When Pink = Blue

This is not about babies. Or gender at all.

Recently, I dumped the contents of my purse for all the blogosphere to see. One of the items in there was questioned by several commenters. "What is a pink tooth?" more than one person asked me.

First, let me tell you about Japanglish. A sarariman (salary-man) wears a waito-shato (white shirt) to his desk job. Unless he wears a blue one or a striped one. Then he wears a ba-ruu-waito-shato or a storaipu-waito-shato. Somewhere along the way, the adjective became the noun.

We've done the same in Tech-glish. You probably already know about a Bluetooth, a wireless device that lets you use your cell phone hands-free. A pink one of these is a pink Bluetooth, or a Pinktooth, for short.

ChicBuds, the same company that makes retractable earbuds for iPods (reviewed here), sent me a Pinktooth to try out.

Disclaimer: I received a free sample (value $48) for purposes of sharing my honest review.

While I gave a glowing two thumbs up to the ChicBuds, I can give only one thumb up to its sassy cousin. Know why? Because, pretty as she is, she just doesn't quite cut it. For me, anyway.

I really like many of the Pinktooth's features. It's teeny -- less than half the size of my original Bluetooth. And it's GORGEOUS, studded with dozens of Swarovski crystals. It's easy to charge via USB port, and it holds that charge well. It's less obtrusive -- not the big honkin' flashing thing that I used previously. It's dainty, discreet.

But two things keep me from pitching that old big honkin' flashing thing.

1. It doesn't quite stay in my ear. The Bluetooth hangs over the top of me ear, and the Pinktooth sits in the outer ear canal. Even though the Pinktooth comes with 3 sizes of silicon gel liners (S, M, L), none provides a secure hold in my particular ear.
2. The sound, while acceptable, is not as clear as with my Bluetooth. Conversation is, say, 15% more muddled. Not a huge drawback, but something to consider.
   

Now, maybe both those points are worth the sass and style and compliments I get. But I'm a practical person who believes that function comes before form. I want the sass AND the sound AND the fit.

People Magazine was impressed. It included the Pinktooth in its Holiday Gift Guide in the $50 and under category.

Your ear may respond better than mine did to pink. At least now you know what to watch out listen for.

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