Newton Peripherals carved out a niche in the gadget-universe, guided by the simple principle that the best gadget is the one you take with you — because that’s the one you’ll use. They created the MoGo Mouse, a mouse-remote hybrid that tucks away into a laptop’s pc-card slot, then followed it with the MoGo Talk: an ultra-slim Bluetooth headset that resides in — and actually forms part of — a case which attaches to the back of the iPhone 3G/s.
But while the design concept is brilliant, engineering-wise, the Talk wasn’t quite ready for prime-time when originally released; complaints surfaced that the headset was difficult to eject from the case, and more alarmingly, that the case’s pop-up charging port was fragile and often broke, removing the only method available for charging the headset.
ID8-Mobile has since snapped up Newton Peripherals, addressed the Talk’s problems, made a few other minor improvements to the case (while leaving the headset unchanged) and re-released it as the MoGo Talk XD. So did they get it right?
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From purely a design perspective, the MoGo Talk XD is a beauty. The headset itself is sleek, about as thick as three stacked quarters. It’s also a simple device, with a ratcheting boom on one end, an LED status light on the other and a single control button on the center of the spine. There’s no volume control on the unit, and volume adjustments must be made from the device it’s paired with; the headset is supposed to auto-adjust the volume based on background noise levels, a function I never actually noticed working. Still, the lack of a volume control wasn’t something I really missed.
The handsome case snaps on easily and manages to not look like afterthought, blending almost seamlessly with my black 3Gs. Buttons remain freely accessible. Added on the XD is a little ridge on the upper left corner, making it easier to remove for popping the iPhone into a dock, etc.
While the case seems fairly scratch and crack resistant — it dropped once during testing, from about three feet onto a wooden floor, and it came away unscathed — the coolness factor of the case isn’t so much that it’s your iPhone’s bodyguard; it’s that it makes the headset become part of your iPhone: the headset is always there, and it’s one less gadget to carry around or forget at the office.
Placing the headset back into its niche in the case has never been a problem, but trying to eject it on the previous MoGo Talk was like trying to dislodge a rusted hubcap from a wheel. The XD version is vastly improved in this respect, popping out predictably and easily with a little thumb pressure; but it also manages to stay secure for transport, and didn’t once fall out during testing.
The MoGo Talk XD includes noise-cancellation technology, but call quality ranked perhaps just slightly above average. The headset won’t win any awards, but callers on the other end consistently said they could hear me just fine — provided the background environment wasn’t too loud or windy.
The part of the headset that sits in the user’s ear is essentially just like most higher-end canalphone headphones, with a tight-sealing eartip wrapped around an armature, so sound from the unit was actually pretty good — in part because the eartips do a good job of sealing out environmental noise. Of the two styles of eartips provided, the bulbous set seemed to do a better job at sealing, but another style with tiny ridges is also included, as a snug fit is fairly crucial with this headset due to the lack of a earclip; with a good fit, the unit can be pretty stable.
There’re a few reviews that claim the MoGo Talk doesn’t support Voice Control on the 3Gs — which is complete nonsense. A simple push of the call button activates Voice Control, allowing hands free dialing, and it works just fine.
As might be expected for a headset this small, battery life isn’t great: The claimed talk time of four hours and a standby time of three days seems a little optimistic; testing revealed perhaps three quarters those figures, with talk time at about three hours and standby about 2.5 days. Which is sorta ok, since the idea is that the charger goes wherever the iPhone goes, and since the iPhone is (sigh) always thirsty, you’ll just top up the the XD along with the iPhone.
Though the cable supplied with our test unit was a standard micro-USB, ID8-Mobile says it plans to start shipping the Talk XD with a dual headed cable that’ll charge both the headset and the iPhone with the same cable, which should make for a nice convenience upgrade.
And of course, this one’s only really useful for 3G/s owners — but the company says their working on a version for the iPhone 4.
At about $80 street, the MoGo Talk XD is more expensive and has less stamina than similarly performing Bluetooth headsets; but the the convenience and secret-agent wow-factor may make it worthwhile, especially for users who hate clutter, like me. Or Commander Bond.
