Mavizen Blueye: Mobiles, MP3s and flying saucers
The Mavizen Blueye is a small flying saucer. Only joking, it's a Bluetooth accessory that plugs into your MP3 player or PSP and lets you answer calls of your mobile at the same time
Crave wonders if the first tailor to make a pair of trousers with pockets envisaged all the things 21st century man would find to stuff down them. While technology has advanced, the humble pocket has stayed the same and we're simply running out of space. Worst of all, we now have a multitude of wires emanating from our bodies making us look like part of the borg collective -- resistance is definitely futile.
The ultimate dilemma that we all find ourselves in is this: how do we use all this gear without missing calls on our mobile or fiddling around for ages in order to confirm that yes, we are on the train? Mavizen has rehashed a proven concept and come up with the Blueye, which half solves our modern day technological dilemma. It does this by letting you listen to your MP3 player, PSP or DAB radio and connect to your mobile phone at the same time. This might sound like more kit and wires to worry about, but we found this kit actually makes life much more pleasant and rummage-free.
It works via a Bluetooth connection, which means you can stash your mobile in a bag or in the deep recesses of your pocket and forget about it, because if you do receive a call while listening to your other hardware, you'll know straightaway.
The Blueye, which looks like a tiny flying saucer, will mute your MP3 player or PSP when you receive a call and let you answer and speak to your caller through your headphones and a built-in mic on the Blueye or the provided add-on mic. The Blueye also rings when you receive a call and lets you customise its ringtone. It'll even let you perform voice dialling and answer or reject calls with the simple power of your vocal chords.
The bottom line is the Blueye did make life easier, because we could listen to our iPod and answer calls without having to take our headphones out and get our mobile out of our pocket. It's also a hell of a lot more discreet than a Bluetooth headset and stopped people staring at us -- unless we wore it around our neck like a medallion, Goldie Lookin' Chain-style. But we didn't like the fact that the Blueye couldn't stop our MP3s and only muted the volume. We also didn't find the built-in mic great and it only worked well with the add-on mic, which detracted from the simplicity of the solution. The other gripe we have with this useful device is that it costs £60, which is too expensive -- even if it does look pretty cool. However, if money is no object then it's currently available at Expansys. -AL