BlueAnt S3 Bluetooth Speakerphone

30.03.2011
The BlueAnt S3 ($80 as of March 9, 2011) is the first model I've seen that lets you choose a language: British English, Australian English, or American English, as well as French and Spanish. When the device emits voice prompts, it does so in the accent you selected at setup. I have to admit that unleashing an accent from Down Under (male voice) or the UK (female voice) in the car gave the most mundane drives a little pizzazz. (The S3 attaches firmly to a car's sun visor with a clip.)

Although the availability of five language settings targets a wide audience, the BlueAnt S3's usability during driving sessions knocks down its usefulness several notches. Like its sibling, the , the S3 has touch-sensitive controls. They're housed beneath a smooth surface atop the unit; the controls are not perceptible in a physical or tactile way. After many test calls, I was still not 100 percent convinced, in the nanoseconds after tapping the controls, that I had accessed them correctly by feel alone.

For example, the main call control or multifunction button is located in the middle of the device's upper edge. During conversations, with my eyes on the road, I'd make my best guess and tap my right thumb on the multifunction button's likely spot to end each call. But without the tangible feedback, I found it hard to tell if my jabs were sufficient right after I did them. Furthermore, to increase volume, for instance, you have to swipe your finger from left to right a few times across the top of the unit--I'd prefer doing something less involved while driving.

Fortunately, the "Call terminated" voice prompt for hanging up--which comes through more than a split-second after the fact--and the beep that sounds when the maximum volume is reached are both reassuring.

I liked the large, sliding on/off switch at the side of the unit. I also liked how the S3 handled incoming calls: If it recognized the number from the contacts list that it had absorbed, it would announce the caller's name and offer me the choice "Answer or ignore." I reckon that U.S. English is the closest match to my own Irish accent, but the Australian and British modes also understood my responses here with no problem.

As in-car speakerphones go, call quality evened out to be about average or above-average most of the time. Voices through the S3's speaker sounded impressive. Callers listening to my sweet nothings expressed surprise when I revealed that I was talking on a speakerphone: They had assumed that I was on a headset, as my voice did not come across as too speakerphone-like.