As I was walking by the Platronics booth, I noticed a friendly gentleman, and he turned out to me the product manager for the firm, and introduced me to two products. I have used Platronics headsets over the years at many firms had have been extremely satisfied with the quality of the head sets, from my college days of telemarketing to help pay for college, to the never ending conference calls for meetings. So I was quite familiar with the VoIP, as well as other explored avenues in this space, and quite honestly, I found very little, that might excite me in this space until I met, Platronics new Voyager Legend UC. Actually, it was recently released, in October it became Generally Available; however, this CES show was the first time they were showcasing their device. It is an absolute necessity for anyone in the market for a Bluetooth headset. The features are literally off the charts exciting, that I will have to bullet point them out.
- The Voyager Legend UC is the first time the company is spreading it’s wings this year in the iOS,and Android application arenas. They have two fantastic applications, which in my humble opinion, they are not touting enough: one is a Find MyHeadset app, not as exciting, but the other is an InstantMeeting app. This application will be your assistant, who arranges your phone calls, she is fabulous. The application reads your calendar for one or multiple numbers, and is capable of conferencing the numbers at the stated time in your Android or iPhone smartphones.
- In addition to the Android and iPhone applications, this is the amazing part. Platronics has now created an SDK to allow Android and iOS developers to create their own applications, which can be quite numerous. The internal team is apparently constrained in resources to develop a host of applications they visualize, so they are hoping the development community will take up the challenge, and if you will think about the potential applications, as I go through the power of this headset, you will jump onto your IDEs (Independent Development Environments), and start your venture into these applications.
- This headset has voice recognition, so it will announce callers, and read off the caller identification, as well as provide battery life notifications. In addition, I believe the unit is receptive to voice recognition commands. Now with an API, one application I would LOVE to see in the market place as a project manager, is an application that will take meeting minutes for me, I proof read them, and send them out after the meeting. Fabulous. Everyone on a conference call wants a list of action items, you are furiously jotting down notes at the same time facilitating the call, and the two are sometimes challenging to perform. If a keen app developer takes advantage of the Platronics API for the Voyager Legend UC, they can create variations of this application.
- The headset fits into a case that actually charges the headset while not in use, and not plugged into any exterior source. I am done talking and on the road, no need for a car charger for my phone and my headset, I just put the headset back in it’s compact case, and it’s ready to go for our next meeting, plus the headset and case have a magnetic lock, so it holds the headset in place. Brilliant.
- This rechargeable battery is amazing, the talk and standby time meets the top criteria in the industry.
- Finally, it’s Bluetooth, and may connect to either your phone or through a computer. The computer connectivity will get slightly higher quality, wide band verses narrow, however, Skype and Microsoft’s own solution have custom drivers to enhance the quality of the call with Voice over IP with this headset.
In short, for the business man, or anyone who spends a great deal of time on the phone, this headset is a must have, and for 199 USD, it is a steal.
Platronics Voyager Legend UC
