Why You Can Trust CNET Motorola T325 Bluetooth hands-free car kit review: Motorola T325 Bluetooth hands-free car kit
The T325 does what it does well and without fuss. Switching itself on and off automatically is a nice touch, although we wish it was easier to access voice control.
Design and interface
The T325 clings upside-down to your car's sun visor via a thin metal clip, which works best on soft, plush visors, but shouldn't leave many scuff marks on hard plastic ones. Operation is quite simple: a volume rocker sits on the right-hand edge of the T325, and there's a power slider and phone book/mute button residing on the leading edge.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Like many other Bluetooth car kits the large call button is responsible for many tasks. Tapping it quickly starts and end calls, a slightly long press allows you to access voice-activated commands (if it's supported by your phone), while holding the button calls the last number. We regularly misjudged the button holding time (easy to do when you're watching for a green light), leading us to dial loved ones instead of issuing voice commands, or vice versa.
As it's an entry-level device, there's no screen. In its stead is an electronic voice that lets you know what the T325 is up to or what you've just commanded it to do. In normal day-to-day operation, the combination of the electronic voice and a range of beeps and squawks more than makes up for the missing screen, but when you're setting the unit up, or tweaking the settings, you'll want the manual at hand.
Performance and features
Motorola claims that the battery is good for 2.5 weeks on standby and 17 hours of talk time. The bouncy cord for the car charger is on the short side, preventing you from charging the T325 whilst it's mounted on the sun visor.
In a neat trick to stretch battery life out, the T325 switches itself off if you step out of the car for more than 30 seconds and turns itself back on when you re-enter the car. Unfortunately, the side effect is that every time the door is opened or closed you'll get a battery status report.
Sound quality and volume range from the T325 is good, as is microphone pick up. We were able to hold conversations longer than "we're looking for parking right now" without resorting to shouting. The unit's built-in echo cancellation works well and doesn't induce any noticeable lag. At the other end the driver can seem a little bit distant, but is otherwise perfectly audible.
We had no problem pairing the Motorola with various phones and once introduced to a new partner the T325 will automatically download the phone book, if your phone supports Bluetooth Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP). When calls come in the T325 will happily announce either the number or the dialler's name.
Conclusion
The T325 does what it does well and without fuss. Switching itself on and off automatically is a nice touch, although we wish it was easier to access voice control.