Look Ma, No Hands, It's Voice Activated Bluetooth

It's a little difficult to believe that this device hasn't been invented yet, but Parrot has released some new voice recognition Bluetooth car kits that can sync with your phone and iPod. Parrot features two "music kit" models, the MKi9100 and MKi9200.



Imagine that, a "Parrot" that you can talk to, and it will talk back, kind of. Where do these marketing people come up with this stuff?
When your Bluetooth enabled phone is *NSYNC with the Parrot MKi device you can listen to calls and use voice recognition to dial contacts stored in your phone book without ever taking your phone out of your pocket. Genius!

Once your phone and Parrot are on the same wavelength (get it? It's a tech joke) it will ask you who you would like to call. All you do is choose a name. There isn't any "voice learning" on your part or Parrot's. Just say your contact's name and the device is smart enough to know which person you are indicating. Once your call is connected you get surround sound conversations right through your car speakers. (There is nothing more fun than listening to your mother yell about how you never call her, in stereo.)

Meanwhile, you can also plug in your iPod or other MP3 player and control your music from the Parrot device with a.... wait for it... remote control. The MKi9200 will also display album art and other graphics that are displayed on your iPod when it is hooked up. So, you can totally see which song is playing without picking up your iPod.

The physical differences between the two MKi models are minimal. The MKi9200 features a 2.4 inch display, in color, whereas the MKi9100 only has a 128x32 OLED display. That's about where it ends. Otherwise, the devices function identically. However, you are paying about $50 extra for the color screen on the 9200.

The Parrot does require professional installation because it connects directly to your car's speakers, so on top of the $300 price tag remember to add an installation cost into your Christmas budget.

Hum, what will they come up with next, a Dictabird?

Check out all the reviews of cell phones just dying for Bluetooth speech recognition abilities. Or take a look at these other voice-activated blogs. Just say "bloggity" while clicking on the link:

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