Customer Reviews
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118 of 125 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Sound; Misleading Claims Cost It
By Bradford Schmidt
Pretty much everything the marketing material says about this headset is true: it's extremely comfortable, sounds great, and can read your text or emails to you. So what's the problem? I'll tell you in a sec.Packaging is over the top (aluminum case) but really nice, and setup was a breeze. take it out, charge it, pair it with my BlackBerry, done. It makes and answers calls just as any other Bluetooth does, and it sounds great doing it. And, as I said, it's extremely comfortable and is small enough to be as unobtrusive as possible.The big claim, though, is the ability to read text messages and emails to you. All you need to do is download the MotoSpeak software, and you're golden. And it's true. Kinda.Because while the software does exactly what it says, and does it well, you get a severely limited version for free. And nowhere on the box, or in the literature, to they tell you that before you plunk down your 84 bucks. The limitations are, except for one, reasonable: you can't change the reading speed of voice unless you buy the full version, nor can you change the voice style. No biggie.But the free version is limited to only 25 words.That's right, 25 words - after which it stops. You want the rest of your message, pony up a yearly fee of 14 bucks to unlock it. And as I said, nowhere on the box or in the literature do they mention that your C-note buys you a unit that stops reading after 25 words unless you pay a yearly fee. No, the fee isn't that much, but considering the price of the headset, and the fact that they don't even mention the limitation, I'm less than impressed.So - If the software didn't have limits on the number of words, I'd give it five stars. But the misleading marketing and advertising for the unit knock it back a full two stars. One because without the software at all it's just a really nice and comfy BT headset, and one for the lack of respect for consumers.
67 of 70 people found the following review helpful.
With the Motospeak App, you'll wonder why you can't just leave your phone at home.
By Canis Majoris
EDIT ************ The H17 gets a FIVE STAR rating, but the Motospeak app gets a four star at the moment (until a newer version fixes a few problems)***************This headset does a lot, plus a lot more. Let's start off with the basics before jumping into the Motospeak App.The H17txt is a lightweight, attractive, and comfortable Bluetooth headset. Phone calls come through clearly, with no reported dropped connections while using it.The advertised "mini noise cancellation" works, but not like the many noise cancelling headphones. It certainly helps tremendously when trying to hear a phone call where the recipient's reception is bad on top of you being in bad weather, or...in general. Feels like you are pressing the headset against your ear, except you do not have to do that because of the "background reduction" feature.Battery life is said to be 5 hours talk time and 6 days standby, but what is useful on this particular headset is that if you want to turn it off, you retract the boom. This helps when you are in places where you know that you will not be using it for a longer period of time, but still want it on your ear.In order to fit it to your ear, it comes with different size ear-gels, to conform to different shapes but also has a hearing-aid like band that you can loop around your ear. I found this to not work so well as it did not exactly fit as neatly and tightly as with the ear-gels.There are, of course, various buttons on the unit itself such as volume and push to talk/dial. When you press the dial button when there are no calls coming in, you have the option to make this a voice dial command. Meaning that you can say "call or dial ". I am sure you have used this feature in other devices such your cell phone or GPS, but it works nicely, and I found it to follow my commands better than any I have used thus far.This unit will also tell you when your battery is low and what the battery level is (by pressing the volume up and down simultaneously). Moreover, when you connect this to your phone the voice, I call her Grace (personification is fun with electronics), will guide you through the process of linking your phone to the device, while also letting you know when it connects and disconnects.Now on to the fun stuff: MotoSpeak.We know that this headset takes calls, but it also reads back texts and e-mails. For this to work you will have to download an app called "Motospeak" which has a free and a premium version. Personally, I loaded this on my Blackberry and this review will reflect that. First off, the difference between the free/premium are in the preferences. For example on the premium you can change the type of voice speaking back to you i.e. man instead of a woman. You can also adjust the e-mail settings on premium, whereas on the free version you cannot.The Motospeak function is great when it is in use. You can adjust the settings so that it will only read what you want it to read, but by default it will say something along the lines of: "Text from message ". On the free version, which is the one that was used, the female voice (of course computerized not humanized) spoke in a very conversational like manner with no stuttering and a surprisingly good articulation. She pronounced names well, and spoke the sentences as if I was reading them back to myself. On the settings though you can adjust things like speed while also being able to limit the words she will read back. Very expansive and user friendly.The only quirk I found with this device in whole was with the Motospeak app sometimes turning off for no reason. My guess is that maybe it was caused when changing signals/towers, however you can go back in the settings and turn it back on. There is no message from either device (cell phone or headset) letting you know when it is disconnected, which is kind of an annoyance. Also, if you turn the headset device off while the Motospeak app is still turned on in the cellphone, the app will proceed to read text messages through the speaker in your phone.This is a very useful device that seems to manage well all of the other pains that plagued older headsets. It allows for numerous conveniences while having a few minor inconveniences itself--though nothing that would stop me from not recommending it. This headset will make your cellphone feel like baggage. Thanks for reading!
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful.
Can you hear me now? Yes!
By J. Hoerter
I purchased the H17 before and loved it. It didn't make it through the spin cycle so I had to purchase another bluetooth and I knew I wanted this one again. I got the H17txt this time and I like it! I have a BB Bold so I get the txts read to me but I cannot dictate a response. Other phones allow you to do that. It works. I haven't really done a lot of long distance driving since I got this so I haven't really tested that feature completely.Making and receiving calls works well. I can hear and they can hear me. Connection with the device is very quick. It takes maybe 5 seconds at the most. When the phone starts ringing, you can turn it on and it will pick up the call before it goes to voicemail. It's small and light and fits in my pocket.When I had the H17 I used the ear hook that is pictured. That worked well and was comfortable for long periods of time. It spins around and folds down so it is compact for you pocket. Since I purchased the H17txt, I tried one of the inside ear thingies. It fits in your ear and has a loop that helps it stay in your ear. I was surprised how well it worked for my ear. I guess because the H17txt is so light, it doesn't take much to hold it in place. It's just a little bigger with the thingy versus the ear hook because the ear hook folds down, but I don't mind it.You can connect this to two phones or two bluetooth devices at the same time which means two phones separately too of course. I have it programed to hook up to my computer. My cell doesn't work in my house, but since I have WiFi and the ability to make and receive work phone calls on my laptop I never miss a beat using the H17txt to make calls with my computer. I would hate to have a device that could only hook up to one device at a time.It does recognize voice dialing. I'm sure the phone you're using has a lot to do with it, but it works with my phone.The reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that mine is a little buggier than the H17 I had before. On two occasions it has locked up to where it would not connect to a device or do anything. The light was on and no matter if I opened it or closed it nothing changed. I had to plug it into the charger for it to reset. This would only be a problem if I was stuck in an airport or anywhere without my charger. This has only happened twice.Battery life is excellent. I never had to charge it more than once in a day. Most of the time I can give it two days of heavy use. Sometimes over a week of occasional use. It exceeds my expectations in that regard.I would definitely purchase this again if it goes through the spin cycle again. It's small, seamless, works all the time (except for those two buggy times) and has excellent battery life.
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Did I really think a deal like this was any good?
