Sunday, 6 April 2008

Nokia E90 In the car - Handsfree Issues


I have always preferred a wired "boom" headset for use in the car. Even after Bluetooth became common, I stuck with the Jabra Earwave with my Sony Ericsson P900 and Nokia E70 just as I had with earlier phones.


When combined with an active cradle, it always seemed to me to be the optimim solution - no power issues, no pairing issues, just reliable connectivity. What's more, the boom ensured good quality reception of my voice even in a small car at speed on a motorway (where wind noise is often as intrusive as the sound of a straining engine - small cars do not have the same "serenity" as a large car)
Once I had the E90, I knew that an alternative was required. The port for the supplied stereo headset is not compatible with any 3rd party wired boom headset that I could find and I didn't fancy trying to fabricate something myself given the thinness of the wires involved.

While I was searching for (and getting blank looks in Carphone Warehouse et al) a wired headset, a number of people had pointed me in the direction of a Bluetooth "visor" handsfree so I started researching.

There are a shedload of different types out there but I settled on the Supertooth Light - so far I'm delighted. http://www.supertooth.net/htmls/supertooth_light.html It seems well made, pairs with the E90 first time every time and charges via a mini USB plug which means it can share a charger with my Navman B10 Blutooth GPS receiver.

I always send/end using the phone itself so any fragility in its magnetic attraction to the sunvisor is not a problem. Sound levels are fine and callers seem to be able to hear me perfectly well although the microphone is fairly directional so you need to lower the sunvisor slightly when a call comes it and speak "up" as well as up :-). So far it has only dropped 2 calls on me, which makes it better than the Bluetooth headset that I own - but I'd still prefer a wired connection that NEVER drops a call.

There's only one disadvantage I've found so far. If you're navigating with the Supertooth switched on, the voice directions seem a bit "crackly" which doesn't seem to happen with incoming calls. At the moment, I'm switching the Supertooth off when navigating - which is fine as it's "instant on" if I do get a phone call.
It's not the cheapest visor unit on the market but I wasn't going to start right at the bottom. Best price from MyMemory with their usual prompt delivery. http://www.mymemory.co.uk/Bluetooth-Car-Kits/Generic/Supertooth-Light-Bluetooth-Handsfree-Visor-Kit . It gets my personal seal of approval.

No comments: