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| Plantronics CS70 Executive Headset |
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Plantronics Voyager 510s |
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| Plantronics SupraPlus Wireless Telephony Pro |
I spoke with Chuck Yort, VP and GM of Office Solutions at Plantronics who was formerly with Palm, Inc. and he said, "When you talk about cell phones and driving, the purpose of the headset there is really so that you can focus on job number one which is driving while you're doing your phone call so you're not distracted. In the office we find the inverse. The job number one is really the phone call - it's really can I get engaged in that phone call." He continued, "We find that when you cut the cord of the headset and you give them handsfree and give them range of motion we find that they just get more engaged in the call. We've actually done some interesting productivity research where we have seen some productivity gains just from using headsets and wireless."
Chuc also talked about their new line of wireless headsets they are launching. He began by replaying his days with Palm and put the new Plantronics headset in perspective to the Palm V success. Chuck said, "The Plantronics CS70 is what the Palm V did to the Palm Piliot, Palm III arena. I was there when the Palm V came out. Everything else was between $250-$350, but the Palm V was $450 and because it was sleek, executive, rechargeable and had a lot of neat features that a lot of people wanted...That product... we couldn't build it fast enough. I really think the CS70 has that same sort of opportunity to have that same sort of impact on the market. Because of its look and style, sleek looking voice tubes, the comfort. It's just really a product that is going to take the market by storm, especially in the executive realm."
The Plantronics CS70 uses DECT 6.0 technology, has 300 foot range, and approximately 6 hours talk-time and 28 hours standby. It supports remote answering capability using a remote handset lifter which will automatically lift the handset receiver off the desktop phone simply by pressing the handset button. The Plantronics CS70 retails for $399.
The Plantronics Voyager 510s is a Bluetooth version of the product and it provides seemless integration between your mobile phone and your office phone. Plantronics Voyager 510s uses multipoint technology to detect whether either phone device rings, thus when you press the button on the headset it intelligently knows which device is ringing in order to answer the call. Similarly it also knows which call to hang-up when you press the button and then it goes back to monitoring mode. They added "WindSmart" to this new version of the Voyager which helps to block wind as well as echo cancellation, making it perfect for mobile professionals on the go. This is the first Bluetooth product by Plantronics to support both the office and the mobile phone. As far as range, you get 10m from phone and 50 feet from the base since the base has a more powerful antenna. It has 100 hrs standby and 6 hrs talk time. The Plantronics Voyager 510s retails for $299.
The SupraPlus Wireless Telephony Pro is patterned after previous corded models (though it's wireless) and is modular to enable both monoaural and biaural ear pieces depending on user's preference. The SupraPlus uses DECT 6.0 technology and has a range of about 300 feet. The SupraPlus has 10 hours talk time and 50 hours standby time. It retails for around $299.
For more information on wireless headsets, check out TMC's Wireless Headset channel.
