Blueant is making some headlines today with the introduction of two new products. First up is the T1 Bluetooth headset.  It’s their first headset to sport Wind Armour Technology, which is said to eliminate microphone wind noise up to 22mph.  And with those kind of winds you’d have to expect some dust and debri, so Blueant has made the T1 extra tough and durable, enough so to ward of occasional dust and moisture.  Some other features include multipoint connection, A2DP compatibility as well as caller announce and voice answer by saying “answer” or “ignore”.  The T1 will be available in stores this May for $80.

Next up is their Q1 Android application that works with their previously released Q1 headset.  In short order it let’s Q1 headset users listen to their text messages and also provides some quick links to pairing and connection guidance, support information and a direct link to BlueAnt Customer Service.  The app is availabe for Q1 owners free of charge.

Read – T1
Read – Q1 Android App

BlueAnt rolled out a new Bluetooth headset today, the Q1 (it was initially announced at CES).  For the most part it’s your garden variety headset with the exception of complete voice control.  Simply stating ‘redial’, ‘answer’ or ‘check battery’ and a variety of other commands will set the Q1 into action.  If you happen to forget its available commands you can say ‘what can I say’ and the headset will list the available options.  Other notables include dual-mics with voice isolation that can apparently handle 10 mph winds, a 4 hour talk time and 100 hours standby time.

The Q1 will be available this quarter for about $130.

[i4u]

In the case of Bluetooth headsets, too small is never a bad thing. The BlueAnt Z9i Blueooth headset is the perfect mix of size, weight and comfort. But those attributes are nothing without sound quality, volume and connectivity. So how does the Z9i perform?

Is the Bluetrek Z9i any different from other Bluetooth headsets?
The Z9i is your pretty typical Bluetooth headset. It’s probably smaller than the majority of headsets out there and offers a well balanced solid build. An interesting option is the ability to switch between two ‘voice isolation’ modes which I had a hard time detecting.

How’s battery life?
Battery life is as spec’d. You’ll get about 3-5 hours of talk time and a good 4 or 5 days of standby time.

Is it comfortable?
No complaints here. It’s really light weight, and the flexible left/right ear hook, which can be flipped, swiveled and pulled to adjust to almost any ear, kept it securely attached to my head. The default ear bud was a little large for my ear canal, but its rubber padding enabled a snug enough fit for most circumstances. I only suffered from the default ear plug when driving, as it didn’t prevent outside noise from seeping in and mixing with the caller’s voice. Something that was slightly resolved by switching to the included smaller ear piece.

How’s the sounds quality and connection?
As mentioned, sound quality was good. Callers never complained about me

sounding distant, although the mic lay at my ear. The spec’d ‘wind reduction’ technology sorta works, but when I sat in front of a fan and recorded my voice over voicemail, it was very apparent that I was in a windy environment. Notably, the volume of the Blueant Z9i was a little under par from other Bluetooth headsets I’ve experienced, but on the upside prevented me from blowing my ear drum out. As for connectivity, I was a little disappointed. I tested the Z9i with my iPhone, and although the device ‘paired’ easily with my phone initially and when placed back in proximity, the connection was often filled with ‘crackles and pops’, unless of course my phone lay within a 1-2 foot range.

How long does charging take?
From what I could tell it takes a few hours to get a full charge from the BlueAnt Z9i. When powered on, the call answer button, which is finished in silver with the BlueAnt insignia, flashes blue, like many Bluetooth headsets. Included in the packaging is a USB cord for charging by computer. A nice touch if you’ve got an already cluttered power strip.

Is it worth buying?
To be honest, there wasn’t anything that absolutely floored me about the BlueAnt Z9i. I loved its small and subtitle size, and pairing, volume control and call answer are all simple enough even for my tech retarded mother. It offers a slew of other features, such as call transfer, voice dial (if your phone offers that), reject call, redial last number, etc, which should attract those in need of a feature heavy headset. All together, I just wish the connection to my phone was on pare with the BlueAnt Supertooth 3.

