New Breed of Web-Ready Video Phones

Two impressive touch-screen VoIP video phones that can also browse the Web and play back music, photos, and movie files debuted at this year's CES. We'll be watching (and hoping) for the U.S. launches of the iRiver Wave-Home (pictured) and the Google Android-powered Touch Revolution NIMble Home Phones, the latter developed by the product design leader responsible for the first iPhone's touch screen. --Danny Allen

Garmin Nuvifone

There isn't much to say about our hands-on time with the Garmin Nuvifone, since the prototype we saw wouldn't even power up. The phone is very thin, especially with other portable navigation devices in mind. It's also nice and sleek, a simple black obelisk, though we're more interested in the stylish UI we've seen in press photos than in the outer shell. For the inner workings, though, we'll have to take Garmin's word for it. The company admits that there is still a ways to go, but seems confident in a late 2008 launch. No carrier or retail plans have been finalized, but reps tell us to expect a GPS experience that far exceeds what we've seen so far on mobile phones. Release: March 2009.

Pros: Cool look, thin device. Much smaller than the PNDs it might replace.

Cons: Um, could somebody please get us a working model? This one doesn't turn on.

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Palm Pre next-gen smartphone

Of all the surprises surrounding the Palm Pre, the biggest may have been the network exclusivity scored by Sprint. The embattled network has always led the charge with new Palm devices, and we've had a great experience using our Palm Treos on Sprint's 3G network, so we weren't too concerned. In all, this could be a real coup for Sprint's EV-DO Rev. A service. Otherwise, the Palm Pre goes well beyond updating the stale Palm OS platform, and brings an entirely new interface and hardware paradigm in the form of the Palm WebOS. The WebOS is a jewel of a touchscreen interface, and it includes some interesting synchronization options to allow users to seamlessly navigate between corporate mail, personal e-mail on Google as well as social networking on Facebook. The Palm Pre hardware itself packs all the high-end features you'd expect from a modern smartphone, all in a slim, rounded design.

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LG reveals GD910 Watch Phone to be released this year

Posted by Nicole Lee
Article Published here: http://ces.cnet.com/8300-19167_1-100.html?authorId=170

We first saw the LG Watch Phone last year at CES 2008, but it was behind glass and no one was allowed to really see how it all worked. This year, however, LG plans to break it out of the display case. At the LG press conference a few minutes ago, they demonstrated a real working prototype of the watch phone and it looks to be a real must-have for the spy wannabe in your life. It has a touch-screen user interface (!), three side-mounted buttons, Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and even a full-blown music player. It's water resistant, and it'll feature 3G HSDPA, which leads us to think it may come to AT&T some time this year.

UPDATE: We've just got more details about the watch phone. It has tempered glass, a high-quality metal casing, and is around 13.9mm thick. The touch screen itself is 1.43 inches diagonally, and features LG's Flash interface. Features include voice recognition, Text to Speech so it can read out text messages, and stereo Bluetooth. However, the huge disappointment is that the watch phone will be Europe-only (insert sad face here). We think it may still be compatible with local GSM networks, but only time will tell (apologies for the bad pun).

UPDATE 2: More updates on the Watch Phone. LG has just told us that the Watch Phone will have quad-band GSM, and that the 3G/HSDPA will be compatible with AT&T's frequency. So even if it is Europe-only, you could potentially get one unlocked and use it here. We'll see if we can get more news about pricing and availability.