Hating on Bluetooth

Well i don't think these are the best blue tooth if you haven't try the Oakley's O rokr pro http://oakley.com/pd/5217 i tried everything and since the first pair came i own 3 pairs right now and my other blue tooths headsets are somewhere in my house.
you can take 100% of your phone features includong listening to music and don't forget the appeal and yea your conversations over the phone are stereo, yea so you don't have to cover the other a=ear with your hand to listen clearly. This is the Lamborgini of the blue tooth

It's an unfortunate virtue that this or any headset lets one use a phone while driving. A study done at the University of Utah shows that driving and cell phone use is equivalent to driving legally drunk. While many people do it (drink & drive) without killing themselves or others it's still a pretty poor benefit to potential cost. Listening to music or conversing with someone else in the car is much safer. Or how 'bout this: have some quiet time to actually think about things? Life's too precious to kill yourself or a stranger who hasn't ever pissed you off. Here's a link an article that references the study: www.cellular-news.com/story/18083.php

Peace and all that good stuff.

I think it's rather lame to blame our tech on our lack of focus. In-dash CD players, cassettes, even 8 tracks and navigation systems, seem like they'd be more distracting, because you have to look away from the road to fiddle with them.

Talking is talking, whether on a bluetooth headset or without one, lots of people think it's imperative to LOOK at the person you're talking to, thus making a passenger more of a hazard than a headset, in a lot of cases.

Me, I deliver pizzas for a living, and my focus is always on the street and traffic around me. But I use a phone to call customers if I can't find their places.

I've never, in 13 years of working for Domino's, had a wreck.

It's really about focus. And that is dependent on the person, not the tech in their vicinity.

podbog:
Yes, talking is talking, but it is the listening that is different between a conversation in person, and focusing your listening attention on the one ear that the earpiece is attached to.
When you talk on the phone you are subconsciously focusing your attention on one ear which takes a bit of concentration beyond just listening with both ears to someone in person. It may not seem like much, but think about it next time you are on the phone, much of your attention is focused on listening to what you are hearing in that one ear. This means that you are not paying as much attention to driving since we only have so much attention to pay at any one time.

Now we just need somebody to do a study on the amount of attention that someone pays to:
1. Driving
2. Driving while talking with someone in the car
3. Driving and talking with one ear to a cell phone earpiece.
4. Talking while not driving

If there is some way to quantify, or measure the amount of attention that a person focuses on a task (some sort of MRI ?) that it will become clear the problems with any multitasking while driving.

just 'pod' works, everyone misspells it.

Sounds like maybe you're an advocate of limiting the freedoms of the majority based on the trouble caused by the minority?

I'd rather people take responsibility for themselves, personally.

great article - I've had nothing but bad luck with headsets having tried about 5 of them - some motorola's some plantronics, jabra's - all kinds. I gave up before the jawbone came out since I refused to take another $100 gamble . My problem was not in ease of use or how I sounded to people on the other end but rather it was the fact that I couldn't really hear anything that great. It seems that the volume on headsets is reduced significantly in order to conserve on battery use. The other thing is that I noticed that at first, the charge lasts a while, almost what its advertised - but given a few months of use - you find yourself charging it a lot more often and you end up carrying all kinds of chargers since everyone has "their" own adapter. I liked the motorola because it uses an USB port for charging which is the same for my phone and my camera - one charger for all - great idea! I don't see why other manufacturers don't follow that trend.

another topic- I think people in public on bluetooths are mostly annoying because of the volume they're speaking in. Funny thing is that I have a client who is a speech therapists and she happens to point that out exactly. We're used to having someone in front of us when we speak and our brains adjust the volume depending on how far that person is. On a headset however, our brains tend to adjust for a long distance since we can't see the person. We then end up raising the volume of our voices - read her page on this - its very interesting. http://www.independenttherapistsnetwork.com/faceit.php

As for the driving and talking - well, I think we need to focus on teaching people to drive period. Whether they're on the phone, eating, putting make-up or doing anything else while driving just ads to an already dangerous situation. People in the U.S. are too comfortable when driving because there are way too many laws to "protect" us. I have motorcycle experience and lots of years of long driving - not to say that I'm a perfect driver but having driven a motorcycle really taught me to be aware of my surroundings and never take anything for granted - whether i'm on the phone or not really has no effect on me personally since I've developed a good habit of attention while driving. Let's not blame the phones for all these accidents - let's blame the people and let's solve the problem by making them better drivers FIRST.

OC -

from time to time - its ok to do it.

I also hate BT Headsets. First of all, who must absolutely make a call walking down the street and asking "What are you doing?". Vapid people making vapid calls. I've got a cell phone and I even text people because taht's the only way I have to get to them for something important. That something may be to confirm a date, get directions, you get the idea.
I also don't like to wear my phone in a holster on my belt. What's the sense of having a phone small enough to fit in your pocket and not putting it in your pocket.

Because my phone is in my pocket and because I'm tired of peoples ring tones like the newest Jay Z song, I found a nice piece of kit:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19489

A Blue Tooth bracelet. It vibrates on your wrist when you have a call and has a Caller ID display so you can see if you want to take the call.

Pod, sorry I misread the q
I'm not really an advocate of limiting freedoms, I have just seen some people doing some really stupid things which distract their attentions from driving. (Too bad we couldn't limit stupidity) Drivers reading the newspaper or reading and writing on paper propped on a steering wheel driving down the highway at 75 MPH! Nobody can read, comprehend what they are reading, and watch the road at the same time. But what if it is a 1/4 mile straightaway... If a deer or dog runs out in front of you...How often have you passed by a car that is wandering all over the road, like the driver is drunk, because the driver is talking on the phone.

It takes a lot of attention and concentration to drive well, you have to coordinate your feet, arms, vision and hearing. If you are paying attention to a conversation in your ear, comprehending what the person is saying, formulating a response, etc, you are paying less attention to driving the car- watching the road, avoiding the pedestrians, road hazards... Therefor you are more apt to not be able to respond as quickly in an emergency situation.

Used in moderation, most people can talk and drive. But many people should not engage in intense conversations that use up alot of their concentration while they are driving.

I'll agree with that.

I can't abide laws restricting freedoms though, just make people pay the full consequences of their actions.

I too hate BT Headsets I have a convertible and can never hear a thing with the top down. Also to use your quote "If the Jawbone is a Porsche, then I guess that would make the Plantronics a Saturn, right?" I can honestly say I disagree saying saturn is the cheapest stay away from company. That is a bad analogy. There are far more inferior product lines than the saturn. I can afford both but chose the saturn.

podboq: I don't like restrictions and nanny governments either, but sometimes "paying the full consequences" isn't possible. For example, if someone you loved were killed by an inattentive driver, what type of payment would you accept and say good enough? Jail and financial penalties won't bring back the dead.

If everyone possessed the same level of expert driving skills, muscle reaction times, mental attentiveness, etc., and if we could guarantee that the only person injured or killed in an accident is the one responsible for causing it, then I'm all for getting rid of those laws.

i like bluetooth. thay are giting smalr

I often use it

Why don't you like using Bluetooth? I think it is very useful, especially for mobile phones, Bluetooth is necessary for a feature
www.firmoo.com