CBS Early Show: Hands off! Video

CBS Early Show: Hands off! Video Transcript

>> This is a big day for drivers in California. A new state law forces them to use a hands-free device if they wanna chat on their cellphone while behind the wheel. CBS News Correspondent Bill Whitaker reports.

>> Hi love, how are you?

>> Real state agent, Anthony Volen [phonetics] is like so L.A.

>> The top is always down and the phone up to my ear--

>> All the time.

>> Driving around looking at houses, meeting clients, going to meetings, you know. [ Ringing Tone ]

>> Everybody knows, Southern Californians love their cars and if they love anything more, it's their cell phones.

>> Cell phones are the leading cause of traffic accidents in California.

>> Starting today, Californians will be ticketed and fine for driving while holding phones. Hence, free phones in cars are now the law.

>> Does the law will mean safer streets for everyone?

>> And that means everyone. Governor Schwarzenegger tells his teenage daughters.

>> If I catch them driving with cell phones in their hands, the car will be gone and the cell phones will be gone.

>> People run stop signs all the time and I looked at them and they're on the phone.

>> The new law means all dangerous fumbling with phones is illegal, right? Wrong. The new law still leashed you hands free to text message. This illegal, this [keypad tone] legal.

>> I love texting while I drive.

>> Anthony Volen installed a hands-free Bluetooth system in his car a year ago. He doesn't like it much.

>> We have a window open or it sounds like there's some, like noise.

>> I can hear my clients and agents a lot better through my hands on phone rather than through the Bluetooth.

>> But?

>> I'm gonna have to get use to it definitely.

>> It's the law. Bill Whitaker CBS News. Los Angeles.

>> Well there are plenty of choices. If you're looking for a hands-free device and joining us is Natalie DelConti, senior editor for CNETTV. Good morning, good to have you back.

>> Thank you.

>> It's all about Bluetooth--

>> It is.

>> Right? And there are a bunch of different sort of Bluetooth models.

>> There are.

>> [Unintelligible] yeah, yeah, yeah. And what is the in-dash system? What is that?

>> So the best way to use a Bluetooth system is to just kinda let the manufacturer do it for you. So some of the newer cars and in fact pretty much all of them have Bluetooth so it essentially routes the call through your car stereo. So your car becomes one big high-fidelity speaker system.

>> And is there a plug-in thing or anything? When you get in the car, do you have to put the phone or does he have to plug-in or does--just figure it out.

>> No, you turn on Bluetooth on your phone and then you turn on the Bluetooth function in the car and they'll be able to talk to each other--

>> How nice.

>> And you just feed in the code. It's really user friendly.

>> That's good, that's really--

>> It's easy to do.

>> And a lot of new cars have that built in okay.

>> Yeah.

>> Now, what is the new Jawbone.

>> The new Jawbone uses a technology that's actually been used in the military for a while.

>> Aha.

>> That's got noise cancellation. It senses the vibration when you're speaking.

>> Alright.

>> And then it cancels out all other noise around you.

>> Okay.

>> So, it's really cool. It's actually really efficient and your callers can really hear you really well.

>> You know what, they have that on--they had that on a helicopter I was on, just--no need to tell.

>> It's the same technology.

>> Same stuff.

>> Yeah.

>> Exactly right. Now there's another one called Iqua SUN. What is Iqua SUN?

>> This is one of my favorites because it's the first solar powered Bluetooth headset. So you charge it once by plugging it in the wall but you never have to charge it again because--

>> Cool.

>> The sun charges it but also the lights in your home and in your office charge it as well. So eco-friendly tech here.

>> Very very nice.

>> Yeah.

>> Now Motorola speakerphone, what is that?

>> So this is a device that also uses Bluetooth.

>> Uhm--hmm.

>> And you just clip it to your visor. So it's a portable device, it's not built in to your car.

>> Okay. Alright.

>> So you can take it with you. This is the ROKR T505.

>> Okay. So you just put on a visor like a clicker for your garage or whatever.

>> You can put it anywhere. Yeah.

>> Oh, okay.

>> So and it acts as a speaker.

>> Very very cool.

>> Yeah.

>> And then finally, some of this Magellan Systems or, you know, those sort of--

>> Uhm--hmm.

>> Map or whatever you call it deals.

>> This is a GPS--

>> Alright.

>> System and--

>> GPS.

>> Yes [laughter].

>> That's the word I was [unintelligible].

>> So it's the one, the new GPS systems these days can use Bluetooth to route your calls. So it acts as a speakerphone a lot like the Motorola ROKR. The sound quality is not great. They're not meant to be speakerphones but you can here it and they're great for a [unintelligible] pretty quick, efficient phone calls. They get the job done. It keeps the hands on the wheel.

>> And it seems like state by state by state and more and more states are gonna adopt this and certainly it's gonna be a lot safer.

>> Definitely [simultaneous talking] definitely. And if all else fails, just use the headset that comes with your phone. Pretty much all of them have them these days.

>> Yeah.

>> They're cheap, they break easy but, you know, it's better than getting a ticket or worse to get an accident.

>> There you go. Natalie, thank you so much.

>> My pleasure.

>> For more thoughts from Natalie on these products, head to our website earlyshow.cbs.com. ^M00:04:36