Accessory: The RAZRWIRE and the O ROKR Preview
Sunglasses with embedded earbuds never really took off. There's a good reason why those "Oakies" with a built-in mp3 player and headset are sitting in the Woot warehouse as we speak - nobody bought them.
So of course, Oakley did the sensible thing and made more versions of their MP3 player sunglasses. And then they made some Bluetooth sunglasses. Behold the RAZRWIRE and the O ROKR.
The RAZRWIRE
The RAZRWIRE was Oakley's first foray into the bluetooth headset / bluetooth sunglass market. Actually, in this version the bluetooth headset (conveniently made by motorola) isn't even embedded into the sunglasses themselves - it's clamped on. Still, it does seem to be a good fit for the ear. And there are plenty of other bluetooth headsets that look a lot worse.
As mentioned, the sunglasses are made by Oakley, and the headset is made by Motorola. Oakley fashioned the glasses with their apparently famous "XYZ optics" which officially means something but in reality is just random gibberish. I suppose since you're going to be spending a fortune on these glasses, you should know that the glasses filter out 100% of UV. I guess you don't get that feature on $10 glasses from Bermuda, which is what I currently sport.
Battery life is above average, with the RAZRWIRE sporting about 6 hours of continuous talk time. One nice feature is being able to charge it with the included power adapter OR a usb cable.
The only drawback (besides the fact that you're wearing a weird contraption on your head) is, rather ironically, that the headset only supports up to Bluetooth 1.2. So that means no EDR.
The RAZRWIRE retails for $249.00. I have to admit, the sunglasses are pretty hot though.
Next we have the Oakley/Motorola O ROKR.
The O ROKR
I think if Robocop could wear sunglasses, he would wear these. Your move, creep!
The O ROKR are the RAZRWIRE v2. Now with improved sound (stereo instead of a mono earpiece), 3 more buttons (6 vs the RAZRWIRE's 3), and some funky looking design. I believe Oakley has introduced a NEW optical technology called..."PLUTONITE." The plutonite stuff apparently filters even better than 100% UV, it also filters "harmful blue light."
The incarnation supports Bluetooth 2.0, which is backwards compatible with all previous versions of Bluetooth (1.2, 1.1). It also supports the famed EDR (enhanced data rate), so that's always a plus.
Unfortunately the talk time has now been reduced to 5 hours. Standby time still stands at over 100 hours.
Personally, I'm a bit on the fence with this pair. The Bluetooth 2.0 abnd stereo sound is definitely a nice touch, but it looks like it came at the expense of looks. I'd have to stick with the RAZRWIRE on this one.
The O ROKR retails for $249.
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