Bluetooth headset reads messages to you

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (LIN) - When you get a text message while driving in your car, you don't have to take your eyes off the road to respond anymore. The Motorola H17txt with Motospeak Bluetooth headset will read your messages to you. Its robot voice will not, however, whisper sweet nothings in to your ear.

In fact, the H17txt changed my preconceptions about Bluetooth headsets. Verizon sent me one to check out and I have to say after spending a couple of weeks as a "Bluetooth" guy, you know... the guy who talks to himself in the middle of a Subway, I'm impressed.

The H17txt is the first Bluetooth headset I've ever put in my ear. I've had my own reservations with headsets in the past because I thought they looked silly.  I've scoffed at those with the electronics in their ear, but for this review I donned the H17txt without prejudice. The takeaway? It provided crystal clear conversation.

My phone gets the most use while I'm in my car. Before the H17txt, I primarily used the Sync system in my Milan, but when I made the switch from the Sync's Bluetooth to the H17txt, I was told it was like I stepped out of a wind tunnel and into the same room. There wasn't much change on my end either. I was still talking and listening without any problems, but the conversation was dramatically improved for the person on the other side. This is mainly because the microphone on the car catches too much and can't filter out the extra noise. On the H17txt though there are two microphones, one you speak into and one that picks up the background noise so it can filter it out. Motorola calls it "CrystalTalk Technology", which I'd say is an accurate name for it.

I was very impressed by the H17txt's battery life. It's rated for up to 5 hours of talk time and 7 days (that's right, days) of standby time. I could make it through two days without a problem. It also has a feature called "Rapid Charge", which provides up to 2.5 hours of talk time on a 15 minute charge.

The H17txt also plays all of your phone's audio. So in the case of the Droid Incredible I was testing the headset out with, I could listen to music or watch videos with the audio coming through the headset. Additionally, just like it would over the speaker, if I was driving somewhere with the turn-by-turn navigation, the directions read out clearly on the headset.

One of the main benefits of the H17txt is that with the free MotoSpeak download from the Android Market or BlackBerry App World, the headset will actually read your text messages to you. It can even translate text acronyms (up to 150 the box claims). I tested some common ones like "lol", "btw" and "thx" with success. It even spoke aloud "lulz" when I sent over the text, that's cutting edge. Now there was some delay occasionally between receiving a text and the headset speaking it, but most times it wasn't too bad. There was a brief time where it wasn't reading anything, but just alerting me that messages were there.

The software has a built in kill-switch too if you don't want the message read. All you have to do is shake your phone while it's reading and the message will stop. If you're on a call, text messages won't interrupt your call. Instead, if the call is less than one minute, the text will play when the call ends. If the call is longer than a minute, the text won't bplay and you'll have to go read it.

One thing I didn't like is that there was an "upgrade" feature for the software. If I bought the headset, I wouldn't want to get hit with another "one-time fee of $13.95" to upgrade to the pro service. That being said, the Pro Service gives you 3 new voices and will even read email to you (up to 500 words).

Three ear hooks and two in-ear buds are included with the headset. I preferred the smaller of the two ear buds, but it's kind of nice that they included multiple different options.

Overall, I have to say the H17txt was a great inaugural Bluetooth experience for me. Being able to hear your texts without opening your phone is certainly nice. The headset is available right now and retails for $99.99.

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