BlueAnt Supertooth Light Review

By PhoneArena Team

Updated: Sep 09, 2008, 7:15 AM

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Accessories

Introduction:

The Australian company BlueAnt is the leader on its continent in the manufacturing of Bluetooth accessories, as it strives to get a larger share also on the world market. The manufacturer offers various devices for wireless communication varying from headsets and car kits to hands free integrated in helmets.

Today we will examine BlueAnt SuperTooth Light. This is a one-piece-carkit with a loudspeaker, and is designated to work in cars, but it is made in such a way to allow its use in close premises, for example – in an office.

Box Content:

Supertooth Light
Saver Charger
Travel Charger
Clip & User Manual

Design:

BlueAnt SuperTooth Light is designed for easy installation in the car and the company offers two varieties: white and black (our unit). Its dimensions of 122 x 60.2 x 18.2 mm (4.8 x 2.37 x 0.71 inches) and weight of 115 g (4 oz) do not rank it among the smallest and most light devices at the market, but it will hardly by uncomfortable even if you wear it often.

The unit tested by us, is made of shiny black plastic, as only the buttons, the side parts and the mic shaft are opaque. The shiny part makes the device look really good and to fits in the interior of most cars, but unfortunately after some time you will have to clean it from the fingerprints.

We would say that the word “installation” is too strong when we speak about the BlueAnt SuperTooth Light. The device fastens to the sun-visor of the car via a strong metal clip, ensuring stability and security of placing without being necessary to use screws. The carkit is clutched to the clip by two magnets, which ensure not only good and strong fastening, but also quick unfastening, when necessary. The clip itself is two-sided and allows for fastening of the device no matter whether the sun-visor is pulled down or not. You just have to remove the handsfree, pull down the sun visor and put it on the other side of the clip. It happens quickly and easily, and the magnets themselves, which are located in the rear part of the device, go into the route made by the clip, which prevents sliding and facilitates its placing.

There are 4 management buttons in total and a rubber mic shaft. The volume up- and down- keys are made of rubber, as well, and are located on the side of the device, so that when it is installed they are directed towards you. Exactly underneath them, on the front side of the device, the accept and end/reject buttons are located. They are made of a hard material and are opaque, and have respectively a green and a red light underneath, which is so discrete that only reminds for their availability without blinding or irritating you. All buttons are large and are made in such a way that working with them does not take all your attention, but rather leave to drive peacefully. Pressing them is non-problematic and easy, and has a very goof tactile feedback, and it is possible to press them even with the soft part of the finger.

Further down under the end/reject button are located the Bluetooth and the charge indicators. The charge indicator shines in three different colors depending on the condition of the device. Red color is for low battery, orange color is for charging and green color is for fully charged battery.The Bluetooth indicator lights in two colors, as red means that it is off, and blue that it is on.

The aperture for the loudspeaker is to the left of the buttons and indicators, since it takes almost half of the device, and above it is depicted the name and the logo of the manufacturer.

We suppose that you have noticed that an on/off key is lacking. There is no such key and its function is entrusted to the mic shaft, located on the right side. You press and release the mic shaft and it protrudes 4 cm outside of the device, thus switching it on. Reversely, you switch it off, as you just press it and push it inside. This is a very good designer decision, which makes switching on/off extremely easy and comfortable. Moreover, in this way the distance between the mic and the loudspeaker is increased and the probability of causing of a micro-phony is decreased. The miniUSB connector is located on the same side. It is used for charging the battery of the device.

We would have liked to see a small display on the device, indicating the number of the person, calling you, but unfortunately you will have to look at your phone to see whether to pick up or not. Nevertheless, if the phone is placed on a stand in the car, this will not be a problem, but if it is in your pocket or in your bag, it will be hard for you to access it, especially in hard traffic.

Functionality:

In order to enter into the connecting regime it is necessary to hold the accept key and to open the mic shaft. The Bluetooth indicator starts blinking in red and blue, this showing that you are in a pairing regime. This is the most suitable and quick way for entering into the pairing regime, which takes no more than 2 seconds, for which we have to congratulate the designers of the device. When you have to enter the password to the phone, you have to know that it is the standard one - 0000.

Once connected to the phone, the device allows you to answer/end/reject call, to use voice dialing. You can transfer the call to the phone and back, as well, as during conversation you close/open the mic shaft. These options depend on your phone.

Performance:

The most important parameter in a handsfree is most probably the quality and strength of the sound during conversation. Therefore, we tested the BlueAnt SuperTooth Light several times to determine its performance in real life conditions.

The built-in loudspeaker is powerful, as the sound is very strong and you will not have problems with hearing, even in heavy traffic with your car windows pulled down. When you use it in an office, you have to know that by increasing the sound to the maximum the sound is heard even through the wall.

We made a test in heavy traffic conditions, accompanied by a lot of side noise, so that we find out the impact on communication and establish whether a normal conversation can be carried out under such conditions. When you accept an incoming call and you take it by the handsfree, you hear a short sound, afterwards you can talk. The car had its windows all the way down, so that the traffic noise be heard to the maximum, and at the same time we played also music from the cd- player. The noise did not influence the conversation and a normal dialogue could be carried out with the person on the other side of the line, as another reason is the integrated DSP technology. When the music is played at medium level, you will not have problems, as well, but when you increase the volume above the average, on the other side it is hard to distinguish your voice from the song. But in such a situation, even if you talk directly at the phone, the person on the other side will have problems understanding you.

According to data of the manufacturer, the device can support up to 15 hours talk time and 800 hours of standby at one charging. The talk time is less than the 20 hours talk time offered by the competitive model HF-300 of Nokia.

Conclusion:

If you travel often and you have to use a phone during this time, but you do not want to deal with complex installation and cabling in the whole car, the BlueAnt SuperTooth Light will be of interest to you. Nevertheless, the devices, which require professional installation have some advantages, which you will not see in this model. A part of the privations, which you will suffer for the price of mobility, is the lack of a display, depicting the number of the incoming call, as well as that the battery is charged separately and is not directly connected to the car. Imagine that you will have to receive all calls or to look at your phone each time someone is calling you. Both cases cause discomfort. Yet, the dilemma has a solution, but for your own comfort you will have to place the phone on a special stand in the car, so that you can see its display.

If these drawbacks are not important to you, the BlueAnt SuperTooth Light is a good option, but you can also consider Nokia Speakerphone HF-300 which is sold at similar price and allows for up to 20 hours talk time with one charging, at the same time having smaller dimensions and weight.