brio

Like a good top tier carrier, Sprint has a handful of free phones available to you at no cost when you sign up for a two-year plan. I remember my first one now, an incredibly ugly gold-colored Kyocera candybar phone--but hey, it worked!--and that was good enough to get me through my days as a poor college student.

I wish that the Kyocera Brio had been available back then. It comes with a QWERTY keyboard and offers strong call quality. Here's a sampling of the pros and cons, with many more when you read the full review.

The good The Kyocera Brio has good call quality, access to Web-based e-mail, and room for a 32GB expansion card, and it's free with a new two-year contract.

The bad The Brio's buttons and keyboard could be more comfortable to use, the camera is pretty terrible, and the Internet experience is poor. The Brio is not a 3G phone.

The bottom line The Kyocera Brio is worth the price you pay for it, but unless you're in the market for a free feature phone with a small screen, QWERTY keyboard, and good call quality, keep on moving.

Watch the video, see the photos, and read the full Kyocera Brio review.… Read more

Sprint announced its latest Android handset today, the affordable Android 2.3-powered Kyocera Milano.

The phone, which will be available in stores and online tomorrow, features a sliding QWERTY keyboard, a 3.5-inch display, and a 3.2-megapixel camera. Other details include 512MB of RAM, 512MB of ROM, a 2GB microSD card, and support for Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi, (802.11 b/g/n).

For software, the Milano comes preloaded with the carrier's standard services, including Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV & Movies, and NASCAR. Like many of Sprint's entry-level Android handsets, the device supports the customizable software bundles … Read more

In addition to the Kyocera Milano, Sprint announced the upcoming availability of the Kyocera Brio.

The Brio is a basic, no-frills cell phone with a full QWERTY keyboard, 2.2-inch QVGA display, and 1.3-megapixel camera. With the keyboard, the phone does support Sprint's Mobile Email and Mobile Email Work services, as well as access to popular e-mail clients like Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, and Windows Live.

The handset also has Bluetooth 2.0, 3G, a WAP 2.0 Web browser, and an expansion slot that supports up to 32GB cards.

The Kyocera Brill will be available September 9 for … Read more

A 67-year-old man who has suffered from Parkinson's disease since his early 40s has become the first person in the world to be implanted with the Brio neurostimulator, which St. Jude Medical says has just earned CE Mark approval (CE stands for Conformite Europeenne).

Weighing in at just 1 ounce and measuring a mere 10 millimeters thick, the Brio is the smallest, longest-lasting rechargeable deep brain stimulator (DBS) that aims to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's in the world, according to its creator. One battery is supposed to survive a decade of recharging.

"Deep brain stimulation therapy … Read more

It's so difficult to maintain one's individualism these days. Car-boats, once at the top of the 007 cool meter, are hardly unique anymore. But there's still hope: Enter the "Flying Boat" from Brazil-based BRio.

It comes as a kit, which might seem kind of expensive at $10,000, especially because Gearfuse says the cost doesn't include the engine. Still, it's a fraction of what one of those new jet packs will set you back, and it promises to stay airborne longer than a minute.

Best of all, if the flying mechanism fails, you … Read more