Tekkeon myTalker ET7000

Gadgeteer Hands On Review by Julie

July 03, 2006

I'm sure you've lived this scenario... You're listening to your iPod through headphones or earbuds, and your cell phone rings. The first thing you probably do is pause the music on your iPod, disengage from the earbuds or headphones, put on a Bluetooth headset, or just answer the phone. What if there was an accessory for your iPod that simplified this process dramatically? There is such a product: The myTalker ET7000 from Tekkeon.

myTalker is a Bluetooth gateway that turns your iPod or MP3 player into a Bluetooth headset. It plugs into the earphone jack of your iPod, and then your earbuds or headphones plug into the myTalker.

Package Contents

myTalker
USB charging cable
User guide

Hardware Design
Front

The whole myTalker module is pretty small (2.25 x 1.25 x .5 inches). Made of White plastic, it doesn't look out of place connected to an iPod. The front has a built in microphone and 3 toggle buttons. The top button allows you to adjust volume levels, the middle button is for muting sound and for initiating a 3-way call. The bottom button is the answer call button and power / end call button. There is an LED positioned in the middle of the bottom 2 buttons. The LED in the middle button slowly flashes Blue to indicate that the module is turned on and in standby mode. The LED in the bottom button will flash Red every 32 seconds to indicate that the battery level is low. Both LEDs will alternate when the myTalker is in pairing mode.

Left Side

The left side of the my Talker has a HOLD switch. When in the lock position, all button presses will be ignored.

Top

A standard 3.5mm earphone jack is located on the top of the module. You can plug in the stock iPod earbuds or any other earphones.

Bottom

A USB connection is located on the bottom edge of the myTalker. Using the included USB cable, you can charge the internal battery. When the myTalker is charging, the Red LED on the front of the module will glow. When charging is complete, the LED will turn off.

Attached to the bottom of the myTalker is a 36 inch cable with a 3.5mm audio plug. This is the plug that you connect to the earphone jack of the iPod or other MP3 player.

Back

A spring loaded plastic clip is built into the back of the myTalker. You can use this clip to attach the module to a lapel, shirt front or collar. I ran into a slight an issue with the orientation of the clip. As designed, the module is made to clip on to a men's shirt front, instead of a woman's blouse front. Women's blouses have buttons on the left side, men have them on the right side. So, if you clip the myTalker to a woman's blouse, the back side will face out and the microphone will face in. It would be a nice if the clip were reversible. Alas, it is not.

Connecting the myTalker to an iPod is a simple operation. Just plug the cable coming out of the myTalker into the iPod's earphone jack, and then plug your earbuds into the top of the myTalker. The next step is to pair the myTalker with your v1.1 or v1.2 Bluetooth enabled mobile phone. This task is no different than pairing any other headset with your phone. Like most headsets, you have to use a passkey of 0000.

Once everything is paired and connected, you are ready to listen to music on your iPod like normal. But, the next time your mobile phone rings, you won't need to remove your earbuds / headphones. You just press the Talk button on the myTalker to answer the call. You can then talk into its built in microphone and use the iPod's earbuds to hear the call. The music playing on the iPod will continue to play (unless you remember to press the Pause button on the iPod itself), but you'll no longer hear it through the earbuds. Once you hang up the call, the music from the iPod will un-mute and play through the earbuds again.

According to the user guide, you are supposed to hear a tone in the earbuds when a call comes in, for some reason I never heard this tone. I would just hear my phone (Sony Ericsson Z520 ring, and would then press the Talk button on the myTalker to answer the call. If I didn't want to answer the call, I would press the Power / End call button and the call would automatically route to my voice mail. Nice!

Typical Bluetooth headset features are also built into the myTalker. These include:

Last number redial
Voice dialing (has to be supported by your phone)
Reject a call
Transfer call back to the phone
Mute a call
Put a caller on hold
Answer a call waiting call
Initiate a 3way call

Call audio quality through earbuds seemed to be louder than most headsets that I've tried in the past. Volume + / - buttons on the myTalker allow you to adjust the volume, without changing the iPod's volume level. As long as you clip the myTalker relatively high on your chest, people on the other side of your conversation should be able to hear you just fine.

The Tekkeon myTalker ET7000 is an easy to use accessory that allows you to keep your earbuds in your ears, when your phone rings. But at $75, I'm not sure I would personally buy one for myself. I'd rather spend a little more and get a totally wireless solution... Hey, that's just me though...