And is it USB class compliant?
Dane Trethowan writes:
Hi!
I’ve always been interested in hands free speaker devices for computers and
mobile phones particularly in this day and age when noise and echo cancelling
has developed to the point that you can hear someone across a room from the
device and not know that the echo existed in a room, that’s how good hands
free devices can be and this effect is clearly demonstrated if you have
something as simple as a Logitech HD Webcam and you’re using it to
communicate with someone else on Skype, the other party can clearly hear you
talking in your armchair on the other side of the room from the camera.
Portable hands free devices are my main interest though I’ve found few that
have really performed well in a room, the only good one I knew of up until
today was one of the Pollycom portable speaker phones developed for Laptop
and Notebook computers.
Polycom are known for their excellent range of business conference phone
packages so I was delighted to read about the portable Notebook Polycom
speakerphone around a year ago, I purchased one and was very happy with the
way it performed, all the attributes I expected from a conference desktop
phone were at my fingertips including echo/noise cancelation.
Unfortunately the Polycom portable speakerphone is no longer being developed
and thus I began the hunt for a replacement, I unexpectedly stumbled upon
that replacement late last week at a computer accessories store in the form
of the Jabra 510 Speaker Conference.
Jabra are well known of course for their mobile hands free car solutions so I
hadn’t given the company a thought when it came to desktop solutions but I
can tell you their desktop speaker is the best portable solution I’ve tried,
not only for its clear sound and acoustic adjustments but also for its
flexibility.
The Jabra 510 can be used with either a computer or a mobile as a
speakerphone and this is flexible in itself, the first time I’ve seen a
device offering either USB or Bluetooth connectivity.
The speaker is a nice 4 inch type so Jabra obviously do really care about the
audio quality of this speaker, sounds even better than the old Polycom which
only has a 2 inch speaker.
The Jabra 510 is around 5 inches round and comes in a smart round zip case,
perfectly portable.
The USB cable is built-in to the 510 and winds up around a space between
speaker and stand when you’re not using it.
As well as a connection to a computer the USB cable is used to charge the
internal rechargeable battery.
There are 4 buttons placed around the circular rim surrounding the speaker on
the 510, volume up and down at top and bottom of rim respectively and answer
end buttons to left and right.
Unfortunately these buttons are touch sensitive but it didn’t take me long to
find where the buttons where if I placed the speaker on a desk in a
particular position - USB cable coming out to the right -.
The 510 has a voice guidance system so connecting to a Bluetooth device is a
snap.
The buttons make a “Click” sound through the speaker when touched and volume
up sounds a “Double Click” when the maximum loud position is reached but
you’ll know how loud the speaker is by that stage <smile>.
When held down the answer and end buttons perform various functions such as
giving you a spoken battery indication, turning Voice Guidance on/off though
I haven’t worked out what button performs what function as yet.
The 510 also has a headphones socket so you may conduct private hands free
conversations if required say in a crowded office environment and here we see
a feature added that sets the Jabra 510 Speaker conference apart from any
other speaker I’ve tried thus far.
If you’re using the 510 with your computer then you can use the speaker to
transmit the audio via Bluetooth to a Bluetooth headset which offers a
staggering array of possibilities, total private listening with your Hearing
Instruments for instance, absolutely brilliant!
That’s all on the Jabra 510 Speaker Conference device for now and I’ll write
up notes on additional features and functionality as I explore.
**********
Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the
halfwits in this world behind.
