Gadling

Motorola has a long and well respected history in Bluetooth headsets. And, if there is one thing they’ve always excelled at, it is adding innovative features to their products. They were one of the first with a folding boom mic, one of the first to add standardized MicroUSB charger ports to all their headsets, and one of the first with a rugged headset designed to work in extreme environments.

Right before the end of 2010, Motorola has released a new lineup of professional grade headsets – the Finiti and CommandOne. In this review, we’ll look at the Finiti. Like the Motorola HX1 we reviewed last year, the Finiti is designed to work in the most extreme of environments, and by using three different microphones, including one that picks up vocal vibrations, the headset is rated to work in winds up to 40MPH.

Lets start with the basics – the outside of the Finiti is downright gorgeous. Shiny chrome, a clear ear loop and a physical on/off slider switch. On the top is the MicroUSB charger port, and on the back is the earpiece is the vocal virbration sensor. On the bottom are three buttons – a call control/multi-function switch and volume controller.

In its “default” mode, the headset uses its two normal microphones to pick up your voice – one on the front, and one on the side. When you switch to “stealth mode”, it includes the vocal vibration sensor, and combines all those signals into one. The clarity of calls is absolutely amazing. When I reviewed the HX1, I crowned it “the best headset I have ever used” – and one year later, that crown can now be passed on to the Finiti.

Wind is not a problem for this headset – and that isn’t just the marketing on the box. Despite freezing temperatures, I opened the window of my car and made a phone call – the person on the other end of the call could hear the wind with the stealth mode turned off, but as soon as I turned it on, the call quality returned back to normal. Stealth mode also blocks other kinds of noise from the background – including music and loud people.

In addition to phone calls, the Finiti also supports streaming music, but you’ll need to settle for mono of course.

One of the coolest tricks offered by the Finiti is not even part of the headset itself – the Motorola MotoSpeak application runs on Android (and soon on Blackberry) devices. With MotoSpeak, your phone reads incoming text messages, and even lets you respond to text messages using your voice. In addition to these voice commands, the headset also supports some built in commands that let you answer and hang up on calls.

Now, all this Bluetooth goodness does not come cheap – and at $129.99, the Motorola Finiti is one of the most expensive headsets on the market. But – if you order from Motorola, and apply coupon code TXTSMART, you’ll knock 25% off the price! This coupon code also applies to the other Motorola products compatible with MotoSpeak; the CommandOne, the Roadster and the H17txt.

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