EV-DO services, devices highlight CES

If it's mid-January, you know it's time to forget about all the holiday stuff and head to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. Attending CES is like pressing a "reload" button where you forget about all the devices and gadgets from last year and get ready to be amazed by all of the new stuff.

Over the next two newsletters, we'll highlight some of the devices we saw, heard about or read about at this year's CES in terms of either wireless connectivity, or just good stuff for mobile travelers.

* Verizon Wireless

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If it's mid-January, you know it's time to forget about all the holiday stuff and head to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. Attending CES is like pressing a "reload" button where you forget about all the devices and gadgets from last year and get ready to be amazed by all of the new stuff.

Over the next two newsletters, we'll highlight some of the devices we saw, heard about or read about at this year's CES in terms of either wireless connectivity, or just good stuff for mobile travelers.

* Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless expanded its EV-DO broadband wireless network (brand name BroadbandAccess), launched a video on-demand service and debuted a handset (the LG VX8000) to run on the network.

The Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) network aims to provide average user speeds of 300K to 500K bit/sec, and lets users with Internet-connected laptops to access a corporate intranet to read e-mails, attachments and other files. The network has been extended to Chicago; Houston; Boston (Hooray! Finally!); Phoenix; Cincinnati; Orlando; Columbus and Dayton, Ohio; Providence, R.I.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Hartford and New Haven, Conn. The network was previously in 20 other networks (go to the Verizon Wireless Web site for a complete list of markets).

Verizon's video service is called VCast, and brings video, 3-D games and music straight to 3G phones that run on the EV-DO network. Starting Feb. 1, customers can access the VCast service to watch news, weather, sports and entertainment programming, download and play games, or watch music videos or other short programs. The service will cost an additional $15 per month (with premium channels costing even more).

The carrier also launched a handset for the EV-DO network, the LG VX8000. In addition to being able to access the VCast service, the phone includes a 1.3-megapixel camera, an internal 262,000 color LCD, and support for multimedia messaging and text messaging. The phone offers about up to 280 minutes of talk time and up to 185 hours of standby time, and weighs 3.88 oz. The phone will be available for $199.99 after a $70 mail-in rebate with a two-year agreement, Verizon said.

* Samsung phones

Another EV-DO announcement came from Samsung, which launched the SCH-A890, a clamshell style phone that supports the EV-DO network and video-on-demand services. The A890 also includes a 1.3-megapixel camera (with zoom, effects and self-timer features), MPEG-4 recording, support for multimedia messaging and advanced voice recognition. Pricing and carrier availability were not announced.

Samsung also launched the P207, the first phone with speech-to-text capabilities. The VoiceMode technology on the P207 will let users speak the words of a message and have the phone translate the words into text. A QuickPhrase feature lets users activate a frequently used short message pre-programmed into the phone. For example, a user can say "Call Me" or "Will Call you later" by saying those words, and the phrase will appear in the message. Other features include EDGE/GPRS support, a 262,000-color internal LCD and 65,000-color external screen, and support for MP3 ring tones. Pricing and carrier availability were not announced on this phone, either.