Winner of the best cell phone accessory at CTIA this past spring, the Blueant V1 headset has been officially launched. It is listed at Amazon for $119.99 and at MobileCity Online for $99.99, with an expected availability of Aug 29th. The innovative new Bluetooth headset features a unique voice user interface that allows you to speak commands to the headset, access a verbal help system and check on the headset status. No funky LEDs to decipher or fumbling around looking for buttons, just talk to your headset and tell it what to do.  Some of the supported commands include “Pair me”, “Call Back” and “Redial”. It will also speak the number of any incoming calls and ask you if you want to “Answer” or “Ignore” the call. Sweet! Now if we could just get it to do the all the talking when your boss calls about that proposal that was due yesterday…

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Hardware Design:

Let’s get the good stuff out of the way first: this is a sleek, well balanced, attractive handset. It sits well in your hand and feels almost perfectly weighted. There are certainly smaller and thinner phones out there, but HTC has struck an impressive balance between usability and efficiency of design. The hardware button layout is a far cry from the “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” ethos of the Kaiser/Mogul/etc, with 4 hardware navigation buttons (Home, Back, Call Answer, Call End) complemented by a touch-sensitive scroll wheel that doubles as a 4-way D-Pad serving as the main navigation options. A power button on the top and volume keys on the left side of the phone round out the hardware keys. The back of the device reveals the 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera lens and, well, not much else. Our handset is the European version of the Diamond (more on that in a bit), and as such sports a secondary VGA camera for video calls next to the earpiece on the front of the phone. Sadly, this feature will most likely be omitted from any American iterations of the phone. All told, the physical design of the phone is by far one of the best selling points, with a effective compromise between small and usable. While this isn’t specific to the Touch Diamond, we really wish HTC would reconsider their all-in-one min-USB jack. It’s great for charging and file transfers, but especially considering the media-centric appeal of the Diamond, we would appreciate a 3.5 mm headphone jack, as the current configuration limits you to the HTC-supplied headphones unless you’re willing to deal with a cumbersome adapter.

Screen:

As this is a Touch-Screen only device without a physical numeric or QWERTY keypad, the quality of the screen, both in regards to resolution and touch response, is going to determine a lot about how well the handset will perform under day-to-day use. We’re pleased to report that the quality of the display is fantastic, with a bright 2.8″ TFT-LCD with full VGA resolution. Pictures, videos, and web content look beautiful on this thing with a level of clarity not present in your average Windows Mobile handset. Web content looked particularly impressive. Opera and VGA resolution is a killer combo. Unfortunately, the actual touch-screen interface leaves a bit to be desired. Screen presses take an un-nerving amount of pressure to register, often requiring you to tap an icon more than once to register a selection. This, unfortunately, makes the touchscreen QWERTY keypad a bear to use with your bare fingers, and we found ourselves pulling out the stylus on more than one occasion to complete a sentence. The device also feels like it’s moving about a half a second behind your input, which could be contributing to the feeling of unresponsiveness. We hate to make the obvious comparison, but HTC is obviously gunning for the iPhone market with this one and, sadly, the screen just can’t compete with the way that Apple’s finest seems to effortlessly respond to your every input.

Connectivity:

This is where things get a bit tough to call. The Touch Diamond is technically a 3.5G device, sporting 7.2 HSDPA. Unfortunately, our test device is a European spec dual-band 900/2100 MHz HSDPA handset with tri-band 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/EDGE support. As such, our data tests were basically limited to whatever EDGE signal we could pull down off of the the 1900 MHz band. HSDPA was definitely a no-go, and at times we had trouble connecting getting an EDGE signal. We’ll give HTC a pass on this one, as any American carrier-supported device should be fleshed out with the appropriate radios, but it was a bit disappointing nonetheless. We’re happy to report, however, that Wi-Fi was dead simple to set up, and the Diamond seemed to hold its Wi-Fi signal pretty damn well. We had some trouble acquiring a GPS signal, though once we finally locked in Google Maps worked like a charm.

Sound and Call Quality:

Call quality is above average on the internal earpiece, and callers commented on the clarity of calls initiated from the Diamond. The speakerphone is decent in a quiet environment, but forget about making calls in that Aston convertible, as speaker volume leaves something to be desired. MP3’s sounded surprisingly good given the size of the speaker, but volume is definitely an issue.

