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The ability to use your device while driving is important for most of us but more and more states are implementing rules about cell phone use. For the most part, the new laws generally state that “No person shall operate a motor vehicle while using a mobile telephone to engage in a call while a vehicle is in motion”. It is a pretty simple law and violations can bring some stiff fines.

Fortunately, there are exceptions to these laws that will allow the use of your cell if you use a hands-free system. That is, a system that will allow you to communicate without the use of either hand.

The folks at Bluetrek have a rather unique handsfree solution in their new Bluetrek SurfaceSound Compact. I was immediately interested in this solution when I saw that they were using the speaker technology developed by NXT. For those of you that do not know, NXT has developed a flat panel speaker technology that maintains a very low profile with the end result of manufacturers being able to develop their products with a form factor unlike anyone else and having extraordinary sound without the bulk of large speakers.

The Package and Setup

You are greeted with a well presented package containing the SurfaceSound Compact, a sun visor clip system, a USB charging cable and a USB plug-in charger for your car, an earphone (mono) and a manual.

The SurfaceSound had power so I was immediately able to pair it with my device. For this review I used a Cingular 8525, a Palm 750, and a Motorola Q9m. The pairing was a simple process for each device and the SurfaceSound worked flawlessly on each of these devices. Because I usually use a different device each day, I was happy that I was able to easily reconnect with previously paired device for use while driving although it did take a little “playing around” to figure out the easiest and fastest manner of doing so.

The SurfaceSound Compact – what it looks like

It is an impressive looking device from your first look and even after several weeks, each time I hold it in my hand, I still am amazed at the design and how it nicely blends into my car as it rests on the sun visor. I’m even more impressed with its looks when I bring it into the house and sit it next to my computer letting it serve its role as a speakerphone while I’m working.

The design is thin … very thin (Size: 140 mm (L) x 94 mm (Diameter) x 13 mm (T)) but the specs are deceiving because the 13mm measurement is in the area where the battery lies. The remaining area is thinner; I think it is aprox 6mm.

Looking down on the speaker, you see a rectangular matte finish speaker surrounded by a rubberized ring that supports, balances and separates the speaker from the casing. A shiny black narrow band of plastic encases the flat panel speaker and to the right is a thin black microphone boom that rotates about 170 degrees for optimal use. The lower right hand corner of the speaker housing had an LED that glows red when charging. Above the LED, halfway up the side are indicators for the Volume +- and the Phone answer/hangup. Both indicators glow when the buttons (located on the side) are pressed.

There is a NXT logo at the top of the casing and a Bluetrek logo to the right on the microphone boom. At the bottom of the boom, you see an opening for the microphone. There is another opening for the microphone on the rear of the boom.

Turning the SurfaceSound Compact over, the rear has the battery compartment area on the left, a circular disk located in the center for attaching the visor clip and the right side has a series of “slits” in the casing. I assume these slit not only allow sound to come from the speaker but also serve to balance resonation of the speaker itself.

The bottom of the unit has a mini USB input for charging as well as a jack input for headset use. When the microphone boom is raised, it reveals the buttons for Volume +- and the Phone answer/hangup. Both buttons are an opaque white that glow blue when pressed for an action. As much as I liked the placement for overall looks and appearance, I found pressing the buttons inconvenient while driving. In addition, although you do not need to exert a lot of pressure to activate the buttons, I found that the unit would slide on the visor as I pressed the buttons. The overall effectiveness of the buttons would have been greatly enhanced if they were incorporated into the front so a simple press would activate them.

The clip for the visor is removable although I had some difficulty removing it initially because of a “sticky” adhesive that held it on. Carefully removing the adhesive allowed for easy installation and removal of the clip. I have found that I use the SurfaceSound Compact while sitting at my desk and the “look” is better without the clip.

Call/Sound Quality

Once connected, I made a variety of calls and all reported that the clarity of my voice was excellent. The incoming sound initially gave me mixed results with a couple of mobile calls not being as clear as I would expect however other mobile calls proved to be fine so I attribute it to the other devices and not the SurfaceSound Compact. Over the three week period I have used the device, I have found it to be satisfactory.

