Portable Bluetooth speakerphones that provide a hands-free way for drivers to stay in touch while on the road are nothing new. Nor are voice-controlled Bluetooth speakerphones with text-to-speech capabilities to read out the name of a caller. But the new SuperTooth HD adds a something new for social networking tragics on the go in the form of a SuperTooth Handsfree Assistant feature that allows drivers to compose and send Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and SMS messages, all without taking their hands off the wheel.
The SuperTooth HD is designed to clip onto a car's sun visor with pairing the device with your mobile phone the only other installation necessary. If your vehicle isn't the best at insulating you from road noise then SuperTooth claim its HD's two 5.4 W speakers and 5.4 W amplifier result in a device that is three times more powerful than any other speakerphone, while its built-in dual microphones pick up voices more clearly to offer increased clarity. Voice commands can be used to answer calls, select pre-dialed numbers, check the battery level and retrieve voicemail.
But it's the capability of two way, voice activated handsfree messaging where the SuperTooth HD gets more interesting. Powered by Dial2Do, the SuperTooth Handsfree Assistant feature lets users compose and listen to Facebook and Twitter updates along with more than 30 other social networking and online tools such as Evernote and Google Calendar. The device can also read incoming e-mail and SMS messages on Android and Blackberry phones from within the email or SMS application.
While the SuperTooth HD is compatible with all Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones, the SuperTooth Handsfree Assistant app is currently for BlackBerry and Android devices only. The freely downloadable app provides users six months free usage of all features but to continue to use the full functionality users will need to subscribe to a pro package at US$5.99 per month or $59.99 annually.
The SuperTooth HD along with the SuperTooth Handsfree Assistant will be available from SuperTooth in April 2011, retailing for US$129.
What is really required is a system that will totally disable a phone while the engine is running, and sound an alarm if the driver\'s attention wavers.