In theory Bluetooth wireless headsets for mobile phones are a good idea. They offer the sound quality and convenience of a wired headset, yet give the user freedom to move without having to worry about tangling themselves up in cable. Bluetooth's range of several metres is also very handy, too.
However, until now, Bluetooth headsets have required Bluetooth-compatible phones. Fortunately, Plantronics has started what is likely to become a major trend with a Bluetooth mobile phone headset that also features a Bluetooth phone adapter. Plantronics claims that the M1500 - five types available to suit different phones - is compatible with almost every model.
The headset features the unit's controls, so the user can start or end a phone call by pressing its Answer/End switch. And if their mobile features voice dialling, all the user needs to do is say the name of the person they are calling into the headset.
The M1500 comes with rechargeable batteries which offer up to 2.5 hours of talk time, or up to 75 hours of standby time and can be recharged in an hour. The unit should be available in the summer and cost around £150.
Barely a week goes by without a manufacturer taking steps into the handheld PC market. Toshiba recently launched its first personal digital assistant, the e570. Next week, Sharp will offer Zarus SL5500, the first PDA in the UK to use the Linux operating system.
Coming at the end of the month is the PocketGear 2060, the first handheld PC from Packard Bell. According to the company, the PDA's trump card is that it is the smallest and lightest (150g including battery) model to use Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system. The 2060 teams an Intel 206MHz StrongArm SA-1100 processor with a 240x320 pixel colour display and 64MB RAM. Additional storage capacity and a range of accessories can be added via the Secure Digital (SD) card slot. In addition to pocket versions of Word, Outlook and Internet Explorer, the 2060 features a Windows Media player that plays both music and movies and instant messaging software. It has infrared connection to a mobile phone, although unlike the Compaq iPaq H3870 there's no Bluetooth compatibility. The PDA will retail for £429.
It might sound like a belated April Fool joke, but a Japanese company has developed a prototype of a mobile that can "lip read". Keiji Tachikawa, president of the Japanese telecommunications company NTT DoCoMo, recently paraded the device, adding that he was confident it could reach the market within five years. Apparently, users will be able to mouth their words silently into the phone's mouthpiece, which will detect electrical signals sent by muscles around the mouth. These signals are then converted into words or text. So far, the prototype only recognises vowels: consonants are proving slightly trickier.
The phone sounds like great news for cinema-goers who fancy a silent chat during boring movies. But will it put an end to noisy train carriages filled with mobile users detailing their current whereabouts? Probably not.
