March 31, 2006 – In 1969, when Neil Armstrong's headset carried the historic first words from the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” it was almost to predict that just a third of a century later, a significant proportion of the population would be wearing wireless headsets on a semi-permanenet basis. Once worn for mission-critical applications such as air traffic control, 911 dispatch, and and fighter pilots, the technology available in a Bluetooth headset for the mobile phone now considerably outstrips the most sophisticated headsets available regardless of cost just a decade ago, and continues to evolve rapidly. Plantronics will debut two new headsets next week at CTIA which push those boundaries. The US$150 Discovery 645 and US$80 Voyager 510 with WindSmart, both incorporate new technologies for audio clarity during conversations. The Voyager 510 is the first Bluetooth headset on the market to include both a noise-canceling microphone and wind-reduction technology for brilliant sound in windy environments. The Discovery 645 includes a digital signal processing (DSP) chip to actively reduce background noise when talking.
A recent test of the new Voyager 510 headset by the National Analysis Center, a leading independent testing lab for the wireless phone industry, found that “the Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth headset supports an innovative boom microphone design which greatly minimizes the effects of wind noise. A high level of customer satisfaction should be realized due to the exceptional audio quality along with the ability to use the headset in outdoor windy conditions.” For its superior wind noise performance, the National Analysis Center awarded the Voyager 510 its “Innovation” award.
“As Bluetooth headsets gain in popularity, consumers are using them in every imaginable environment —from the car to night clubs to baseball games,” said Renee Niemi, vice president of Mobile and Entertainment at Plantronics. “By adding advanced sound technologies to the Discovery and Voyager products, we are providing consumers with the best of both worlds: products that look great and sound fantastic, regardless of where they are talking.”
The Plantronics Voyager 510 with WindSmart also features a new stylish black and silver color scheme, and includes multipoint technology for seamlessly switching between two Bluetooth devices. Other product features include:
- Lightweight, foldable design for all-day wearing comfort and easy storage,One-touch call answer/end, last number redial and voice activated dialing,Boom swivels for use on either ear for optional wearing preference,Support for Bluetooth headset and hands-free profiles,Up to 6 hours talk time and up to 100 hours standby time, andFreedom to roam up to 33 feet away from voice-enabled Bluetooth devices.
The Discovery 645 incorporates the same style and design as the internationally acclaimed Discovery 640, which recently won the prestigious Industry Forum (iF) Product Design Award, and now includes DSP for crystal clear calls. Weighing less than two nickels, the Discovery 645 is extremely discrete and one of the lightest DSP Bluetooth headset on the market. Discovery 645 product features include:I
