GENNUM nXZEN User Manual

Saturday, January 7, 2006 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan The StarPhoenix G1

GAMING, GIZMOS & GADGETS

a weekly report on computer, electronic and video games

Listen-up! This is the best

’v e tested a number
of Bluetooth wireless

I

cell phone headsets in
recent months, and the one
from Gennum Corporation,
a Canadian company, is the
best.

It’s called nXZEN, and
the headset is available at
Future Shop, Best Buy and
online at eCost.com for
$175.

The nXZEN is the only
headset on the market to
use two microphones.While
two microphones won’t
mean much to you as the
user, it will make a huge difference to anyone
you’re calling. The idea, according to the folks at
Gennum, is that the two microphones allow “the
chips to register the time and distance between
sounds and amplify the speaker’ s voice while
eliminating background and ambient noise. ”

Murray

Hill

The StarPhoenix

It works. I’ve made a bunch of calls from out­side, where wind noise usually causes problems
for people I’m calling. Everyone has said how
well they can hear me. It also worked from the car
with the window open and the radio on — clearly
better than any other set I’ v e tested.

The nXZEN doesn’t have an earbud like most
of the other headsets, rather it has an earbud that
goes into your ear like a good quality earphone
does. This makes a huge difference for the
wearer. You can hear a lot better because a lot of
the extraneous outside noise is fi ltered out. The
earbud takes a bit of getting used to because it’s
pretty large.

One of the smallest Bluetoth headsets on the
market, it is one by 3.3 inches and weighs just
17 grams; you can hardly tell you’re wearing it.
The headset has a digital signal processor that can
perform 120 million instructions per second. The
closest competitor comes in at about 32 million.
This power produces up to four times more noise
reduction than anyone else’ s headset. The nXZEN
offers sev en hours of talk time and 100 hours of

standby time considerably more than any other
headset I’v e tested.

The nXZEN comes in two fl avours. I tested the
basic $179 model. The nXZEN PLUS is $199,
and comes with a connector and an external
earbud so users can hook up to their MP3 players
and use their Bluetooth headset to listen to music.
Answering an incoming phone call is as simple as
hitting a button.

Bluetooth technology is making cell phone use
a lot safer as more and more consumers decide
headsets are a much safer way to go than trying
to use a cell phone in the car. Because Bluetooth
offers very good quality reception ov er a short
distance and no wires to get tangled up in, it’s f ast
becoming the preferred technology for cell users.

PROS: Bluetooth! NO WIRES! Great sound,
small size, easy setup and people at the other end
can actually hear you when you’re outside.

CONS: The earbud takes some getting used
to because it really sticks into your ear. At $179
MSRP for the nXZEN it’s f airly e xpensive.

nXZEN

from Gennum

Corporation

You can e-mail Hill at: [e-mail].
com, and fi nd past columns on the web at:
http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/col­umnists/hill.html