The iPhone is so cool, but realistically it is just an iPod with a great screen and a phone. What would you say about an affordable way to turn most modern iPods into a device that receives and makes phone calls and at a fraction the cost of a real iPhone? Better yet, this easy method is available now, and allows you to use 3G, and to use any mobile phone network you choose. It is useable right now in any country. It makes your Nano, Mini, Photo, or Video iPod into an iPhone alterative that is affordable. I am talking about the Gear4 BluEye, the simple solution for marrying your existing phone to your iPod.
I just got myself a BluEye and it is a simple plug and play accessory for the iPod. It comes in black as well as white. I bought mine at my local Apple Reseller and have discovered it is no more difficult than using a bluetooth headset. It is quite brilliant, a small remote control for the iPod that clips to a lapel. It is tiny, about the size of a Shuffle, and once paired with a bluetooth enabled phone you just leave the phone in your pocket or bag. When a call comes through the audio on the iPod fades out, a tone is heard and you just answer the call as you would with any bluetooth headset except that this one is feeding the call into your iPod ear buds.
Making calls is easy using the voice activation feature on the phone. It works so easily it is amazing. I had to set up the voice activation on the phone first. That didn't take long, then I practiced using it by calling my son Pablo. It works so well you would think it was made by Apple. It is not, it is made by Gear4. Thanks guys for making a great product. Like an Apple product it just works.
The BluEye has an fm radio built in too, which is a nice addition for the iPod. Sure BluEye doesn't add some things that the iPhone has, like a keyboard. And obviously you don't get the touchscreen, but since my phone is 3G I can send and receive emails already, I can browse the net using Opera, stream photo slide shows from Flickr, and receive mobile television. Best of all, for me I can take advantage of the beautiful CyberShot 3.2 megapixel camera in this Sony Ericsson phone. And now all that is married to my iPod.
Until Steve Jobs decides a camera is a serious part of a phone, and puts a good one into the iPhone I won't be getting a real iPhone. But then with my BluEye I have no real need for one. Except for the keyboard and the big screen I already virtually everything the iPhone offers, and at a fifth of the cost. Check it out, I can recommend it.
I have had my BluEye for only a bit more than a day, but already I love it and the way it adds phone capability to my iPod. I don't have to rely on the terrible MP3 player in the phone with its limited capability and lousy music store. And neither do I have to miss calls because I didn't hear them or couldn't get the phone out in time.
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