TouchFLO 3D:

Here’s where things get interesting. HTC’s new Touch FLO 3D is, without question, the most aesthetically pleasing Windows Mobile skin we’ve ever seen. If you thought the HTC customizations on the original Touch and the Shadow were impressive, you’ll be blown away by the new version. The company has set a new standard for turning Windows Mobile’s corporate whitewash appearance into something you might actually call “attractive”. When we spoke with HTC in London last month, the company indicated that they would be rolling out Touch FLO 3D along much of their lineup, which should go a long way towards countering some of the “ugly” stigma attached to the Windows Mobile platform. Touch FLO 3D goes much deeper than the original iteration of the Touch interface, with just about every commonly accessed application receiving the 3D treatment. Contacts, weather, email, SMS, media, and more have all come under the 3D spell, and HTC’s meticulous attention to visual detail is abundantly apparent. While not technically a Touch FLO 3D application, the Opera browser with gesture support is particularly well implemented. It makes use of the touch sensitive scroll wheel, allowing you to zoom in and out with a simple swipe around the wheel. The browser also automatically reformats text columns to eliminate side to side scrolling while reading web content. It has some performance issues, but from a purely visual stand point we think Opera has developed a worthy competitor to mobile Safari, and we applaud HTC’s decision to circumvent the onboard Pocket Internet Explorer.

If HTC hopes to turn Touch FLO 3D into the next great mobile movement, however, they’re going to have to put some serious effort into improving performance. As we mentioned above, the touch screen interface often felt laggy and unresponsive. While some of this may be due to the actual screen design, we have a sneaking suspicion that the might be a more systemic issue in play here. The 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7201A processor should be more than sufficient, but for whatever reason it feels like the TouchFLO interface is just too much for the device to handle. Scanning through the home screen menu often takes more patience than we’d care to muster, and launching applications is frequently an exercise in frustration. Seriously folks, we really wanted to like Touch FLO 3D, but if this implementation is any indication we think HTC needs to perform some serious hardware tweaks before moving forward. It’s certainly pretty, but looks don’t mean much if the performance isn’t there to back it up. If pressed, we’d probably compare the Diamond to a Ferrari with a Chevy Cobalt engine. It’s that bad, folks.

Expandability:

The Diamond sports a healthy 4GB of internal memory, all of which is user accessible. This leaves plenty of space of music, movies, and pictures. Unfortunately, there isn’t any sort of expansion slot, so once you fill up the internal storage your out of luck. Hopefully 4 gigs is enough to cover day to day use.

Battery:

There were some initial concerns about the stamina of the 900mAh battery. While it’s not going to win any awards for usage time, the Diamond stood up well under several days of heavy use, easily making it through a full day before running out of juice. HTC indicated that they had made some serious tweaks to efficiently accommodate the small battery, and whatever the did worked admirably.

Conclusion:

As we said at the beginning of the review, this is one of the most visually attractive Windows Mobile handsets we’ve used. The physical design is impressive, and the Touch FLO 3D interface is a thing of aesthetic beauty. Unfortunately, the performance issues we encountered would make us hesitant to put this into our regular rotation. We also couldn’t stop comparing it to the iPhone and how many things HTC “borrowed”. There’s the slide-the-button menu to enable or disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc., a lock button on the top of the device, an A-Z alphabet on the right side of the contacts application which works just like the iPhone’s, the double-tap in Opera to zoom in and out of pages, and others. We understand there are only so many ways to create a usable UI for a touch screen phone, but we still couldn’t help thinking of most of it as a fake iPhone. If HTC manages to clear up some of the performance issues with a future firmware update, we could possibly see the Diamond as a suitable contender, but as it stands, there are a number of other viable handsets that deserve a look if you’re in the market for a touchscreen device.

Will wonders never cease? As was the buzz around town, Aliph has made their Jawbone successor official yesterday. Dubbed simply "New Jawbone", Aliph’s new bluetooth headset is available immediately from the Jawbone website and through AT&T. What is the wonder we referred to in the first sentence above? No, it’s not that the New Jawbone is 50% smaller in size than the original. No, it’s not that Jawbone now refers to its noise cancellation technology as "NoiseAssassin". The wonder is that Jawbone somehow managed to make the new model even uglier than the original. Astounding. Don’t get us wrong, the first-generation Jawbone headset was a marvel; one of the few products we’ve come across in recent history with function that matched the pre-release hype. It was just so… ugly. The new model seemingly takes its design cues from the pick up trucks typically found in the parking lot of any local dive bar. The body of the Jawbone pays homage to tacky diamond plated tonneau covers while the ear loop is apparently styled in line with after market leather seat covers, complete with contrast stitching. As a launch promotion, we definitely recommend that Aliph toss some samples out to an eager crowd on 80s night at Ultra. How cool will the middle-aged half naked mothers-of-two look when they’re rocking out to Poison with these puppies hanging from their ears? Teased hair flowing… Diamond plating sparkling… Pure magic. Ok, enough. Word on the street is that BG is preparing a Jawbone giveaway of the new model, so check for that soon!

