NitroX X835 Bluetooth handsfree kit

Bluetooth handfree kits for the car have been around for some time now, so stand out from the crowd a new one has to do something interesting. So it’s an immediate score for new brand NitroX’s X835, thanks to an eye catching angular futuristic styling and pleasingly compact dimensions.

But it’s not just about the looks - it also has a couple of neat tricks up its sleeves, to make it worthy of attention.

The top of the X835 consists of three sections – a mono speakerphone at the top, an angled OLED screen in the middle and a bottom section, which is actually the main call accept button. This large button makes it easy to accept or cancel calls - you just reach out and stab your finger.

The 15 hours of battery life from the device is impressive considering its size too, and thoughtfully you can charge it in the car as an adaptor is supplied. A mini USB port sits at the front of the handsfree for charging and a cable is supplied for charging, as is an in-car adaptor, though there’s no wall charger.

A clip is supplied for attaching to a sun visor in the car, but this can be removed so you can lay it flay on the table to simply use as a desk speaker phone.

The look of the X835 is kept clean by having all the other buttons at the sides – a simple power on/off slider on the right, a volume up and down on the left and a hold button that's temporarily defeats the main buttons.

This is to let you move X835 without accidentally making a call, so you don't have to turn it on and off and re-pair each time. Also, ingeniously, it will detect the vibrations when you start your car engine, and initialise itself to pair with your phone.

Initial pairing on our test handset, an iPhone, was straighforward. The X386 got itself ready for connection as soon as it was turned on and by entering the default 0000 pairing was done and dusted in a matter of seconds.

The real highlight of the X835 is the bright clear OLED screen which vividly displays text and icons. Once paired, you can see the three bar battery charge indicator, volume, Bluetooth, and a lock sign for the hold button.

When an incoming call is received the X835 trills loudly and clearly and the screen displays the caller ID from the phone as a scrolling name, so if you're phone is out of sight, you can still see whose calling.

The best party trick though is that there's an on-board accelerometer that detects which way up the X835 is so that text is always displayed the right way up, whether you have it flat on the desk or attached to the sun visor.

All this gimmickry would be nought if sound quality wasn't up to much, but pleasingly our voice was always received loud and clear and volume from the speaker was sufficient when driving, and without distortion – the echo cancellation and the dual-mic seem to be doing their job.

The only challenge was that when attached to a sun visor it hard to tell which way to press the volume control buttons, so it’s best to set it and then forget it.

If you prefer an external Bluetooth handsfree device rather than an in-ear device, or want something that can double as a speakerphone then this is as good as it gets.