Phones

Thin isn't all it's cracked up to be, despite what Kirstie Alley might say, especially when it comes to phones. Nevertheless, Samsung claims to have come up with the slimmest slider phone of its kind, the "Ultra Edition SGH-Z720," which measures a wispy 0.54 inches thick and weighs just 2.8 ounces.

The phone's design is still wide enough to include a 2.1-inch screen, a 3-megapixel auto-focus camera and a second camera for video telephony, according to Fareastgizmos. Notable software features include preinstalled Google mobile search and Gmail, as well as support for … Read more

Home telephones are like TV sets of the '70s and '80s--except for the cordless breakthrough, technology has seen scant change compared with other consumer products. VTech wants to change that with its new "infoPhone" (not to be confused with the iPhone, thank you very much).

The landline handset is designed to handle many functions that most people reserve for the computer. As Gadgetell says, "The new ip8300 infoPhone uses the Internet to access information directly on the cordless handset's color LCD screen, including news headlines, weather reports, horoscopes, local directory searches and more"--all according … Read more

Boring holiday meals spent with relatives provide plenty of time for idle thoughts like this: Where do earphones end and headsets begin? The answer to such pseudo-existential questions may lie in Argard's M10 Bluetooth headset, which is kind of the missing link of headgear.

Although the tiny device looks more like a shiny earbud, Argard says it provides three hours of talk time and 100 hours on standby, according to Gizmodo. Yet, while we're all for wireless technology wherever we can get it, we might be worried about this thing getting lost in our aural canal.

The nano-ization of gadgetry has often left printers behind--a frustration for those of us who can't seem to shake the pulp fix no matter how hard we try. Brother Japan tries to address that addiction with a super-thin "MPrint" MW-260, a hanheld printer that's less than three-quarters of an inch thick and weighs about 1.2 pounds.

Aside from its size, the printer is even more portable because it can work wirelessly via Bluetooth more than 30 feet away from laptops, smart phones, PDAs and other devices, according to Fareastgizmos. And you won't need to … Read more

It's only a matter of time before phones join the alternative-energy trend in earnest, and some companies are already trying to get out front with designs before the onslaught begins. ModeLabs, for one, has released three concept designs for mobile phones that use renewable and kinetic energy, according to Electronista: The wearable "YoYo" (kinetic energy from bouncing around the neck); the "U-Turn" (energy from opening and closing the keyboard, and the "Runaway" (to be worn on the wrist and recharge itself like a self-winding watch). We have only one question: Why wait for … Read more

Making retro-style phones seems to be an obsession with some companies, for reasons that continue to baffle us. We've seen updated phones from the 1930s to the 1960s, sometimes with just parts of them available.

But UncommonGoods has taken the concept to its truest form, restoring actual phones with modern wiring, cords and microphones. If you're interested in getting one of them, be aware that availability is limited: Like so many other things, there isn't an abundance of phones that survived the '60s.

Probably owing to the sensory overload of the holidays, we at Crave feel compelled to repeat our mantra that less is more. Just after posting an item on an elegant special edition of LG's "Shine," we came across another example of a well-designed handset in the form of a VoIP phone.

What is most appealing about Lexon's "Lexphone" is the consistency with its surroundings. If you appreciate the clean lines of your MacBook or Sony Vaio, for example, the last thing you'd want to do is have some garish phone plugged into it, … Read more

Competition is usually a healthy thing in the marketplace, except when it comes to design. Companies have gotten so desperate to distinguish themselves that they too often resort to "special" or "limited editions," whether it be an 18k gold camera or a diamond-covered Mercedes. The result is often a monument to bad taste.

LG, thankfully, is an exception--and we're especially relieved because its new offering involves one of our favorite phones, the stainless-steel "Shine." The limited edition is essentially the same phone, save for a Korean poem engraved on the back in designer … Read more

Crave always appreciates an attempt to do something different, especially when it involves design--whether it succeeds or not. We're not quite sure which of those two categories this phone falls into, but it certainly is taking a novel approach.

Toshiba has apparently decided to take a bit of dramatic license in designing a new handset destined for the Japanese market, with countours that evoke image of stage curtains--hence the name of the line, "Drape." The phone continues its opera-house theme inside the clamshell, where you'll find an analog clock with a Cartier-style face bearing traditional Roman … Read more