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Designer Sunman Kwon has put together quite a gem with this latest project. The Mooon+ Phone is a handset concept that combines style and functionality with a gigantic touchscreen to create a work of art. The sleek black case adds metal accents and what looks to be a stitched leather swatch to create a clean sexy look with a touch of class. Granted the phone is a bit bulky, but there’s nothing wrong with having a little meat on your bones. The few mentioned features include the touchscreen, a camera and an integrated removable bluetooth headset that attaches to the bottom of the phone. The Mooon+ Phone isn’t the first device to fit a bluetooth headset in the body of a handset but it certainly handles the design better than any other mobile we’ve seen. When attached, the bluetooth headset mirrors the metal accents and rounded shape seen at the top of the device. It can then be pulled off the body and a small earbud rotates out to be fitted within the ear canal. Small contacts at the rear of the headset allow the device to be charged continuously while attached to the handset. Will this puppy ever see mass production? Probably not, but it sure is nice to look at.

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There is such a thing, we believe, as technology for technology’s sake. In other words, the practice of utilizing exciting new technological advancements in such a way that renders them infinitely less attractive; ridiculous even. Take the Roadrunner bluetooth headset pictured above. No, that’s not a high-tech communicator for tracheotomy patients. Body conduction technology nothing new, but it is relatively new to the mainstream and offers a good deal of promise. The idea of using bones within the ear canal, throat or elsewhere in the body to collect and transmit sound vibrations is something that will continue to peak the interest of accessory manufacturers. When the concept of body conduction is placed in the wrong hands however, well, you see what can happen. If you can work your way past Johnny Model’s searing stare (he is no doubt visualizing the violent muder of his agent for landing him this gig*) you’ll notice that the design of the Roadrunner bluetooth headset is simply atrocious; regardless of whether or not it removes nearly all ambient noise from a conversation. Walking around with a blinking bulb stuck to the side of your head is bad enough. Somehow, the Roadrunner headset was developed under the impression that it is okay to voluntarily walk around with a contraption like this attached to your body. We assure you, it’s not.

*The Boy Genius Report does not condone violence of any kind, unless it results in the removal of Roadrunner headgear from someone’s neck.

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Bluetrek hit CES 2008 with a couple of interesting bluetooth devices, but the SurfaceSound DUO is particularly cool. Slim and relatively compact, the DUO clips to your car’s visor and can be paired with any bluetooth phone. It utilizes an integrated mic and snazzy flat speaker to give you hands-free calling and sports a respectable 22 hours of talk time, 24 days of stand-by. The cool thing about the SurfaceSound DUO is that any compatible Bluetrek headset can be docked in the headset port to make use of the DUO’s mic and speaker. Even cooler still, you can dock your headset while on an active call and it will seamlessly move your conversation to the loudspeaker. This means that you can transition between your car and the street quickly and easily without interruption. The DUO will also charge your docked headset so it’s nice and juiced once you park. No word yet on pricing and availabilty but hit the link to check out a video of the SurfaceSound DUO in action. Bluetrek’s moderately-attractive model seems to enjoy the device so that must mean you will too.

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While cruising through the Samsung booth earlier today we stopped by their DAP and music station to score a bit of time with the YA-BS900 Stereo Bluetooth speakers. These things sound great, and interact with Bluetooth devices in a unique way. They feature embedded Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP profile support, 10 meter range, 30W output, motion detection sensor, touch sensor, and much more. They’re designed to work with Sammy’s YP-P2 Bluetooth digital audio player, as well as any other phone or media device that support the A2DP profile. Sound quality is excellent, and the design is subtle but appealing. They’re not too big, and we could easily see stashing this thing in a dorm room or on a kitchen counter. They come in a couple of colors as well, for all you color-scheme-matching freaks out there. They should run about $399 when they launch in March.

Click on over to our Samsung YA-BS900 Bluetooth speakers gallery!

‘Tis the season for spectrum auctions and OS updates. Following in the footsteps of Verizon and LG, HTC has just released a small patch designed to fix some Bluetooth issues. It’s not a massive update by any stretch of the imagination, but for anyone that has been experiencing dropped calls while using their Bluetooth connection, your day of justice has arrived. The patch comes straight from HTC, so we’re not sure if this is compatible with an AT&T-branded Tilt, or any other Kaiser / TyTN II variants. That said, it’s nothing more than a .CAB file available for an OTA download, so it can never hurt to try.

