CES 2009: Cell Phone Introductions

Other Interesting New Phones

The Cell Phone WatchLG announced a wristwatch cell phone that is both full-featured and good-looking. The square-faced 1.4” touchscreen watch is not overpowering for a man and fits right into the over-sized watch craze that is currently popular for women. It plays music, supports 3G networking, and has voice recognition, a speaker phone and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. It will definitely make you think of Dick Tracy, Maxwell Smart, and/or 007. No release date or carrier was announced, but when it gets here we will all be “watching” to see if it catches on.The Recycled Cell PhoneThe newly announced Motorola Renew is truly a green phone…both in color and in its commitment to the environment. The Renew’s plastic shell is made of recycled bottles and is 100% recyclable. It will be available in the first quarter of 2009 through T-Mobile. The phone will even come in recycled packaging and include a pre-paid envelope that purchasers can use to recycle their old mobile phone. The Renew will not be included in the iPhone killer list. It has no camera or Wi-Fi, yet it is a cell phone that is truly environmental-friendly.The Simplistic Cell PhoneNot all cell phone are equipped with a multitude of advanced features as shown by the new Doro HandleEasy 330 and 326i cell phones. Doro is a 35-year old Swedish company who is known for incorporating the latest technologies while maintaining simplicity of design and functionality.

While these phones are aimed primarily at baby boomers and active seniors, they are not as senior-oriented as the Jitterbug phone. Anyone who wants a simple phone with large keys and ease-of-use will appreciate the Doro phones. The Phone/CameraWhile we are seeing many cell phones with cameras, Kodak and Motorola have announced a unique device that seems to be half cell phone and half camera. The Motorola Motozine ZN5 camera phone shown in Figure 4, boasts a 5-megapixel camera with impressive features and camera controls. The candy-bar shaped device looks like a cell phone on one side and a camera on the other. This may be one phone that you will feel comfortable to take along when you will need a camera, but don’t want to drag along two pieces of equipment. As you might expect from Kodak, it has many more camera features than the usual cell phone. You might expect a device like this to be bulky, but the Motozine is surprisingly svelte and comfortable.

Figure 4: Motorola Motozine ZN5.