With his hands in his pockets, Michael
Fereday has been testing a hands-free communication device
Plantronics Voyager Legend
Details
Price:
$145.5
Manufacturer: Plantronics
Website:
www.plantronics.com
Required spec: N/A
Positioned at the high end of its Bluetooth
headset range, Plantronics has released the Voyager Legend. This is a
lightweight one-piece headset constructed mainly from soft touch material,
especially for those areas that come into contact with the skin. The Voyager
Legend allows you to adjust the ear-loop and boom microphone elements so that
the headset can be worn on either ear.
As part of the standard package you get
three silicone ear-tips of varying sizes - one is already attached - and two
foam covers. You also get a magnetic docking unit, car cigarette lighter
adapter and a USB lead for charging the headset in different locations. Along
with a small Get Started booklet, Plantronics has included a ten-character code
allowing you access to a one-year free subscription to its Vocalyst voice and
text service - more on this a little later.
Located on the ear-loop you will find the
power switch and volume control, plus the contact strips for charging the
device. The boom microphone features three mics that combine to help
distinguish and isolate your voice from any extraneous interference that may be
around. There's also a button that can switch between mute and play/pause,
depending whether you're in a call or listening to streaming audio.
The Voyager Legend comes partially charged,
so the unit can be put to immediate use by switching on the device. At this
point, the headset will automatically be in pairing mode, with voice
announcements leading you through the process of linking to an iPhone, Android,
BlackBerry or Windows Phone handset. Later, you can set up a Bluetooth link to
a second handset by following the instructions in the Get Started booklet. The
Voyager Legend will identify these handsets as Phone One and Phone Two when it
announces an incoming call, so you will know which phone is being used.
As well as announcing incoming calls, which
can be accepted or rejected by a voice command, the Voyager Legend can also
deliver other data. It can glean information from the handset's phone book to
announce the caller's name. It will also keep you up to date as to which
handsets are available when you switch the headset on, plus the amount of talk
time currently available.
As mentioned earlier, this headset comes
with a one-year free subscription to Plantronics’s Vocalist service. You will
need to activate this feature by accessing the relevant website, entering the
relevant code and some personal details such as handset type and number,
Plantronics device, email address and a password. Various services are available
by dialing a provided number and then speaking the appropriate command. These
services include receiving weather reports for a designated location, hearing
news reports and having your emails read back to you. I did encounter one or
two problems in getting the Vocalist service to understand my commands. For
example, it confused my request to hear my emails with delivering a news
report. This is not a feature I would use regularly.
Far more useful from my point of view was
the Smart Sensor technology built into the headset. Among its features was the
ability to automatically switch a call between the headset and handset
depending on whether the headset was being worn or not.
With a full charge you should get up to
seven hours of talk time and 11 hours on standby, which should be plenty for
even the most garrulous among us.
“A comfortable headset with additional
features that could prove useful”