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As suppliers of news to the Royal Court of the Doggfather, we thought there should be something which had both street cred and tech cred. We’re in luck, because Jabra made us look no further than the BT3030. The BT3030 is no ordinary stereo Bluetooth headset, and it doesn’t bother to look like it. It looks like a dog tag, which means you can hang it around your neck. Hot, right? On the side of it, you can switch headphones, and the keys on the front light up in blue. Here comes the part you can use if you have a possé. First of all, it has a reach of 10 meters, and that means that you don’t have to carry your phone, your people can carry it for you. Second of all, it supports two devices at the same time. And what’s more pimp than having one really cool phone?  Having two. If you’d like mo’ info, then it gets you 7 hours of music playback, 8 hours of talk, and 230 hours of stand-by time. Just don’t tell the homies in the hood, ’cause this is our secret.

[Via Newlaunches.com]

We’ve all been there, when we were kids. Seeing those people touch their left ear, and secretly saying something into a headset was so cool. Then when we grew up, and had the money to buy a headset for our phones, it just didn’t feel the same.

Maybe there is a chance to regain some of that "cool’ once again with the Invisio G5 headset. Nextlink usually produces headsets for S.W.A.T. teams and special branches of the military, so if you’re lucky, there might even be some ear wax on it from a guy who can kill you in six different ways using just his bare hands. Awesome!

The pedigree is certainly a wow-factor we like, but after a long sip of coffee (or your drink of choice), the novelty does wear out a little. Luckily, Invisio has a little extra in the goodie bag for us: the G5 is quite small. They call it the world’s smallest Bluetooth headset. Not sure about that, but 3.3 cm long, 1.6 cm wide, and weighing in at 6 grams, it makes for a rather small headset. It even has a party piece more; it’s protective casing, which is sort of like the Barry Bonds of protective casings. The headset itself has 4 hours of talk and 150 hours of stand-by, but the protective casing is juiced up so it charges the G5 every time it’s placed there. That gives you 20 hours of talk time and 30 days stand-by. With that much stamina, you almost need to buy a Philips 9@9 Xenium model to find out what can last the longest.

And one last thing…it has something called Soft Spring, which claims to make it fit better when you’re wearing eye gear. Good news, if you plan on becoming an international man of mystery, then there is no need to ditch the shades or the Austin Powers glasses.

Oh sorry, what was that? We were just humming the theme from Mission Impossible…

[Via Gizmodo]

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It’s pretty tough to shop for accessories for your computer or cell phone and not come across Belkin’s name. With one shot, they’ve come up with a new accessory that helps you with both. It’s basically a Bluetooth dongle, but, when it’s combined with some swanky new software from photo-guru Kodak, it will effortlessly pull your cell phone photos to your computer. And, it happens simply when your phone is within range. Once on your computer, you can set it up to print, save, and even upload to MySpace or Facebook. To top the whole thing off (and, perhaps, justify the $50 price tag), this software / hardware combo will pull full-resolution photos from your phone, instead of the normally-compressed versions that would be sent via MMS. We think this could be great, but only if you’re pretty tech-deficient. Hey…we all have those relatives, right?

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Here we have the WiBrain B1. It’s a new UMPC that features a 1.2GHz intel processor, 1GB of RAM, a 60GB HD, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Why does that really matter? Well, remember how UMPCs were supposed to "affordable"? This one is priced at $849, which we can’t argue with! It uses the split QWERTY thumb pad arrangement that the Samsung Q1 Ultra uses, but in our usage, it worked pretty well. Let’s not fool ourselves, it took some getting used to, but the buttons were placed and sized nicely, with awesome tactile feedback. See that word, UMPC / mini-Computer makers? Tactile. This has it, and even has a pop-up webcam with built-in mic which was pretty cool. The screen looked gorgeous with a 4.8" 1024×600 resolution, so the unit is definitely wide. It’s a real UMPC, so that’s to be expected. We were completely pleased with the unit, found it to be light and easy to use and navigate (especially since it uses a touch-pad for the mouse), and the price makes it all the more appealing!

UPDATE: It uses a VIA processor, not Intel!

Check out the WiBrain B1 unboxing photos in our gallery!

Thanks, Dynamism!

