantronics works. In reality, I found that the other party’s voice sounds clearer and has more warmth than the Jawbone. The Jawbone sounds great, but when compared with the AudioIQ2 technology from Plantronics, the Voyager Pro really shines with greater audio fidelity. The other caller said that my voice sounds good and couldn’t tell that I was on a Bluetooth headset. Moreover, there was no echo and tones sounded richer.

To simulate a windy environment, I drove around town with the windows down--not highways speeds--and the other party noticed the wind noise, but my voice was audible and still sounded crisp. Compared to the Jabra JX20 where the wind muffled my own voice, the Voyager Pro’s technology still allowed for a smooth conversation, albeit with slight crackling. In noisier environments, the Voyager Pro didn’t perform as well as the Jawbone Prime in canceling the background noise, but provided grater audio fidelity and warmer tones for both incoming and outgoing conversations.



Claims made in the Plantronics promotional video for the Voyager Pro held true in our testing of the headset

Physically, the Voyager Pro provided the best fit for my ears and I was able to wear the headset for hours without discomfort. The tighter fit afforded by the Aliph Jawbone meant that the ear gel put pressure on my ears, so after a while there was a slight pain in my ear. On the other hand, I’ve noticed the Jabra JX20 Pura to be looser and the lack of a more contoured ear gel (the Pura has a silicon ring that’s not unlike the standard earphones provided in current generation iPods) provided little assurance that the headset would stay in the ear, though it didn’t fall out. The over the hear “hook” provided by the behind the ear battery pack along with a more modest fitting ear gel on the Voyager Pro gave it a sense of secure heft, yet a very comfortable fit for extended wear.


The microphone could be swiveled out of the way if necessary, adding to the user’s comfort.

Value: At $30 cheaper than the leading Jawbone ($129), the Voyager Pro ($99) offers exceptional value in a high performance headset with active software and hardware noise cancelation technology. It would be difficult for users to go wrong choosing either the Jawbone or the Voyager Pro at their price points, but for its great audio performance, exceptional wind cancelation, and good performance in a noisy setting, the Voyager Pro gets my pick for the 2009 Bluetooth headset. I would give it an overall 4.5 stars out of 5.

Pros:
-Good performance in windy environment
-Richer audio; higher audio fidelity than competitors
-Long battery life
-Comfortable fit despite large size
-Lower price than leading competitors

Cons:
-Large size
-Good performance, but not great, in extremely loud and noisy environments

In mid July, HTC released the Long Waited Bluetooth Security Hotfix which was a few days later confirmed as being a Bluetooth FTP fix.

Yesterday, HTC updated their support page and modified the above renaming it to Hotfix to enhance the security mechanism of Bluetooth service for HTC Touch Diamond/Touch Pro/Touch HD/Touch 3G/Touch Cruise/S740, adding three new devices in the title (Touch 3G/Touch Cruise/S740 - lates which is actually a Windows Mobile Standard powered Smartphone) and another one - Diamond2 - in the instructions. We strongly believe that expanding the hotfix makes it appliable to other devices too which have - quote - "the FTP service preinstalled. Before installing, please first check to see if the FTP service is on your phone by tapping Settings > Communications > Settings > Bluetooth and verifying there is tab named FTP."

HTC also says that "if there is a pop-up message saying “This hotfix is not compatible with your device,” it means the device has applied the fix already or device doesn’t have the BT FTP service and the phone does not need to install it".

The description for the Hotfix is vague again: "This hotfix enhances the security mechanisms of the Bluetooth service to make the Bluetooth communication more secure", but we now know that it is addressing the Bluetooth FTP vulnerability issue discovered earlier this year.

The latest BlackBerry is truly a marvel to behold and the perfect accessory for travelers. That BlackBerry is not a smartphone, but rather a speakerphone made by Research in Motion. The BlackBerry Visor Mount Speakerphone is truly a powerful smartphone companion for road warriors and those who use their phones for conference calls. The device is both simple and powerful, elegant yet robust, and is more than just a speakerphone as it features the A2DP stereo Bluetooth profile for phones that support that feature as well as an FM transmitter for streaming calls and audio without the hassle of wires.

Read on to find out if this is the perfect traveling companion for you.

Form: Excellent

The BlackBerry Visor Mount Speakerphone, herein referred as “Speakerphone” for short, is both masculine and feminine at the same time. It has tapered edges and curves that make it attractive and elegant. Cloaked in black with a slim, Star Trek-like futuristic design, it will be equally at home in the bachelor-mobile or right next to the technologically-inclined fashionista.

BlackBerry Visor Mount Bluetooth Speakerphone is simple, elegant

The device comes with a minimal set of buttons: a single multi-purpose button (for initiating and ending calls, pairing, muting audio), volume up and down keys, and an FM transmitter button to send audio from your Bluetooth-enabled smartphone over to your car stereo. It even supports A2DP stereo so you can use the Speakerphone for both audio calls and for music, audiobooks, podcasts, and more. The unit’s multi-purpose button also displays four red LED status indicators for low battery, call status, connection status, and an FM indicator for use in that mode.

