Supertooth HD Review

Thanks to voice commands and SuperTooth Handsfree Assistant service, you can talk and text on your phone keeping your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel, so you can abide by the law and focus on driving.

OK let’s review this Supertooth HD bluetooth speakerphone step by step.

  1. I have no idea how to open this plastic coffin this thing comes entombed in.  Pulled tab, did nothing.  Oh, clear plastic stickers holding it together.  Need something sharp to cut.  Ok, open.
  2. Trying to get gadget out of packaging.  This is harder than getting a Barbie doll out of the package.  Whoops, think I may have just broken the visor clip off of it.  Whoh, no, it connects to it via heavy duty magnet.  Let me move this away from the external hard drive ASAP.
  3. Turning on the unit.  Damn this thing is loud as hell.  British lady sounds pissed when she says “Phone not found.”
  4. Setup already not going according to instructions.  I’m on step 1.
  5. Spent 5 minutes searching for Bluetooth setup on phone.  Found it, seems to be pairing and loading all contacts by itself now.  Apparently, I know 930 people, which is news to me and my 4 friends.
  6. I press button in middle of volume ring to say a command, I say “Voice Dial”, it tells me when and I say “Call Grandma” and it repeats it back to me and does it.
  7. I have pleasant chat with Grandma, who I can hear and can hear me regardless of my washing machine on in the background to simulate road noise and her TV cranked up to 11 on her end.
  8. I look at the brief instructions to see how to send texts, e-mail and post to Facebook and Twitter using the Supertooth HD.  Turns out I have to go online to activate something called the SuperTooth Handsfree Assistant Service, and/or download the free app since I’m lucky enough to have an Android (or BlackBerry).
  9. Downloading the app form the Marketplace and installing.
  10. App asks me if I want to send an auto-response that I’m driving and the text was read to me by Supertooth.  I say sure, even though it’s not a box you can really click.  Currently $104 on Amazon.
  11. Now I have to login to my SuperTooth account, which means I have to go to the website and create one.
  12. Website tells me to activate my 6 months FREE service, which means I’ve found the catch.  At least I don’t have to enter credit card info until the trial is up.  Eventually it will be $3,99 a month or $39.99 a year for these options.
  13. I activate it by entering my info and the activation code on the back of the unit.
  14. It sends me a confirmation text telling me to call a number, which it reads to me.  Pretty cool.
  15. I need to pick up the phone to call this number.  Pretty not cool.
  16. I need to go back to the website to set up Facebook, Twitter and E-mail.
  17. I log in successfully to the app and call the number.
  18. I try to text people and it can’t find the contacts.
  19. I say a test Facebook post and it says done.
  20. I check Facebook and after a few minutes it says “Testing out this bluetooth thing that does (?) for me. Yeah.”  There is also a link to an audio file of what I really said, which is “Testing out this bluetooth thing that does Facebook posts for me, Jay.”  So almost awesome.
  21. How the hell do I import my contacts to the assistant?  On the website, on the app? The device did it automatically to itself.  Just found it on the app.  Yessss.
  22. Call Assitant number back.
  23. Speak text to wife, speak test tweet to Twitter.
  24. Take whiz.
  25. Check Twitter and see a link to the audio version along with the text, “Testing the super tooth HD assistant Twitter speaker phone thing.”  Nailed it.
  26. Wife gets text, sends one back to me so I can hear it read aloud.
  27. Don’t get text at all.
  28. Go to bed, finish testing tomorrow.

Tomorrow- turns out there’s too many features for me to test this all step-by-step.  Basically this thing does the basics pretty well, but the advanced stuff it touts isn’t up to snuff yet.  I tried the feature where it reads Tweets to you and it was incomprehensible.  So there’s a lot of good ideas, but the more advanced stuff you’ll have to eventually pay for, but unless they are vastly improved, it won’t be worth it.  If you are someone who has to constantly update Facebook and Twitter from your car and also need a handsfree speakerphone, this will work nicely.