The Nokia 7510: Get it while it's hot.
(Credit: T-Mobile)It's a busy day for T-Mobile. In addition to announcing the availability of the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 and the new T-Mobile Shadow, the carrier also started shipping another CES phone, the Nokia 7510.
Though T-Mobile isn't using the "Supernova" label as part of the 7510's name, the phone offers everything we saw in Las Vegas. Its most prominent design features are the replaceable front covers in brown, red, and espresso and the hidden external display that flashes nifty animation intermittently.
Features include a 2-megapixel camera, a music and video player, support for T-Mobile myFaves, messaging and e-mail, instant messaging, Bluetooth, an expandable memory slot, a speakerphone, and a personal organizer. It also has integrated Wi-Fi for use with T-Mobile's HotSpot @Home service.
The 7510 is available now for $49.99.
Motorola Z6w
(Credit: Motorola)At the GSMA World Congress, Motorola has shown you can't judge a company by the size of its trade show booth. Though Moto had a sizable booth--and a swanky, two-story meeting area (complete with a bar)--the company's ho-hum announcements were barely audible above the din of the show floor.
Moto's biggest news, which, trust me, isn't saying much, is the Motorola Z6w. Identical to the Z6tv, and Z6c, the Z6w sports the slider design that was started by the Motorola Rizr Z3. Curiously, Motorola said it is dropping the Rizr name from its lineup, so while the design remains, the name has changed.
As for features, the Z6w has pretty much the same set of offerings as its siblings; inside you'll find Bluetooth, a 2-megapixel camera, and a music player. What sets the Z6w apart is its integrated Wi-Fi. No, it's not particularly exciting, but Wi-FI is still welcome. Outside of a few smartphones, Wi-Fi remains pretty elusive in the cell phone world.
(Credit:
Netgear)
Netgear announced today a dual-mode cordless Wi-Fi phone that supports both traditional landlines and Skype VoIP calling. The Netgear SPH200D Dual-Mode DECT Cordless Phone With Skype has a base unit that plugs into both your network router and a phone jack, allowing you to switch between Skype calls and traditional calls. It uses the 1.9GHz band, which should keep it clear of interference from your (or your neighbor's) wireless network. You can view your regular contacts and your Skype contacts, on the handset's screen, and when making a call to a non-Skype user, you can choose whether to make a SkypeOut call or a landline call.
Like the Linksys iPhone CIT400, the SPH200D loads the Skype client directly on the phone base unit, so you can turn off your PC and still make Skype calls. Both models support up to four handsets on a network.
The Netgear Dual-Mode Cordless Phone With Skype is available now, for $200.
It's true: the iPhone is here--but not the one everyone's been talking about. Linksys announced today its family of Voice over IP and Wi-Fi phones, called iPhone.
The new iPhone CIT400
(Credit: Linksys)The purveyor of home networking equipment has been shipping several flavors of VoIP and Wi-Fi phones since 2004 and announced two new products today, but branding them under the iPhone moniker is a new move. The two new members of the family are the iPhone Dual-Mode Internet Telephony Kit for Skype (CIT400) and the iPhone Wireless-G Phone for Skype (WIP320). The former is targeted for the home: it includes a cordless phone base that you connect to your home network via Ethernet and a handset that can be switched back and forth between Skype calling and your regular PSTN line (that is, your landline). The previous iteration of this product, the CIT300, did the same thing, but required that you leave your PC running in order to make Skype calls. The CIT400 incorporates the Skype client directly into the phone base, so you can make Skype calls even while your PC is shut down.
The WIP320 is Linksys' next-generation Wi-Fi phone. Using it, you can make Skype calls while on any wireless network, including public hot spots. While the CIT400 makes sense to us, the WIP320 is a harder sell. After all, if you're strolling about town and you go out of range of a Wi-Fi network, your Skype call will get dropped. Isn't that what cell phones are for? Even Linksys admits that this product isn't quite ready for prime time, as it requires a more universal Wi-Fi backbone, like municipal Wi-Fi.
Both phones support Skype's free Skype-to-Skype calls, as well as its paid features, such as SkypeIn, SkypeOut, and voice mail. The CIT400 immediately hits the market for $180, while the WIP320 retails for $200. Other members of the iPhone family include the iPhone Dual-Mode Cordless Phone for Yahoo Messenger with Voice (CIT310), the iPhone Dual-Mode Internet Telephony Kit (CIT300), and the iPhone Wireless-G IP Phone (WIP330). The CIT310 not only lets you make landline and Yahoo Messenger with Voice calls, but you can also check weather conditions and look up local businesses straight from the phone. The SIP-based members of the family use the SIP protocol and allow you to access music, photos, and videos from the Web and work with products such as Linksys' wireless video cameras, so you can monitor events in the next room. In all, there are currently seven iPhone products offered by Linksys and you can check them out at Linksys' Web site.
As for the rampant speculation about an imminent announcement from Apple regarding a phone, well, Crave knows nothing about that. Call us cynical, but we suspect Gizmodo knew full well about the Linksys announcement and was being a bit disingenuous with its Thursday blog posting. We should admit, though, that we found the resulting frenzy (even among our own ranks) rather amusing. As for the iPhone name, Linksys owns the trademark, so the speculators need to get cracking on potential names for the as-yet nonexistent phone from Cupertino.
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