Ear Sensing Plantronics Voyager Pro UC (version 2): Hands on and Gallery

Plantronics demo’ed the upcoming Voyager UC Pro Bluetooth headset for us today. The gadget is a single-ear headset with special capacitive sensors  and will launch in Q1 this year. for $199. We were impressed with how the technology, never-before used in a Bluetooth headset, improves the way ear-hanging tools are used.

Built as a follow-up to the Plantronics Voyager Pro UC headphones,version 2 features a boom mic larger than its predecessor and an earhook that’s wrapped in sleek-looking neoprene and soft black plastic. There are just three buttons littered around the edge of the device – one for powering on/pairing the headset, a volume rocker along the top, and an answer/hang-up button where the mic stem meets the headset.

We made one call with the new Voyager Pro UC handset from a crowded CES show floor and noticed that, despite the buzz of the crowd, our caller never asked us to speak louder or commented on the noise in the background. Plantronics says that the level of noise-cancellation we experienced can be credited to the headset’s three embedded microphones, two of which point in opposing directions to better filter out ambient noise, and a third fail-safe mic that is covered in a neoprene screen to allow only the most proximate audio (your voice) to pass through.

Where the Voyager really stands out is its intelligent sensor tech. We’re told that two capacitive sensors – one in the stem of the ear clip and the other in the speaker – tell the device whether it’s actively docked on an ear (and ready to take calls), or if it’s passively paired to a nearby smart phone or PC but not in active use. Typically, when a call comes in and your Bluetooth ear piece is resting on the table, there’s a little fumbling to either get the clip to an ear or disengage Bluetooth and answer the call via the headset (or you wear the headset all the time, to which we say, “really?”).

With the Voyager Pro UC, if the earpiece is any place but on your ear, calls are automatically directed to the smart phone.

When perched, the Pro UC can be set to answer calls automatically without a single touch or to be used regularly, by tapping the answer button. Of course, that’s less fun, isn’t it? At least a little.

During our demo, we paired the Pro UC with a PC, turned on music in Windows Media Player, then took the ear piece off. The music paused when we took put the headset down.

But that was the extent to which we got to play with it. When it’s released in Q1 this year, the Voyager Pro UC will include software that can sync with Outlook to read the subject lines of new emails. It will also connect to third-party software that allows wearers to use the device with text-to-speech services and speech commands (we suspect you’ll have to pay extra for that service). When paired with an iOS device, iPhone users will enjoy a second battery ticker telling them how much juice is left in the headset.

That a lot of new tricks for a Bluetooth headset. With so much built-in hardware and use from complementary software, we’re hoping the new Pro UC will last a day’s worth of calls and ear sensing. No way to know for sure now, but we’ll keep our ears to the ground for the product’s final release – and our subsequent review.