BlueAnt Supertooth 3

In 2007, we reviewed the BlueAnt Supertooth Light and gave it a very rare five star rating. A year later, BlueAnt has released its latest hands-free speakerphone, the Supertooth 3. The major change from its predecessor is the addition of text-to-speech technology, which announces instructions and caller ID to users in six different languages.

To say the Supertooth 3 has a lot to live up to is an understatement. The Supertooth Light was practically perfect, offering outstanding voice clarity and ease of use combined with a sleek and stylish design. For its price, it offered unsurpassed quality and excellent value for money, and no similar product has come close.

The Supertooth 3 is similar in design to its predecessor, but there is no longer a push-out microphone. Instead, this unit is powered on simply by holding the answer call button. We actually prefer the older method, as powering down this unit requires you to hold the button for five seconds. The unit clips onto your sun visor using two magnets that attach to the included clip. When you flip the sun visor down while driving, the unit can easily be taken off and clipped onto the other side, enabling access to the controls.

Aesthetically, the Supertooth 3 is once again a sleek and compact device with a gloss black finish. The speaker sits on top of the unit and is well concealed. There are minimal controls on the unit: large answer and end call keys sit next to the speaker, and volume buttons are on top of the device. All the controls are soft and easy to press and the answer/end call keys light up when your phone rings.

Conveniently, the unit automatically goes into pairing mode when switched on, so synchronising with any Bluetooth compatible phone is quick and hassle free. The Supertooth 3 can pair with up to eight phones and it remembers each phone, so there is no need to do anything after the original pairing besides power the unit on.

The major addition to this model is text-to-speech technology, meaning this unit 'talks' to you during its operation. The main benefit of this technology is the fact that the Supertooth 3 announces caller ID information for incoming calls. In addition, you can answer incoming calls simply by saying 'accept call', 'OK', 'accept' or 'answer', so your eyes remain on the road and your hands on the wheel. Unfortunately you aren't able to reject an incoming call using voice — this has to be done be pressing the end call button.

In order to have the Supertooth 3 announce caller ID information, your contacts need to be sent to the unit. In most cases, this is done automatically the first time you pair your phone (this was the case during our testing). However, some phones may not support this and you'll have to send them manually — often this is just a case of selecting all of your contacts and sending them to the Supertooth 3.

The voice technology also provides regular status updates. For example, it announces when it is powering up or down and whether or not it is connected to a mobile phone, and it will notify you when it is transferring your contacts. The Supertooth 3 has voice announcements in six languages — British English, American English, French, Italian, Spanish and German.

We were pleased to learn that the Supertooth 3's audio quality is just as good as, if not better than, its predecessor. The full duplex speakers work well, and our calls sounded extremely crisp and clear during testing. BlueAnt claims the use of noise and echo-cancellation technologies contribute to a better user experience, and we are inclined to agree. Despite plenty of wind noise, we were able to hold a clear conversation in a moving car with the window open.

Other features include voice dialling (if supported by your mobile phone), redialling, and transferring calls to and from the unit and your mobile phone, as you move within range or move out of range of the device.

BlueAnt includes an in-car charger, an AC charger and a bonus phone holder in the sales package. Battery life is excellent according to BlueAnt's figures: up to 15 hours talk time and up to 800 hours standby time.