CNET editors' review

• Reviewed by: Kevin Massy
• Reviewed on: 02/27/2008

The 3200 LS Color represents the latest stage in the evolution of Parrot's in-car Bluetooth calling kits. The device builds on the simple design and great usability of the CK3000 and the CK3100 car kits. It adds a few stylish visual cues as well as some advanced customization features, which makes it a compelling option for those looking for a standalone aftermarket in-car Bluetooth device.

Design
The Parrot 3200 LS Color immediately announces its departure from the CK-series design with its square form factor, although it retains the basic control interface of the CK3000 and CK3100 with its two buttons and rotary dial. The square shape of the screen leads to increased functionality as it enables the device to display up to three lines of contacts at a time. The tactile rubberized dial on the 3200 LS Color is a useful means of accessing the device's menus, while the red and green buttons offer straightforward means of answering and hanging up calls. Compared with its predecessors, the 3200 LS Color is visually striking thanks to its 160x128-pixel TFT screen that can display up to 262,144 colors. The device makes the most of this display through its attractive menu icons, color schemes, and wallpapers as well as through its support for user-provided wallpaper and contact photos. As with the more basic Parrot car devices, the only other external component of the 3200 LS Color is its external microphone, which for our test we mounted behind our test car's rear view mirror.

Features and performance
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That seems to be Parrot's philosophy when it comes to the feature sets and functionality of its in-car Bluetooth kits. Accordingly, the 3200 LS Color stands on the shoulders of the CK3000 Evolution and the CK3100 in terms of its core features. As noted in our previous reviews, Parrot-approved dealers should install the system because of the requirement for car-specific ISO harnesses, which we found difficult to locate in the aftermarket. Pairing a phone to the 3200 LS Color is extremely straightforward: after setting the phone to search for the Parrot device, users navigate to the "Pair with phone" option in the 3200 LS Color's Settings menu to retrieve a dedicated four-digit code which must then be entered into the phone to complete the process. With a phone connected, all contacts in the phonebook are automatically transferred to the 3200 LS Color (providing the phone has the requisite Bluetooth profile), making them available to dial via the device itself. The 3200 LS Color can hold up to 150 contacts. The pairing process also transfers the cell phone's call records to the Parrot device, making information on missed, outgoing, and incoming calls available at a glance.

With a cell phone paired to the 3200 LS Color, all contacts are transferred to the device and can be displayed on the crisp color screen.

While the text on the 3200 LS Color's display is smaller than that on the CK3100, its increased screen resolution and crisper graphics makes menus and contact entries easier to read at a glance. The 3200 LS Color's square form factor also lets it display an intuitive numerical keypad for dialing out by number, which we much prefer to the linear keypad on the CK3100. As with the earlier Parrot car kit, the 3200 LS Color has a spoken menu function that can be set to read out the individual digits on the keypad as they are selected in order to enable drivers to enter a phone number without taking their eyes from the road. On the other hand, the 3200 LS Color curiously does not have the ability to accept phone numbers dialed by voice: we're not sure why Parrot does not build this option into their devices as they obviously have a sophisticated voice recognition system that would enable this functionality.

In addition to the physical dial options, the 3200 LS Color comes with the same impressive voice-dialing features that we have come to expect from Parrot. To activate voice command, users must first record a series of keywords including "phone" (used to activate the voice dial feature), and "cellular," "home," and "work" to differentiate between different numbers for the same contact. Interestingly, the voice tag to end calls that we saw on the previous Parrot devices ("hang up") has been dropped from the 3200 LS Color, meaning drivers are now required to hang up by pressing the red button on the device. As with the CK3100, contacts stored in the 3200 LS Color can be assigned specific voice tags to enable voice dialing and for identifying incoming calls. While the voice-tagging can be performed entirely using the device itself (the CK3000 requires users to send them from the phone one at a time), it is still a cumbersome process to record two tags for each entry in the phonebook, especially if you makes use of all 150 slots.

To activate the 3200 LS Color's voice command functions, users must record a series of voice tags.

On the subject of tagging, the 3200 LS Color goes one better than the CK3100, as it enables users to assign a photograph to each of the contacts in the phonebook. To do this, users have to select the "associate photo" option in the Contacts Management menu. The Bluetooth connection is then suspended temporarily as you search for the desired image on the phone and then send the file via Bluetooth to the Parrot device. After about 15 seconds, the file transfer complete and the Bluetooth connection is resumes. The next time you either call that contact from the phonebook or receive a call from them, the relevant photo shows up on the color display--a very cool feature in our opinion. Also very cool is the capability of the 3200 LS Color to accept software updates via Bluetooth. To do this, users must download the relevant upgrades from Parrot's Web site and then transfer them to the device using either a computer with built-in Bluetooth or via an external Bluetooth dongle.

For incoming calls, the 3200 LS Color automatically mutes the car's stereo with a choice of four ringtones, and can also be set to autoanswer. In our test of the device, we found incoming call quality via our test car speakers to be clear, although at higher volumes the audio can become distorted. On the other end of the line, call quality via the single microphone was equally clear thanks in part, presumably, to the mic's built-in echo cancellation technology and background noise reduction. We expect the outgoing audio to be even better on the top-of-the-range Parrot 3200 LS Color Plus, which makes use of two integrated microphones (with one dedicated to monitoring background noise) as well as Parrot's proprietary digital signal processing to reduce echo and background interference.

In sum
With a price tag somewhere between $150 and $200, the Parrot 3200 LS Color is a good-value Bluetooth hands-free calling system. It manages to combine a basic, easy to use control interface with great voice-recognition functionality and nice-to-have features such as phototagging.