In these hectic times, having a cell phone is a wise choice for most adults, be it for work, class or travel. There are times, however, when a phone ringing can be quite the distraction, such as during class at your school or college.

LM Technolgies has introduced the LM959 Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet for just such occasions. Designed to do just that, vibrate to better alert you to incoming calls to your cell phone/mobile device, as it can sometimes be easy to miss the phone itself vibrating. Some people carry their phones in gadget bags or backpacks and might not hear their phone ring or feel it vibrate. The same could occur with women who carry their phones in large handbags.

While attending college, this bracelet would have come in very handy, as during class we were required to either turn our cellphones off during class or set them to vibrate only. Had my phone rang, nothing would have been said, but I would have received a letter grade lower on my next test score - a consequence I never cared to suffer. I would set mine to vibrate because I didn't want to miss an important call, as my father was very ill during my last year of school. At times, it worried me I'd not notice my phone vibrating and this bracelet would have been a shot of relief had I known about it then.

The bracelet, while not really a fashion statement, does somewhat resemble a watch - so, it doesn't draw that much attention to the person wearing it. Speaking of watches, the bracelet actually fastens like some of the watches I wore years ago - the type that hinges over itself as you fold it down and fasten it to your arm. This type of fastener doesn't lend itself to a precise fit, such as an expandable watch band does, but, even for my large wrist, it does the job and there's no worry of it falling off of my arm. For those with small arms and hands, I'm not sure this bracelet is for you, as it's possible the bracelet may simply slide right off of your arm.

Packaging

I was really impressed with the way that the bracelet was packaged. Instead of the tiring plastic bubble packaging, the bracelet came in a nice box. The outer cardboard box was nice, but the box inside was even better. The bracelet was nestled inside a metal box with a see-through plastic lid! The bracelet came with a user manual and an AC charger.

Setup and Specifications

Charging the bracelet was easy. For the initial use, LM recommends charging the bracelets battery for 6 hours. Simply plug the AC adapter into the bracelet and let it charge for 2-3 hours on subsequent uses, or until the LED goes off. According to the manual, when the battery is fully charged, it has a standby time of 60 hours. Pairing the phone is pretty straightforward and went without a hitch. But, the manual also says "when a call is coming in, the bracelet will vibrate and a red LED will light". The light lights blue in my experience. While it's on and waiting for an incoming call, the bracelet indicates it's active by blinking green once every 5-6 seconds.

Also from the manufacturers specs "Proximity vibrating alert when mobile is more than 5m away". In reality, the alert didn't come until I was more than 150m from my phone, and that was walking until it finally alerted me, stopping every few feet. If I were actually walking away and leaving my phone, I wouldn't know until I was even further away, as it takes three flashing green light cycles before the bracelet/phone make you aware you're too far away from your phone.

The Bracelet in Action

When I received a call on my Centro, the bracelet vibrated just prior to the 1st ring of my phone. The led flashes blue twice with each ring and continues until you either answer the phone, ignore the call or the call goes to your voicemail. I like the fact that the bracelet actually vibrates about a second before the phone itself rings, a small bit of advanced notice. The vibration isn't easily missed and you actually hear it 'buzzing' as well as feel the vibration. One note, though - if your arm is laying, say, on a wooden or metal table, there will be some noticeable 'racket' as your bracelet vibrates.

Conclusion

Overall, I am pretty pleased with the LM959 bluetooth vibrating bracelet. It does exactly what is expected of it, vibrate on your arm to give you a more noticeable vibration over the standard vibration of your phone, thus increasing your chances of answering your phone before the other party gives up or is transfered to voicemail. It'd be pretty hard not to notice the vibration and buzzing of the LM959 bracelet, which means that a missed call would normally only be by 'choice' grin.

The bracelet is supposed to be resizable, but I really didn't see a way to adjust the size, and there were no instructions explaining it. I fiddled with it but was afraid I'd mess it up, so didn't try anymore.

As noted earlier, this bracelet would be an excellent choice for a student who doesn't wish to disturb class with a ringing cellphone or even someone whose job dictates a silent or vibrating phone, rather than the normal ring or ringtone typical of todays mobile devices.

I'm happy with my choice and would recommend it without hesitation. You can get the Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet at ThinkGeek for $49.99.

Criteria  Rating Setup 4 Usability 4 Design 4 Cost/Benefit 3 Overall (not an average)	Pros Lightweight Discreet Easy setup Bluetooth v1.2, compatible with 1.1, 1.2 and 2 100 hour stand-by time
	Cons No instructions on how to resize bracelet

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