Motorola H17txt Bluetooth Headset Announced With Real Time Text to Speech for SMS Built In

Usually Bluetooth headsets with features like real time Text to Speech do not work with BlackBerrys or have severe limitations. Motorola just announced the H17txt which will have an accompanying BlackBerry and Android application that claims it will read text messages (and possibly email) to you through the headset. It sounds like this will also do the conversion on the headset so you do not need to wait for it to send and receive the results from a server.

What’s odd is that the Motorola website does not mention specific BlackBerry compatibility but my buddy Simon over @IntoMobile has it on good authority that the BlackBerry app will work on OS 4.5+ devices. The other odd thing is that the Motorola website specifically says it will do email along with SMS but the press release only mentions SMS. We will probably only know once it is released…

Features include:

• Easy on: Text messages will automatically be played over your H17txt with MotoSpeak™ every time your headset is activated.
• Incoming text message sender ID: Always be in the know about who in your phonebook is trying to text you without having to take your hands off the wheel with sender ID announcements.
• Auto-response message: Determine if you want to send an automated text message to callers informing them that you are driving and will call back when available or pick a more personalized message to send. 
• Translates 150 text acronyms: Acronyms such as lol, btw and l8r are translated when the text message is read aloud, so you will never miss the meaning of a message.