On the left if my pink Freedom (the beige thing is the FM boot), on the right is my brown N5 with the pink cover.
Left---> Right Freedom, N5 with pink cover, N5 with blue cover.
Brown N5 on my head- side view. Please excuse the messy hair, I just put it up to take the picture :)
The remote... I definitely think that's more of a personal preference thing. As someone who always has a cellphone in her pocket, it's no big deal for me to carry it around. It's pretty user-friendly once you take the time to figure out how to adjust all the settings. The only thing I wish they would add (possibly with future remote software upgrades?) is the option to have certain settings as "favorites" in the remote (similar to in a cell phone) that you adjust the most, making them quicker and more accessible to get to. Another thing is, it look like an Mp3 player. Or a cellphone. Or some combination of the two... What's the problem?
We're not allowed to use them in school, so I'm always completely afraid I'm going to get yelled at for having my "iPod" out in class, or even worse, have a teacher not listen to me and take it up. I don't adjust the settings too much, but I try to do it pretty discretely when I do- so far, so good.
AutoPhone- Would someone please enlighten me how the darn thing works? I know for a fact I have it, because my audiologist knew I wanted to try it out, and I saw her check off the little box for it. However, it's failed to come on every single time I've been on the phone (and I've used three phones- my cellphone, our landline, and my sister's cell). I can hear better without T-coil than when I manually enable T-coil, so I don't mind it now working.. I just want to know if there's a way for it to work! My audiologist said it's voice activated, so the person on the other end has to have spoken for a few seconds before it detects it. No luck!The view from behind- It's much, much thinner than the Freedom. I really like how I can make it stand out with the covers, or I can make it blend in completely. From the front, you really can't see any of it (my hair covers the earhook), unlike the Freedom, which was pretty bulky and noticeable from the front.
Battery Life- With the Freedoms, I barely got a full day of battery life, so I was worried that I wouldn't get very much out of the N5 (which use 1 less battery). The computer estimated that my right ear, which has a very strong map, would last 16 hours. It predicted my left ear, which has an even stronger map, would last 13 hours. Not quite a full day, but close enough. Yesterday was the first day I actually got to wear them all day (Tuesday- I didn't get them until my 9AM appt. Wednesday- I had French Honor Society inductions in the evening, and changed the batteries before I went just in case, and Thursday I had a ton of reading to do and a very loud family, so the implants came off during my reading time). I put them on yesterday at about 8AM and I didn't get a single low-battery warning, even though I went to sleep at 12:30 AM. I'm pleasantly surprised that they actually appear to be lasting longer than my Freedoms did (weirdly enough, although partly due to my use of the FM boot on one Freedom). I know a lot of people really want the rechargables, but I never used them with my Freedoms, since they died during the school day, so I doubt I'll use the rechargeables for the N5 when they come out.
FM- There is not yet a boot released for the N5 for FM, so I have to use a neckloop with T-coil called the MyLink. While it's nice to have less on my ear, it's not exactly a fashion statement to walk around with a neckloop all day. I put the bottom part under my shirt, but I don't normally wear T-shirts, so a good portion is visible. I had to go a few days without the FM, and it made me realize there were come classes I really needed it for (French, my AP classes) but I also realized there were some that I could hear just fine without it. I think I may just "play it by ear" (heh..no pun intended) and only use the FM depending on what I'm doing in each class each day. When it's not in use, I can just take the FM off, so it's not a big deal. Hearing- I was MAPped the same day I received the N5s, so my hearing is better than it was on Monday, but I don't know which I can attribute it to. I'll have to try out my Freedom again and see if I notice a difference, but I was told that, if I did, it would be pretty minimal. We'll see.
Funny story... I had taken off my FM neckloop in one of my classes, since we were just doing bookwork. The girl who sits next to me asked about it, and I lamented how I found it kind of annoying, but mentioned it was because I got new, smaller processors. I figured she's noticed since I'd worn my hair up the day before, but I lifted my hair up and pointed it out to show her anyway. "Ohhhh!" she exclaimed, "I was wondering why you hadn't wearing anything on your ears... I see it now!"
9 word(s) of wisdom:
All comments are screened before approval. I will publish any comment as long as you keep it clean and it's not spam!