VTech has a new kids tablet called the InnoPad. The little tablet is aimed at kids 4-9 years old and has a lot of software that can be loaded onto the tablet using game cartridges. The InnoPad has a 5-inch LCD that is touch sensitive and has a tilt sensor for controlling games.

The tablet also has USB and a SD card slot along with a headphone jack so they can play quietly. The tablet will play games that are educational and fun. It also has books that kids can read along with and are interactive. The tablet will sell for $79.99 and software titles are $24.99 each.

VTech has dropped some of its new 2010 cordless phone line and the most interesting of the group is the LS6325. The cordless phone system has push-to-talk functionality that allows users in a large home or office to talk to each other with walkie-talkie like service.

The range for the PTT service is 1500 feet and the system can support up to five handsets using accessory handsets costing $19.95 each. The system will launch in April and will be offered in a three-handset bundle for $79.95 and a four-handset bundle for $89.95.

The device converges cellular and landline in the first cordless phone that is equipped to download cellular phone directories. The cordless phone sells for $99.99 and can download your mobile phone contact list via Bluetooth. The phone book is large enough to hold 6,000 number entries.

Other features of the device include the ability to synchronize with up to four Bluetooth devices. The phone also supports one call over a landline with another call going over a cellular connection at the same time. Up to 12 cordless phones can be paired with the system and each additional handset costs $19.99.

Something about having touch-sensitive buttons on a cordless phone just seems so right to me. All of VTech’s cordless phone systems cost less than $100. Using two Bluetooth connectivity to connect multiple handsets enables the LS6245 to perform like a two-line communication tool. With DECT technology you can expect the LS6245 to provide high-functionality with superior sound quality and range from anywhere in your home.

This cordless phone looks amazing with the touch-sensitive buttons accompanied by a large reverse LCD and white backlighting.  As part of VTech’s commitment to using renewable energy and aiming toward having zero waste, VTech’s DECT products are Energy Star(R)-certified.

In addition to internet radio, the IS9181 can also stream multiple file types from a Wi-Fi-enabled PC – MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV and Real formats are all fair game.  If you’d rather play music from your iPod, Zen or yes, even your Zune, you can do so via the 3.5mm auxillary jack located on the device.  VTech has even included the ability to receive horoscope text updates from the web – a nod, perhaps, to the 13 year-old girls who have supported VTech by buying their phones.

The IS9181 will be on display at CES, along with the rest of VTech’s 2009 product line.  The price has been pegged at $199.95, and you can get your mits on the device this Spring.

[via Engadget]

This little laptop features five different learning modes including words, math, games, logic and letters. All of these modes focus on educational activities for kids and helps them build language and cognitive skills. The keyboard is a full QWERTY and flips down. The arrow keys or the arm controllers can be used to scroll through the various modes and options.

With an LCD screen to boot, Wall-E blinks at you every time you answer a question correctly. This is meant for kids in the pre-school age range, I’d say, as the activities are pretty limited. Priced at $29.99, this is a fun gift for any kid that wants to have fun and is perfect for parents that wish to help their children build knowledge from an early age.

As for grown-up notebooks, Intel finally made the Centrino 2 platform official, and with it the promise of not only faster processors but native draft-N WiFi support and longer battery life.  In fact this week the company had plenty to be pleased about, as they soundly thrashed arch-rival AMD with their Q2 2008 financial performance.

One manufacturer with new Centrino 2 machines in their line-up is Sony, and we spent some hands-on time with the new VAIO range at the beginning of the week.  As for reviews, this week we looked at VTech’s IS6110 instant messenger DECT phone (and came away less than massively impressed) as well as Palm’s new 3G Treo 800w (which was, frankly, equally disappointing).

In gaming, we summarised Microsoft’s new Xbox Experience as well as the news that Sony has a new, 80GB PS3 in the works for a September release.  Activision also gave us some good news regarding Rock Band instruments and their compatibility with Guitar Hero.

Filed under “what took them so long”, Apple finally got around to taking OS X clone manufacturer Psystar to court over accusations of trademark and copyright infringement as well as violation of its EULA.  Some wondered if the Cupertino company had bitten off more than it bargained for, however; not from a strong rebuttal from Psystar but from the possibility that Apple will be forced to licence out its software.  Also in the courts, ATI and NVIDIA faced more unpleasant evidence as part of the price-fixing class action against them.

Finally, chumps-of-the-week award goes to AT&T, for their on-again, off-again iPhone WiFi farce.  After several rounds of confirming and denying over complementary wireless for the first-gen iPhone, the carrier has once again “accidentally” announced and then withdrawn the offer for the iPhone 3G (of which in excess of one million were sold over the weekend, with stock delays stretching into weeks).  Incidentally, you can read SlashGear’s review of the iPhone 3G here.