Additionally, the unit has a rubber cover for the charger and comes with a car micro USB charger, the same protocol used for charging current BlackBerry models. The Speakerphone, however, does not come bundled with a micro USB cable (for charging with your computer) nor a home charger. The battery should last for 13 hours of talk time or 240 hours of standby time, which should go for about a week for light to moderate gabbers.

Function: Extremely good

I used the Speakerphone with several make and models of phones, including several Windows Mobile devices, an iPhone, a BlackBerry Pearl, and a Nokia E71x, which covers most smartphone platforms less the Palm Pre and Android OS. Pairing was simple, but could be made simpler with a dedicated pairing button or switch. Press and hold the multi-purpose button and you hear some chimes indicating the unit is on (along with the LEDs glowing). Continue to hold and a pleasant voice comes on stating “Pairing,” but if you accidently hold too long and the unit will power off with a voice indicator that states “Power off.” The voice feature was a welcomed bonus that I had not expected.

I was pleasantly surprised about the quality of voice calls, both as outputted on the Speakerphone itself and as transmitted over the car stereo via the built-in FM transmitter. While callers sound crisp and loud on my end, callers did note that they could discern that I was using a speaker of some sort and my voice sounded distant. Incoming calls are announced by the Speakerphone with the caller ID number. Unfortunately, the Speakerphone did not have the ability to pull contacts from the smartphone and match that up with caller ID to state “John Smith” rather than “555-555-1212.”



BlackBerry Visor Mount Bluetooth Speakerphone,
as shown mounted on a visor in a car

Audio quality, as streamed to the Speakerphone and to the car stereo via the FM transmitter sounded significantly better than most FM transmitters on the market today, though connecting your car directly via Bluetooth (if your car has that option) or with an auxiliary cable to your phone will always sound the best. Press and hold the FM button and a pleasant voice will announce which free FM station you can tune your car into for the stream to work. With Stereo Bluetooth support, you can get your calls, audiobooks, music, and even GPS voice guidance on the Speakerphone’s mono speaker or streamed to your car for stereo. Music sounded good and loud, although a bit hollow, and songs that are heavy in bass will not sound as good, but it is still quite good for a unit that size.

I find that in my use, I prefer to use the Speakerphone to play GPS voice navigation and output the voice guidance on the Speakerphone’s speaker, reserving my car’s stereo for some nice background music. The Speakerphone is definitely louder than most phone’s built-in speakerphone, though I have yet to test out the nice Straight Talk conference call-grade Touch Pro2 built-in speakerphone on HTC’s flagship Windows Mobile Professional device. Another feature is the ability to listen to audiobooks and podcasts over the Speakerphone or through the car stereo, thus increasing “productivity” time on your drive rather than just bopping along to tunes.

The unit is also smart enough to automatically power down when it loses a Bluetooth connection, which means that after you leave your car, within ten minutes or so after you’re out of range, the unit will shut down as to not waste battery.

Ease of Use: Almost dead simple.
My mother is usually the gauge for how easy things are. In as much as I love gadget, she shuns them. When I showed her some features of the BlackBerry Visor Mount Speakerphone, she was impressed, and in no time she was able to initiate a call, stream music, and listen to her tunes on the car ride. However, there are some small gripes that I have with the unit as far as ease of use.

1. More buttons: Although the logic behind keeping as little buttons as possible on the device is understood (it’s probably more dangerous for a driver to be fumbling around with buttons), a dedicated pairing button would be nice.
2. Rubber feet: Though the unit comes with two wires that clip on to the visor, hence the “visor mount” in the unimaginative but descriptive name, it would be nice to remove the wires and have the unit sit skid-free with rubber feet on a dash or a table as a portable conference calling solution.
3. Ability to accept pairing from two devices: A bonus feature that RIM could implement in the next iteration of the Speakerphone would be to pair it with two phones; that way the driver and the passenger could answer their phones on the same unit.

Moreover, as simple as the unit is to operate, not all was rosy. The single, multi-purpose button (think the single-click trackpad on the recent unibody MacBook Pros or the BlackBerry Storm Sure Click screen) had a learning curve. Here are some of the click combination to enhance the function of that button:

-Answer/End call: Single tap of the multi-purpose button
-Ignore call: press and hold for 1 second
-Mute/Unmute: press and hold for 1 second; turn off mute by pressing either volume buttons
-Redial: Tap button twice
-Switch call to handset/smartphone: press and hold button until an audible beep
Those are lots of keypress comvinations to remember, and of course you can’t have a cheat sheet in front of you while driving. Though voice guidance does help, I am not sure how RIM can simply this process even more.

