Voice controlled Bluetooth car kit

09 May 2008

CV 9040 will read your text messages out loud leaving you to concentrate on your driving

Bury Technologies has unveiled a Bluetooth handsfree car kit that can be entirely operated by voice. The CV 9040 also boasts a colour touch-screen for a manual approach, but after trying out the voice controls ourselves, we're sure you'll stick to barking instructions at the device. The CV 9040 is ready to run straight out of the box meaning there's no need to train the device to recognise your voice, though voice tags can be specially assigned for names with unusual spellings.

The CV 9040 accesses your phone book via Bluetooth, with the ability of storing up to 15,000 contacts. What's more, receive a text message while driving and the CV 9040 will read the message out loud to you. As well as being touch sensitive, the colour screen has a built-in light sensor that automatically switches between day and night modes, while an accelerometer recognises what way up the device is, automatically adjusting the display accordingly.

Having tried the device ourselves, we were blown away with the voice recognition. Bury claims that even when driving at speeds in excess of 80mph, the CV 9040 recognises at least 95% of all verbal instructions. The CV 9040 doesn't come cheap however, with a price tag of £139.99, but early impressions are that Bury has raised the bar when it comes to Bluetooth car kits. Available from the end of this month in Vodafone stores and authorised Bury retailers, expect a full Mobile Choice review in the near future.