SuperTooth Crystal hands-on

Last year, we checked out the SuperTooth HD, a portable Bluetooth speakerphone that’s made to be primarily used in the car – thus, giving users a great hands-free solution. Nearly a year later, we’re finally seeing an update to Supertooth’s line of Bluetooth speakerphones, as the SuperTooth Crystal is now available for purchase at $69, which is significantly less than the $130 SuperTooth HD from last year.

Right away, the SuperTooth Crystal sports a form factor that's more compact in size, since it has a distinctive elongated design. Unfortunately, its choice of materials is a step backwards compared to the previous offering, mainly because it has a cheap plastic feel – though, it translates to an extremely lightweight feel, but then again, it doesn’t matter much since it’s going to be stationary on a car’s visor.



On the front side of the SuperTooth Crystal, we find its physical power, volume up, volume down, multi-function, and answer/decline buttons. Obviously, the internal speaker is hidden behind the grill, while a slit at the other end is there for its microphone. In the rear, there’s a microUSB port to charge its internal battery, which is rated to offer 20 hours of talk time or 40 days of standby. Sadly, audio quality is clearly lacking with this one, due to the amount of crackling and strain heard when it’s placed at its loudest volume setting. However, bringing it a few notches down, it becomes somewhat more tolerable.



In addition to connecting via Bluetooth, the SuperTooth features a durable magnetic clip, automatic pairing, multipoint technology, A2DP enabled, and supports voice recognition with select phones. Using it in the car, it’s a bit easier to have conversations with people – well, as long as the windows are up and background noise is kept to a minimum. Ultimately, you might want to check out some other alternatives since audio quality isn’t its strongest point.