Review: Oakley O ROKR sunglasses

Making a call? Who, me?

Product name: O ROKR

Company: Oakley

Web site

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Product name: O ROKR

Company: Oakley

Web site

Price: $250

Description: O ROKR is a pair of sunglasses that combine Oakley’s high-definition optics knowledge with Motorola’s Bluetooth technology. The O ROKR lets users answer mobile phone calls via Bluetooth, then switch to a Bluetooth-enabled music player (such as the NaviPlay, which attaches to an iPod). The O ROKR uses the Bluetooth Stereo Music Profile (A2DP), which lets music stream wirelessly from compatible products, Oakley says. In addition to the NaviPlay, O ROKR also works with Motorola’s ROKR E2 mobile phone.

Why it’s a Toy of Summer: When you’re on vacation, there’s no reason to stick on one of those regular Bluetooth headsets in case you need to make a cell phone call back to the office. In addition, wearing the sunglasses help hide the fact that you’re making the call at all (just talk softly and your spouse won’t notice that much). After the call is done, all you need to do is push a button and listen to music via your Bluetooth music player.

The Bluetooth connection to your iPod and telephone also means that you can walk around (up to 30 feet) without worrying about cords getting tangled up. Once the connection is made, you can also store the Bluetooth phone and iPod in a beach bag and not have to worry about sand getting into the electronics.

Quick review: We were familiar with the style and operation of Oakley's Thump (and Thump 2) music player sunglasses, so we weren't too uncomfortable with trying to figure out the buttons of operation and fitting the adjustable earpieces into our ears for a comfortable fit.

The harder part was figuring out the proper sequence of buttons to push in order to make a successful Bluetooth pairing with both our Bluetooth-enabled cell phone (a BlackBerry 7130e) and the NaviPlay Bluetooth iPod Adapter. Connecting wirelessly to the BlackBerry was easy enough, as we were able follow directions on the BlackBerry screen (including entering a password) to get the sunglasses paired. It was more difficult between the NaviPlay adapter and the sunglasses, as there were no on-screen instructions in order to determine the proper order. A downside of the glasses is that you have to rely on a series of beeps to figure out when you're in pairing mode, or look at an LED light on the inside of the glasses – you can't do both at the same time.

Once paired to the Bluetooth phone, we could make and receive phone calls by pushing a button on the glasses, though we still needed to use the phone to dial any phone numbers. Sound quality was good, the person receiving the call couldn't tell that I was using a hands-free headset (the sunglasses). Audio quality was also good on the iPod, although we could adjust the volume only on our songs; the buttons for next or previous songs didn't work wirelessly.

Overall, we preferred the combination of the sunglasses and music player provided by Oakley's THUMP devices as opposed to the ROKR. But if you're in a situation where you absolutely need to be ready for that wireless phone call, the ROKR sunglasses give you the added convenience of the hands-free headset and music player combined in one (without having to fumble around for your other hands-free headset). It's also cool if you already own an iPod and don't want to buy the separate THUMP sunglasses to listen to your music (though you still need to buy the Bluetooth iPod adapter).