Conclusion: Excellent device
For frequent drivers, road warriors, and those without a stereo Bluetooth profile in their cars, the BlackBerry Visor Mount Speakerphone offers exceptional value, plenty of functionality, and simplicity in an elegant, attractive package. Even for those who aren’t gabbers, there are other features to take advantage of, including Bluetooth stereo and FM transmission of audiobooks, music, and GPS voice guidance. The unit could be had direct from BlackBerry for $99, though you can find prices for lower than that; it is currently listed at $70 on Amazon.

Our Windows Mobile devices can make us go through unnecessary steps in order to get a desired result sometimes. For example, there are some Bluetooth capabilities that force us to do more manual work than we’d like to do. Connecting to ActiveSync and having to manually toggle Bluetooth Stereo when pairing with a headset are prime examples of this.

These days, you would expect options to automate such features for our convenience. Thankfully, the good people at XDA-developers have come up with solutions for some of the annoyances that come with using Bluetooth. Read on for details.

AutoActiveSync via Bluetooth:

This tool can come in handy for people who find themselves constantly managing content between their computers and WM devices. It connects your device automatically (when in range) to your synchronization software, like ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center, through Bluetooth. AutoActiveSync runs as a managed service in the background at startup, so you don’t have to see it in your task manager.

The app is fairly new, so the developer is still thinking of ways to improve it with new features. One future implementation may be a scheduling option to help reduce battery draw. Visit the developer’s thread for information on how to install and use AutoActiveSync.

AutoA2DP:

By default, many paired Bluetooth headsets will connect as “handsfree” and you have to manually enable A2DP for Wireless Stereo. This simple tool will cut out the extra steps, automatically enabling A2DP mode when connected to a headset. Automating A2DP mode doesn't come at the expense of battery power either. It stays dormant until headset pairing occurs.

Installation can be a little tricky for some, so another developer has created a CAB for easy installation (thanks, Doug!). Advanced users may want to visit the original thread post for details on how to launch user-defined apps upon connecting to a Bluetooth headset.

Note: If any of you missed it, Anton wrote about an app that can easily toggle Bluetooth states (discoverable, on or off).

For the fashion conscious readers out there, the Orb--created by Hybra Advance Technology and AbsolutelyNew--is a Bluetooth headset that is not only functional, but stylish. As its name implies, when closed, the headset looks like a ring or orb, but when opened, the device sits comfortably in the user's ears in a natural "S" like curvature. Unlike a traditional earpiece--which requires the user to fit the device into their ears, and sometimes uncomfortably so--the Orb uses bone conduction technology to rest on the ear.

But the Orb isn't a ring that bits in your ear. The device also has a flexible OLED screen to display caller ID information, calendar reminders, and other text information.

Expect it to hit early 2010 for $129, competitive with the Jawbone from Aliph, or $175 for a deluxe version.

Hopefully, this is something that Jenna, our own resident fashion expert would approve of.

(via: Electronista)

We've written about HTC's Bluetooth Hotfix for several devices, namely Touch Diamond, Touch Pro and Touch HD the moment it was released and we also noticed the vague description HTC gave to it ("This hotfix can enhance the security mechanisms of the Bluetooth service"), wondering if that fix was addressing the the security flaw signalled earlier this year affecting FTP service, allowing another authorized and paired device to browse specific specified folders on your Windows phone.

Looks like HTC edited both the name and the description of the download to be more self explanatory and clear all the doubts: "Hotfix to enhance the security mechanism of Bluetooth FTP service for HTC Touch Diamond/Touch Pro/Touch HD".

Now it's clear! Thank you!

HTC just released a Bluetooth security hotfix for HTC Touch Diamond/Touch Pro/Touch HD; description is vague ("This hotfix can enhance the security mechanisms of the Bluetooth service") but we like to believe it is addressing the security flaw signalled earlier this year affecting FTP service, allowing another authorized and paired device to browse specific specified folders on your Windows phone.

Download the hotfix file BLA_S00279.exe to your device and run it. It will Soft Reset your device after installation.

Note: Since it is a Hotfix, you will have to reapply it after a ROM Upgrade or Hard Reset.

There is a Bluetooth security flaw on HTC Windows Mobile phones. The moral of the story here is to not accept connections from untrusted sources. Said exploit uses the Bluetooth FTP protocol to access your file system.

(via: MobileCrunch)

After the more buttoned down and "straight-talking" news of the Motorola Endeavor HX bone conduction Bluetooth piece, we're going to head over into a bit of snazzy fashion with Sony Ericsson and its Bluetooth dress. While clothing tailored to the gadget geeks in us is nothing new, Sony Ericsson's 1970s inspired retro design with some lights glow up when the owner receives a call or a message. The real question is, without the help of a Jawbone or Motorola bone conduction headset with active noise cancellation, is it really worth it to leave the glow stick at home and constantly be checking your dress for a call that you may never be able to answer in a club? Sure, you'd know that you're getting a call, but ladies will never be able to answer their phones, at least not without the propriety of a calm environment. Sony Ericsson, how you tease!

(via: Engadget Mobile)