We heard the news, and we checked it out, too. In our earlier findings, we were a little disappointed with the headset’s "noise-cancellation" functionalities, but after we spoke to a head engineer from Moto, we decided to give it another go. What we were told actually makes sense — the noise-cancellation works best in "real-life" conditions. We immediately thought of comparing it to the all-mighty Jawbone and proceeded to blast music and noise as loud as we could while trying to hold a conversation using the Motorola H12 headset. The headset, in so many words, told us to get lost. Why would a noise-cancelling headset not cancel the noise? The response we got was that those situations are avoidable. If you’re in the car with the radio blasting, the windows open, going 80MPH and trying to talk to someone at the same time, you might as well close the windows and turn the radio down, right? The situations described to us as working the best did, in fact, perform amazingly well. Some of these were a crowded and noisy bar / club, Times Square with pretty decent winds, and a sporting event. From our initial impressions, we called it one of most comfortable, if not, the most comfortable Bluetooth headset of all time. This still holds true, and when you’re in cahoots with the noise-cancellation processor, you’ll be loving every MOTOPURE minute of the H12 Bluetooth headset.

P.S. We pushed and begged, but the canned response we got indicated that this is the only color choice for the near future. Knowing Moto though, we’d expect these in M&M’s colors, Skittles colors, and a "luxury" edition soon.

We’re all for the idea of wireless technology, but don’t think we’re in the minority when we say that quality audio is more important than ridiculous distance. Why someone would need a bluetooth headset to work a football field away escapes us. But, that’s what the new Callpod Dragon headset claims. It does pack a couple slick features, including dual-mic noise suppression and a two-way walkie-talkie feature if you have two of them. We get nervous setting our phone down on a desk and being six feet from it, much less 328. But, if that trips your trigger, the Dragon will set you back about $120.

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Motorola went and announced their H12 Bluetooth headset just now, and it’s the first headset to feature CystalTalk, previously found only in some of their handsets. It supposedly was designed with "TrueComfort" which should alleviate those awkward irritating moments when wearing a Bluetooth headset for longer than 5 minutes. They didn’t just stop there, though. The actual headset (we’re talking about a headset, not a phone, OK?) comes with a matching desktop charger, charging case, and even a shirt clip so you can rock it all day, everyday, just like Busta Rhymes. We heard it will initially be only available through AT&T stores, so what do you say Moto? You’ve got our address! Full specs, after the jump!

UPDATE: Beginning today, the MOTOPURE H12 will retail for $99.99 after a mail-in-rebate at AT&T stores.

• Ear bud w/ ear hook for extra security
• Weight: 12 grams
• Dimensions: 41mm x 18mm x 12mm
• Talk Time: up to approximately 5.5 hours
• Standby Time: up to approximately 200 hours
• Connector: Contact charging, Micro USB located on charging solutions
• Easy Pairing Technology: Exclusive technology simplifies connecting to your compatible Bluetooth® enabled device
• Automatic low power mode
• LED light indicates battery life
• Volume orientation
• Dedicated power switch
• Call button: answer, end, reject, mute and hold
• Bluetooth Class 2 wireless technology offers a wireless connection up to 10 meters (33 feet) away*

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Just when the U.S. goes and punishes its spammers, those wacky Brits go an give it the OK. Bluespam, for those unfamiliar with it, is the ridiculously annoying process of sending spam and advertising messages via Bluetooth. Technically, they didn’t specify that it was OK, but rather, they removed Bluetooth as a medium that requires opt-in from consumers, allowing unsolicited spam to be delivered at will. The part that baffles us when it comes to spam is who on Earth actually clicks on those things? Aren’t they annoying to virtually everyone? Then again, it only takes one to keep spammers in a "justified" mindset. We just hope the U.S. continues to fight spammers, not open more doors for them.

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Parrot has quite a lineup here at Digital Life. Known for their speakers and Bluetooth peripherals, we got a chance to test out a couple of new products. First up is the Parrot PARTY Bluetooth stereo speaker system. The PARTY (yeah, we know) sports an integrated Bluetooth receiver, making it easy to pair with any Bluetooth device that sports the A2DP stereo profile. This obviously includes cell phones, computers, DAPs, and more. This thing is truly compact, coming in at a mere 9" wide. Sound is decent, but not spectacular. Bass sounded a bit muffled, then again, for the size we’re not too worried. This is currently available for about $149.99. Next up on the Pirate’s shoulder was the 3200 LS-Color Bluetooth Hands-free car kit. As the name implies, this is an in-car device that allows you to sync your mobile phone, providing a relatively large and clear color screen with true hands-free calling operation. The screen is fantastic, and can clearly display your call log, caller ID, phone book info, and much more. It also recognizes pre-programmed voice tags, too. It’s not cheap product, clocking in at about $260 retail, but it’s a nice little unit nonetheless. Check out some more shots after the break!