Motorola announces H17txt Bluetooth headset with MotoSpeak

Looking for another reason to wear a Bluetooth headset all the time? Then you might want to consider admitting you have a problem, or you might want to get Motorola's new H17txt model, which can be paired with the company's new MotoSpeak text-to-speech application to read text messages aloud as they come in. That software is available for Android and BlackBerry initially, and will apparently even translate 150 different commonly used acronyms so things like l8r don't get read as l, eight, r. As for the headset itself, it's a fairly standard affair, with it boasting CrystalTalk noise-canceling technology, five hours of talk time and seven hours standby, and Bluetooth 2.1 compatibility. Still no indication of a price, but it should be available through Verizon starting today.

[perpetual98 Posted Apr 1st 2010 1:00PM]

Does it work the other way too so I can send texts via speech? That would make Oprah get off my case so I can concentrate of driving drunk instead of drunk texting, which she claims is worse.

[gmac Posted Apr 1st 2010 1:03PM]

That made me lol

[Prokanda Posted Apr 1st 2010 2:20PM]

@perpetual98: I know it was a joke.. but on the serious side, you can do speech-to-text on some (all?) android 2.1 devices. I'm waiting for my damn 2.1 on the droid. I would think it works with bluetooth headsets, but I'm not sure..

[weeman Posted Apr 1st 2010 1:13PM]

I think I've found a flaw, correct me if I'm wrong:

Quote 'boasting CrystalTalk noise-canceling technology'

Don't you have to cover up both ear for noise cancelling to work?

[juanvaldez Posted Apr 1st 2010 1:24PM]

@weeman Probably for ideal noise canceling, but noise-canceling is a process emitting Active Noise Control. I assume you can cancel the noise to 1 ear and it was never practical or a large enough market for consumers before bluetooth...?

[BH Posted Apr 1st 2010 2:15PM]

@weeman The purpose of the noise canceling is to allow those that you call to hear you more clearly. It's not there to cancel ambient noise so that you can hear better.

[dragonfli Posted Apr 1st 2010 3:25PM]

@weeman If you really, REALLY want noise canceling you'd go with a headset like the Voyager Pro (what with its' dual microphones and sidetone and every other noise canceling feature) and for the TTS, you'd go with a third party app (or hell, if you're in WinMo it's one tap away for Voice Command).

[dragonfli Posted Apr 1st 2010 3:27PM]

@weeman If you really, REALLY want noise canceling you'd go with a headset like the Voyager Pro (what with its' dual microphones and sidetone and every other noise canceling feature) and for the TTS, you'd go with a third party app (or hell, if you're in WinMo it's one tap away for Voice Command).

[BAGAGT1 Posted Apr 1st 2010 1:33PM]

Seven hours of standby seems rather short!

[herb Posted Apr 2nd 2010 12:34AM]

I bought this headset minus the txt and it's sound quality is horrible, it's very uncomfortable to wear and it was a huge waste of money. The receive audio is very tinny and the mic audio is very muddy and unclear. If you buy this headset, chances are you won't like it. Add another bell or whistle to this set and it still is a waste of time and money! I'm not a moto hater, nor do I like jawbone, but I think you can spend less money on a decent, but not perfect, moto h790. Or spend a little more and get the moto hx1. The plantronics voyager pro looks kinda dorky but it sounds good on receive audio and people say natural sounding on mic audio. Plus it's noise canceling circuitry adapts very well to various background crap. The moto hx1 works good too but my ear canal gets kinda raw after wearing it awhile. Good noise canceling on that one too without sounding crappy. Stealth mode sounds kinda like a deaf person speaking but at least people can understand you in very noisy situations.