Regular readers may have noticed a flip back from the video Week in Review; we’re reworking staff here at SlashGear, and frankly you wouldn’t want to see my ugly face!  We’re hoping to return to the video format in the near future, so keep reading!

First impressions are reasonable.  The IS6110 comes in two sections, the handset itself complete with charging cradle, and the base-station which plugs into your phoneline and, via USB, into your computer.  Here, then, is the first flaw for VTech: you need to have your PC turned on if you want to use the IM functionality, but we’ll come to that later.  The handset looks a little like an older Treo, albeit with a smaller display, and feels pretty plasticky.  Made from hard plastic, the keys are quiet and relatively tactile, and the spacing is fair; they’re backlit for messaging in the dark.

Sadly while VTech looked to Palm for the case design, they seem to have picked Motorola for their GUI.  Navigation is via the D-pad and two soft-keys under the screen, but fonts are blocky and the whole thing feels cramped.  For voice calls there’s a directory with space for a mere 50 numbers, Caller ID/Call Waiting and a log that records the last 50 calls.  There’s a voicemail indicator too, if your carrier supports it, and should you be lazy or have your hands full there’s a standard 2.5mm socket for a wired headset.

Before you can log into any IM service - and the IS6110 supports MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger – you’ll need to install the VTech phone software.  The company provides a CD with all three of the IM clients and its own app; our install went without a hitch, and from then on the program started up whenever Windows loaded.  Still, it’s a pain having to have the PC switched on, plus it assumes your computer is next to a phone socket since the base station requires both.  We’d much prefer to see it plug directly into a spare ethernet port on your router, although we suspect that would push the IS6110′s price up significantly.

Once everything is connected and the software running, three homescreen icons on the handset indicate whether you’re logged into MSN, Windows Live or AOL.  You can store up to three IM accounts as different “profiles”, switching between them from the handset; one frustration is that you can only change the account details on the PC, not from the handset itself.  That’s fine if you’re the only one using the IS6110, you can have your three different IM accounts under three different profiles, but if there are multiple people in the house wanting to have their own settings you’ll have to constantly be changing them on the PC.  Once you start chatting on the IS6110 you can no longer access that messenger on the PC.

Navigating the buddy list is straightforward, and incoming messages from other people are indicated by a flashing face ion.  Hitting the ‘Buddies’ softkey takes you back to the list and lets you switch between conversations, but that’s about it: you can’t add, modify or remove contacts or groups, respond to new buddy invitations nor block unwanted contacts, and emoticons aren’t sent or displayed.  Offline messages don’t work either.  The IS6110 does support voice chat through each of the IM networks, though; we found voice quality about the same as when using a headset on the PC.

VTech suggest you’ll get either 7hrs use of the IS6110 as a phone or 3hrs messaging; standby is up to 96hrs.  In our tests we never reached those figures, and they’ll be impacted by walls being in-between the handset and the base station.  Only you know whether you can successfully carry out multiple long-term IM conversations on such a compact device; we gave up long before the 3hrs VTech said a full battery would last for, but we’ve a feeling that teenagers would be more dedicated.

In fact, that’s the obvious market for the IS6110: letting your kids chat on IM while you use the computer yourself.  With most young people glued to their cellphones, they’d probably find the VTech system pretty straightforward, albeit basic.  For instance, it supports custom ringtones – in fact you can record your own, either with the handset’s microphone or by plugging in the supplied audio cable – but you can’t assign them to individual contacts, only to incoming ‘voice’ or ‘VoIP’ calls.  If they’re not already using an IM app on their cellphone, kids would probably be better served with something like Sony’s Mylo communicator, first-gen examples of which have gone for as little as $66 on eBay recently.

As a phone, the VTech IS6110 does what you’d expect.  Call quality is typical for a DECT handset and range is the usual 50m or so, assuming walls.  As a messenger, the IS6110 is inevitably let down by its need to be plugged into a computer.  If you’ve a single kid who usually ties up the PC chatting to their friends then you might be able to placate them with the VTech, but a house with more people (or simply a person with more IM accounts) will find it all too limiting.  With free IM apps for cellphones freely available, or dedicated messengers such as the Mylo that use WiFi, the IS6110 begins to look, like many landline phones, too little too late.

The VTech IS6110 is available now, priced at $99.95.

[rating: 3.0/5]

It has a large high-res LCD screen on the phone as well as a full keypad which can be used to type your messages. No longer will you have to choose between sitting at the computer all day and using the precious capacity of your mobile’s data plan, you can now go outside and enjoy the weather and not miss the message from your friend you are waiting on.

The phone is ENERGY STAR rated, RoHS compliant, and comes with 100% recyclable packaging. It has caller ID, call waiting, recordable ring tones, voicemail indicator, a 50 name/number programmable phonebook/directory, and works with your choice of headsets. This amazing home phone is a mere $99.95 and can be bought online or at Best Buy.

[via VTech]