When used as a handfree solution at a desk, the sound was very good. Loud and crisp is probably the best way to describe it and with My Motorola Q9m, I can listen to my music as well make calls which I was pleased with. In my car, I believe that some of the sound is absorbed into the soft padded visor but it is still very good and interestingly enough, with the Q9m, it is the best of all the devices I tried.

Although I could adjust the volume from the SurfaceSound, I was not able to adjust it from the device when connected which I found disappointing. When listening to music via the SurfaceSound, I would have liked to reduce the volume to a minimal setting but the sound adjustment would not let me bring down to a low level.

Is the SurfaceSound capable of serving as or replacing a dedicated portable external speaker? No. Not even close or comparable with the Logitech MM28 speakers that also uses the NXT technology. But if you remember what it was designed for (a handsfree car system), you will be pleased with the ability to listen to sound from your device when needed.

Charging/Battery life

I’ve charged the device in the car using the provided DC USB plug-in charger with the USB charging cable and have been pleased with the charge times. The length of time clearly depends on the rate of discharge but it’s relatively fast and something you just don’t tend to think about. You just end up plugging it in and let it charge. A red light glows while charging and turns off when it is fully charged.

Clearly you can charge the device either in the car or from a USB port from your computer. I have charged it once from my PC but tend to just leave the charger in my car. For me, it is just a little more convenient to charge it there but it is nice to have the option to bring it inside if you want to charge it there.

Although I have not run out of power, I have tended to charge it once a week (when I think of it) and usually when I have gone somewhere and the car is going to parked for a couple of hours. I don’t think there is a danger of draining the battery of my car … lol. The provided literature indicates that it takes 4 hours to charge but I have not experienced that. My charge times seem to be running 3 hours or less.

Special Features

There are a variety of special features that make this device very intriguing. Voice recognition was excellent in making a call with both Voice Command and with the voice recognition programs that came pre-installed on my device. By pressing once on the Talk button it would initiate my Voice Recognition program on my Motorola Q9m.

It was easy to transfer a call from the SurfaceSound Compact to my device (or visa-versa) by double clicking the Talk button. And during a call, if another call comes in, you can easily switch between calls by pressing the Talk button. There is also a Call Redial and Reject a call feature which can come in handy while driving although I did find it difficult to drive and try to press the button without the device moving on my visor.

What I particularly liked was turning the SurfaceSound on and as soon as it was connected, a voice would say Device Connected or if you did not have Bluetooth enabled on your mobile, it would say Device Not Connected if it tried to connect and was unable to do so. It was a nice feature.

Conclusion

Overall, the BlueTrek SurfaceSound Compact is a decent handsfree solution. It paired easily with all of my test devices and was easily reconnected to previous devices. The battery life has been better than expected exceeding the rated times for calls and standby times.

I liked the ability to not only make calls but to also listen to my music while sitting at a desk (or driving a car). I did find that on occasion while playing music that the Bluetooth connection seemed to have a slight interruption while playing music files. It was not a consistent issue and although I noticed it on occasion, it would not be a deal breaker for me.

Using the unit as a handsfree solution in an office environment was superior. The call clarity was always excellent. When in the car, I did have difficulty with some calls in the ability for me to hear the caller clearly but the overall it was acceptable. It could very well be that some sound was absorbed into the soft cloth visor in my car attributing to the difficulty with hearing some callers.

I like the adjustable boom mic allowing for different angles of use especially the ability to rotate it backwards to have the unit stand upright on a desk. However, it would have been better if the angle of adjustment was increased to allow for flipping the visor down on sunny days.

Pros

NXT Flat Panel Speaker

Multi-device pairing

Myriad of “special features”

Long battery life

Cons

Sound not adjustable via handset

Boom mic needs greater angle of adjustment

Some calls were difficult to hear

Visit BlueTrek here (http://www.bluetrek.com/)

Jack Cook (2689 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook