Once the TV has that information, it adjusts its settings accordingly to make sure you have the best picture (that B&O engineers deem) possible. The 50-inch model will cost you $7500, and the 65-inch model will be $13500. Maybe you should just learn to calibrate your own TV? Even hiring some guy to do it for you would be less than this. [Reg Hardware]

The phone also sports an iPod-esque touch ring for control and a dock for charging and syncing it up with your computer. There's no pricing available yet for the 3G phone, but it won't be cheap. Woz'll probably buy one. [Product Page via Electronista]

As well as a very unusual design, the handset will feature GSM 900/1800/1900, 2.1GHz UMTS, EDGE and HSDPA 1.8 Mbps connectivity, so it should be usable pretty much anywhere you take it. It also has 4 GB of memory for storing MP3 and MPEG4 files, both of which can be played on the device. The dimensions will be 109.5 x 63 x 19.7 mm, but there's no word yet on pricing or availability. [Unwired View]

Based on the design of the Samsung YP-Z5 MP3, the Beosound 6 shares the Korean player's interface. Measuring 3.5 x 1.7 x 0.5 inches, it sports a 1.8-inch color LCD screen. Battery life is 24 hours, and it supports both MP3 and WMA formats.

So, all that for $812, eh? *Faints*. [Beoworld]

Three words for you, Kim. Made. In. Korea.

At least the LCD panel. However, if you really want unparalleled technology for its $13,250 price tag, you can get yourself a better Samsung Full HD TV, a good AV receiver and some good speakers. And if you want something with good quality to look great on your bachelor pad then burn that credit card in the BeoVision 7. And eat less danish pastry. – Jesus Diaz

Bang & Olufsen Introduces BeoVision 7 - Its Premier LCD Screen to Arrive in North America [PR Newswire]

UPDATED: My error, Kim is a man. My fault for letting my sculptural-scandinavian-goddesses obsession make me assume that he was a she instead of checking that fact.

Just testing. I know it's oblong, but it's Monday morning and I want to see if you've all recovered from St. Patrick's Day. Anyway, enough about my weekend, here's the week's first gizmo. Samsung has teamed up with Danish designmeisters Bang & Olufsen to create their new Bluetooth headset, the WEP 420. And it looks good (although personally I think there's something a bit ho-bot about Bluetooth earpieces). All buttons are hidden behind the sliding cover, which itself blocks static to give you better sound quality.

If you're wondering what the big thing at the back is - I certainly was - it's a charger cradle, which apparently "may be used as an interior decoration item." No, Samsung, it may NOT. The WEP 420 is out later this month, but for how many greenbacks they don't say. – Ad Dugdale

Samsung Bluetooth Headset WEP420 [New Launches]

Nice thinking, B&O. In a time when everyone wants small, portable music devices, you come out with a gigantic hulk of a product that pretends that the digital audio revolution never happened. No word on pricing, but since it's B&O it's probably like $20,000. Gee whiz, where do I sign up?? –Adam Frucci

Pinel & Pinel [via Ubergizmo]

Bang & Olufsen [via SlashGear]

Even the most masochistic consumer will resent the two-column number pad, a bewildering design choice that complicates what should be a simple act: dialing.

The article is written by Michael Hsu, instead of Associate Editor Kevin Sintumuang. It cleverly reminds us that everyone has a cellphone these days, but not everyone has the landline. That makes it a bit of a reverse tech geek icon: Oooh, you can totally dial BBS with that shit, man. Furthermore, the landline is likely clearer than any cellphone, and you won't drop any calls. Obvious, but worth the reminder.

Jump for my favorite landline handset out of the rest of the article...

ITT 2500 Vintage Bell

The Bell 2500 Desk phone was last made in 1986,
prior to the big phone company "break-up." Since
the Phone Company was required to repair these
phones when they broke, they rarely did! These
are possibly the sturdiest telephones available
today. Great for teenagers, rough environments,
even business and factory applications. They have
an adjustable real mechanical bell ringer.

The Basic 2500 Desk Telephone - Vintage Bell [Custom Phones]

David Pogue totally caught us skimming the headline and lead of his B&O piece. He writes in to correct me in saying he totally "didn't love" the B&O Serene. And the headline belongs to some editor. And editor who also skims. He totally never said that he was the B&O phone's baby daddy. Snark aside, we were a little one sided in covering his coverage.

In fairness, he offers some more balanced pull quotes from the review we wrote about, after the jump.

"If you're concerned about projecting masculinity, the Serene may not be the phone for you; the common object it most resembles is a makeup compact."

"Let's face it: a circular dialing pad means that your thumbs have to do a lot more moving around than on a traditional pad, and your eyes have to do a lot more hunting. You can't possibly dial this phone without looking."

"The lens is mounted on the side of the hinge, at 90 degrees to the screen. That side-mounted arrangement is great for taking surreptitious photos on the subway (if anyone who'd pay $1,275 for a phone takes the subway), but self-portraits are impossible, and even getting the shot framed right can be a challenge."

"Here's what you will not find on the Serene: a speakerphone, music playback, video, games, custom ring tones, downloadable anything, and an external screen so you know who's calling before you open the clamshell (that's a big one). And you can't use your own pictures as screen backdrop."

I even joined you in dissing B&O for the insane pricing of this phone:
"For its classiness, striking design and sound quality, the Serene would fly off the shelves at $500 or even $600. But holy cow: $1,275? Could it possibly be worth that kind of money?"

It's totally true, as nearly always, his review was fair, and I weighted the giant type faced headline too heavily. It was too easy to read into the word "Love." (Used in a question, not a declarative sentence.) But then again, if David had read the tail end of our post, he would have seen that we vindicated him from total Apple-like hypnosis at the hands of B&O.

Before we can accuse him of being seduced by the black beauty, David reels himself in...

NYT's Pogue Loves the B&O Serene Cellphone [Giz]

...the world craves a phone that conveys, like Apple's iPod, a feeling of beauty, elegance and instantaneous mastery.This week, a cellphone matching that description has finally arrived — but it's not from Apple. Its design comes from Bang & Olufsen, maker of expensive, hyper-stylish stereos and cordless phones.

David, what's with your headline? ("The Cellphone Costs $1,275. In Love Yet?") Since when do we love anything that costs too much for a feature that should be accessible to the common people: good design.

What else do you get for this kind of money? A cellie that looks like a make-up compact, with a reversed screen and keypad, a scroll wheel almost identical in function to that on the iPod, and Samsung guts. And sound quality by voice and ringtone on par with audiophile headphones. Good. But, so far, Pogue hasn't sold me.

Then David tells us that the clamshell is motorized. Unnecessary mechanical augmentation? I am fucking getting one now. [let me repeat: This is pretty damn cool. No sarcasm here.]

Then, there's the scrollwheel...

which happens to function almost exactly like the pod's. The address book, where you'd expect to find it most useful, requires you to pick your letter before you can use it there, though.

Before we can accuse him of being seduced by the black beauty, David reels himself in:

It's not an Apple phone, but in many ways, Bang & Olufsen seems to have embraced some very iPoddish design goals: unconventional materials; a focus on simplicity, elegance and pleasure; and a pure, minimalist, convention-shaking design.

For its classiness, striking design and sound quality, the Serene would fly off the shelves at $500 or even $600. But holy cow: $1,275? Could it possibly be worth that kind of money?

Only if you're wealthy, a connoisseur of fine design and skeptical that any real Apple phone is in the works.

Long has the iPod been the benchmark that other MP3 players have been compared to. Now the iPhone is getting the same treatment, before we've even seen one. –Brian Lam

The Cellphone Costs $1,275. In Love Yet? [NYT]