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From Moshi – the company best known for gadgets you can talk to, including this nifty travel alarm clock – comes their latest Bluetooth Handsfree Car Kit.
The word “kit” is deceptive, implying a complicated mess of wires, plugs, adapters, etc. In reality, the Speakerphone is much simpler – a one-piece unit that secures to any car sun visor. In fact, our BTHF205T test model promised, “No Installation. No Hands Necessary. Just say ‘Hello Moshi’ to voice control while driving”. Nice!
That said, we were eager to put this little gadget through its paces on a recent roadtrip across New England.
The Skinny
First, the features and specifications in Moshi’s own words:
- Voice Activated
- Automatic Pairing
- Compact & Portable
- Spoken Caller ID
- Volume Control
- Works with most Bluetooth enabled phones
- Talk Time: 6 hrs.
- Standby Time: 40 hrs.
- Dimensions: 2″ x 3″ x 3/4″
- In-Car USB Charger Included
In Detail
Design
The simple “interface” (if you want to call it that) consists of only four buttons – an on/off toggle, a main button that handles just about all of the interaction you’ll need with the unit, and two volume up/down buttons. It’s designed to be truly handsfree with spoken voice commands providing access to nearly every feature of the device.
Built-in power saving functionality shuts the unit off when the phone is out of range for more than ten minutes. That said, we’d love to see their next unit designed with a small solar panel on the back to seriously minimize (or eliminate) the need to ever manually charge the unit.
Construction
The unit feels lightweight, but not flimsy. The visor clip is a simple affair consisting of two powerful magnets to hold the unit in place. This is one of the more clever designs we’ve seen as it literally allows a quick swipe of the unit to remove it from the car.
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah … But Does it Work?
The biggest gripe with Bluetooth devices is often that they lose connection easily or it’s maddening to try to pair the device with one’s phone at all. And … the biggest gripe with voice-activated gadgets is that, frankly, the voice recognition often sucks.
Not so with the Moshi Speakerphone. After the initial battery charge time, we were up and ready to talk (to ourselves) in less than a minute. It’s never once lost the Bluetooth pairing connection on us. And the voice recognition works astonishingly well.
One of the best features is its text-to-speech capability, which works similar to many GPS units. The device will announce the name of any caller in your phone’s contact list. No tedious programming necessary. It’s fantastic to hear the computerized voice say “Hot pants!” aloud whenever my girlfriend calls.
Availability
Stating at $79.99. Available from Amazon.com and Moshi.com.
Bottom Line
After a week on the road, it’s clear that Moshi’s voice technology is leaps and bounds ahead of similar gadgets we tested a few short years ago. All in all, the Speakerphone worked exactly as promised. Truthfully, $80 may seem a bit steep for what some might consider a “luxury”. However, with more and more US states adopting strict handsfree driving laws, you’re probably looking at similar devices already. Why not one that you can actually talk to? Highly recommended.