The lowdown
Bluetooth speakerphones are a great idea in theory. You stuck them in your car, or even at home and when your calls come in you press a button and chat away without having to stick your handset to your ear. If you have a voice dialing system as part of your phone they are ideal for quick and safe dialing. Trouble is many of the products we have seen so far have been sub-standard with those on the receiving end of the call moaning that they can barely hear the caller. Factor in ambient car noise like wheel rumble, loud car stereos, abuse from aggressive drivers etc and it is amazing you can hear anything at all. Jabra hopes to change all that with the SP500, its latest speakerphone that uses Bluetooth. Its secret weapon is a digital signal processing system that basically enables the microphone to optimise your voice for the environment you are in. Sounds great in theory, but does it work?

What's good?
As Bluetooth speakerphones go the SP500 isn't too bad to look at. It is oval shaped and fairly non-descript other than a large button in the middle for activating calls and a microphone that drops down from the top of the unit. The SP500 is also very easy to set up. One quick button press and in theory it should find your Bluetooth phone and begin its cosy relationship. The best part of the SP500 is that it actually works. Voice quality, both incoming and outgoing, is better than all the other speakerphones we have heard. User can hear incoming callers very clearly and, even in moving conditions, it is possible to have a conversation without the in car user having to shout too much.

What's bad?
Well, it works and works well, but it might not work with your phone. The SP500 seems to be fine with most Symbian based handsets like the Nokia 6630 and 6680, but many Bluetooth Java based phones aren't compatible including recent high profile models like the Sharp 902 and Sony Ericsson K750i. As for Microsoft devices, the SP500 was fine with our SPV, but wouldn't pair up with our larger PDA style device the T-Mobile MDA.

Do you need it?
Holding your mobile to your ear while driving is a dumb idea so speakerphones make a sensible in car communication solution especially if you don't fancy looking like a prat wearing a Bluetooth headset. The SP500 is a really decent speakerphone that works well and isn't too pricey, such a shame it doesn't work with a wider variety of phones though. So if you do fancy it check with the Jabra website before you buy it.

Overview

Useful Links: Zoodex Features: Bluetooth speakerphone Suction clip and sun screen clip Car charger Battery life of Up to 20 hours talk time Verdict: