All-In-One Hands-Free Device Could Beat Ontario’s New Cell Phone Distraction Law
Posted January 21, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There are a lot of things you can’t do now or soon won’t be able to do at all in Ontario.
On Wednesday, a new law kicked in that prohibits anyone from smoking in a car when a child is present. Authorities admit it will be tough to enforce.
The government raised a huge controversy when it amended the laws for new drivers.
And then there’s that other piece of legislation introduced back in October, the one with the unwieldy title of the “Countering Distracted Driving and Promoting Green Transportation Act.”
Those are the new rules that will make it illegal for drivers to use their cell phones or other distracting devices, like iPods or BlackBerrys, while they’re behind the wheel. Fines can range up to $500 if you’re caught with the phone to your ear.
For many, the law makes perfect sense. But others are worried that their businesses will be affected. Like it or not, in our hurry up, multi-tasking world, cars have now become a de facto second office for a growing number of commuters and a lot gets done while they’re on the move.
The new legislation doesn’t apply to hands-free devices, and that’s where a product called iLane hopes to hit the road running by taking advantage of smartphone technology.
It’s an amazing little box that allows you to do everything you normally might want to do – without ever taking your eyes off the road.
And it claims to improve on regular hands-free devices by offering one thing they don’t – it’s interactive and talks back to you.
It works totally through voice commands, so all you have to do is hook it up to your smartphone, tell it what function you need and let it answer.
It can read you your email and let you verbally respond and send a reply; empty your trash can with the letters you no longer need; let you know when new messages arrive and offer you the option about what to do with them; answer phone calls without actually looking at a handset while an automated voice tells you who’s calling; and allows you to decide whether you want to take the call or let voicemail pick it up.
There’s a calendar feature and an SMS message control application.
Or in case you can’t wait to find out if the Leafs lost, the iLane also provides you with on demand services, like news, sports and weather.
“ I can simply say ‘weather’ and then ‘ Vancouver’ and iLane will read me the weather forecast for Vancouver for that day plus the next two days,” explains spokesman Ken Treffen.
It’s essentially a smartphone add-on without the phone and its creators think it’s the answer to those fearing the withdrawal pain when the tough new law comes into effect.
And just in case you were wondering, there are no security concerns because the system never goes through a server. “When iLane’s reading the email, it’s between the iLane device, my BlackBerry back and forth, no information is exchanged outside the car,” assures Treffen. “So it’s very secure.”
A test by CityNews had one caveat: our Consumer Specialist Jee-Yun Lee found the device a bit difficult to hook up between her BlackBerry and her Bluetooth headset.
But she adds there is a support centre you can call for free to resolve whatever issues you might experience with the technology.
That’s included with the asking price which requires a bit of a steep initial outlay of $600 for the hardware. After that, it’s $8 a month for a subscription.
See Jee’s blog on the device here
