Motorola Portable Bluetooth Car Kit T305 review

Is a handsfree speaker the answer to not breaking the law?

27 February 2007 0:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

From today if you are caught using your mobile phone in the car in the UK it’s a £60 fine and 3 points on your licence thank you very much.

Of course you haven’t been able to use your phone in the car for some time, but due to the fact that the £30 fine and no points havn't worked, it's all change.

So what are the options? Well you can opt for a Bluetooth headset that will make you look like an extra from a Star Trek episode, or you can opt for a handsfree speaker system.

If you've got a high-end top notch satnav, chances are you've already got something that will suffice, however for those who haven't (cost or because it has been nicked) then Motorola offers the T305, a Portable Bluetooth Car Kit that attaches to your sun visor and pairs with your phone so you can make and receive calls on the go.

The small device is compact and sits comfortably out of the way above your head. Pairing took around 5 seconds (give or take) and it was incredibly easy to setup and use.

Controls are all virtually via one button that allows you to start a call (voice dialing of course) to hanging up and means that the Fuzz can't get you for touching your phone at any point.

Motorola say the T305 is "Equipped with enhanced echo and noise reduction technology and a powerful 1-watt speakerphone" and in our tests we had no complaint with performance in the car. The speaker gave a crisp clear sound and we had no trouble hearing what was being said.

However the same can't be said with our voice at the other end of the call. Although, and we understand that being on handsfree regardless of the device is always ropy at best, everyone we phoned complained about the quality of the call - from the man in the call centre to Mrs Pocket-lint.

Although no charger comes in the box - no Motorola hasn't worked our perpetual motion - you can charge the T305 via a vehicle power adapter, Mini-USB phone charger or computer and Moto promises up to 14 hours of talk time and 14 days of standby time of which we have yet to disprove.

Verdict

In-car and we found the device simple and easy to use, although we did occasionally find ourselves talking to the sun visor rather than concentrating on the road ahead.

At the other end we found that call reception wasn't great. Of course if you don't care about this, and why should you, you're in the car, the Motorola T305 gets a thumbs up.

However if making sure people can hear you clearly then it looks like you're going to have to become that Star Trek extra after all.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Motorola
Price as reviewed: £50
The good: Easy to install and setup, good speaker
The bad: People we phoned complained of poor quality sound
Quick verdict: The device is simple and easy to use, however quality on incoming and outgoing calls wasn't as good as a headset
Score