It’s hard to believe it is October already and the leaves are already falling off the trees. Another week come and gone and today I am back with another week in review for your perusal. We found out early this week that the Palm Pre is still headed to Verizon according to an insider. The alleged insider didn’t give any word on when exactly this may happen.
You may recall us talking a bit about the Verizon Hub early this year. The Hub was Verizon’s plan to woo customers back to home phones with a home phone that offered Internet connectivity. What they failed to consider was how dumb an idea the Hub was.
We’ve seen Android on MIDs, Android on PMPs and of course Android on smartphones, so it should come as no surprise that the humble landline phone is next. Thing is, Cloud Telecomputer don’t seem to have received the memo about your desk phone being humble, as their Glass design rocks an 8-inch full-color touchscreen, HD audio, Bluetooth connectivity and desktop computer integration.
How you answer whether to buy a Verizon Tour, T-Mobile Dash 3G or Sprint Snap smartphone actually depend on which carrier you’re current on, or if you’re willing to switch. Switching carrier for any phone is a drastic move unless you’re moving to an iPhone 3GS.
T-Mobile USA are working on two Android-based non-smartphone devices, the first a data-enabled home phone to be followed by a 7-inch touchscreen tablet. According to documents obtained by the NYT, the two devices will launch early in 2010 and be intended for in-home rather than mobile use.
O2 declined to comment when leaked shots of the OpenPeak OpenFrame home information center showed up last month bearing the carriers icons, but they’re happily squealing about it today. The 7-inch touchscreen desktop communications tablet gets a new name – the O2 Joggler – and promises media streaming, PIM apps and photo viewing.
Koreans can now buy the iRiver WAVE HOME, the innovative touchscreen VoIP phone and home communications hub that was only launched at CES last month. On sale through KT Telecom, the device has a cordless VoIP handset – that also works as a remote – as well as a 1.3-megapixel webcam, internet access and widget-based GUI.
Check out the video demo of the iRiver WAVE HOME after the cut
Verizon Wireless have released a mass of new information about the Verizon Hub, which officially launched at the beginning of the month. We now know that not only will the Hub act as a femtocell – bridging Verizon Wireless cellphone calls across the home broadband connection – but that content from E! Entertainment and National Geographic will be available to view on the 7-inch touchscreen of the ”communication command center”. Finally, more details have emerged about the interaction between the Hub and the VZ Navigator GPS service.
It’s been around six months since OpenPeak showed off their OpenFrame home information center, and since then Verizon have launched their own take on the concept, with the Verizon Hub, while iRiver unveiled their own WAVE HOME. Obviously someone at carrier O2 has been taken with the OpenPeak device; photos of the OpenFrame in action, complete with new iconography, have shown up, together with a predicted release date.
Verizon have officially launched the Verizon Hub, the company’s “communications command center”. Built around a 7-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen base-station and cordless home phone, the Hub connects to a broadband connection (which can be Verizon’s or from another provider) and offers on-demand access to information and entertainment. That can include family calendars, directory enquiries, traffic and news, theater times (and ticket booking), streaming video, photos and music, visual voicemail and more.
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