The BlueAnt Z9i is available here for $67 with Free Shipping

Don’t forget Newegg’s $6 coupon: EMCAJCBAF

Check out my review of the Blueant Supertooth 3

Features:

• Handsfree talking with 15 hours talk time and 800 hours standby time
• Noise cancellation, volume control and handsfree answer

Buy it: BlueAnt US-093744 Bluetooth Handsfree Speakerphone – $68

I gotta be honest, prior to receiving the Supertooth 3, I had never used a Bluetooth speaker phone. Fortunately, the Supertooth 3′s setup was straight forward and super easy to use, intuitive in fact. With in 5 minutes (including time walking to my car) I had the Blueant Supertooth 3 setup and ready for calls (this doesn’t included the charging time). My experience to date has almost been flawless with one minor drawback, and because of this small and relatively in expensive product I’ve finally realized an almost complete iPhone car integration.

How difficult is the Supertooth 3′s setup?
As mentioned in my intro, the Supertooth 3 is pretty darn simple to setup. Upon initial powering, the device is ready to be paired with a phone, and after setting my phone to ‘discoverable’ and entering the pin ’0000′ in my handset the two devices were paired. The Supertooth 3 then continued to suck down all my iPhone’s contacts and kept me abreast of its progress until completion. Installing the Supertooth onto my car was simple as slipping one of the two metal strips over the visor and aligning the Supertooth 3′s magnets into position.

Is it loud enough to understand the caller and could the caller(s) hear you ok?
This thing gets almost ear drum piercing loud. Furthermore, it automatically adjusts to ambient noise and increases amplitude as necessary (I had a hard time judging this). Not one caller complained of a poor connection or the ‘echo’ effect often experienced with speakerphones, but a few asked the forever nagging question of ‘Am I on speakerphone?’ Unlike many Bluetooth headsets, there was absolutely not static in the connection.

Can you ‘mute’ the Supertooth 3 and what other buttons are there?
There is no actual ‘mute’ button on the Supertooth, but fortunately, most phone’s have this built-in – sorta defeats the purpose of handsfree, though. For the sake of simplicity while driving, it looks like BlueAnt purposely went bear bones on the buttons, which I assure you is a good thing when navigating LA’s highways and back roads. There’s two button, green and red, dedicated to answering and disconnecting respectively, and volume buttons. Furthermore, you can toggle the ‘voice answer’ on and off by holding down the volume up key for 5 seconds. When a call arrives, you just need to say ‘ok’ or ‘accept call’ when the beep sounds and the Supertooth 3 will answer the call handsfree. Now for my gripe: The volume buttons are located on the sides of the Supertooth 3. While carrying the device to-and-fro from my vehicle I’d inevitably push the volume up or down button, eliciting the loud and ear piercing robotic voice which says ‘speech prompt volume’. ‘Speech prompt this’, is what I’d think to myself. Annoying yes, but not a deal breaker by any account.

How’s reconnecting the Supertooth 3 to the phone once it’s paired?
This was was virtually flawless. In fact, I got a few scares because the Supertooth 3 is so damn diligent about reconnecting to my phone. I’d step back into my vehicle, and the Supertoth 3′s voice would exclaim ‘reconnected to phone’, albeit in an androgynous voice. There aren’t too many Bluetooth devices, in my experience, that have achieved this level of ‘reconnect’.

Does the Supertooth 3 work well with the iPhone?
It worked great. In fact, while listening to music in my car via my iPhone it worked wonders and offered up a poor man’s version of an iPhone car integration. How so you ask? When my iPhone rang the music was automatically muted, and because the Supertooth 3 is connected via Bluetooth the call is transferred to the speakerphone and not the car’s stereo speakers. When the call hung up the music automatically restarted where it left off. Perfect, simple and cheap.

How’s battery life?
Killer. Standby time, with absolutely no use is a few hours short of 14 days. Throw in some consistent use and you’ll still achieve and ungodly amount of hours. Either way you’re covered, because BlueAnt includes a car charger.

Final thoughts?
It would be unfair for me to say the BlueAnt Supertooth 3 is wort its weight in gold because it’s so damn light. For a mere $70 or so, I was able to achieve better call quality than any Bluetooth headset plus a poor man’s iPhone car integration. The volume on the Supertooth 3 is loud and clear, it’s mic works great, installation is simple, battery life is great and setup is super easy. The title reads ‘Supertooth 3′, but it’s more like ‘BlueAnt Supereasy and Superuseful 3′.

Available here for $90 + Free Shipping

Look to the right for ‘more buying choices’

Features:

• Light weight headset design and 5.5 hours of talk time
• Works with Bluetooth V1.1 or 2.0
• Voice Isolation technology enhances voice sound and removes background noise

Buy it: BlueAnt Z9 Bluetooth Headset – $44