That is, insane features we're not likely to ever see. Here's a short list:

- Tri-fold OLED screen (like a wallet)
- Shape-shifting buttons that can become flat if necessary
- Powered by kinetic energy, like a self-winding watch
- Charges via "nano-scale piezoelectric generators"

It's ridiculous, but so cool at the same time. [Core77 via DVICE]

Like the Winter/Fall season's phones, these ones are sleek clamshells chock full of features the public probably won't use—like "Run & Walk," a mobile fitness program that offers fashion advice, a personal trainer as well as the usual calorie and step counters.

It's funny. I used to feel like Japan was on the cutting edge of designing cellphones and features. Now though, minus a few interesting novelties (the music program phone or that 3D phone), KDDI au's offerings all seem a little stale. [KDDI au]

The phone has a 2.8-inch QVGA screen and comes with a 2-megapixel camera in addition to the integrated belt. It can also function as an E-Wallet. There's no word on pricing or availability, and it seems like its headed for Japan only. The E-Wallet function completely makes sense, and probably makes your financial information to everyone you see on the street. On the bright side, I won't have to see any more unsightly brick phones bulging from the back pocket of jeans. [Akihabara News via Ubergizmo]

Personalized Features

* Additional ringers*
* Backlit keypad
* Color display - Internal: 2.2", 240 x 320 pixels, 262K- color QVGA / External: 16 x 104 single color OLED
* Polyphonic (MIDI) ringers, MP3 ringers, and AAC ringers
* Screensavers
* Wallpaper

Productivity Features

* Alarm Clock
* Calculator
* Camera - 1.3 MP, Digital zoom, with dedicated side key
* Contact directory
* Headset jack
* GPS locator*
* Memo pad
* Predictive text-input software for rapid text entry
* Scheduler
* Side volume controls
* Speed dialing
* Stopwatch
* Tip calculator
* Micro USB connector
* Voice recognition (speaker-independent)
* World clock

Communication Features

* 2-way text messaging*
* Bluetooth® 2.0 - Supports Bluetooth wireless technology profiles (Generic Access, Headset, Hands-free Car Kit, Serial Data Port, Dial-up Networking, OBEX, Object Push, Basic Printing, Phone Book Address, Service Discovery App, A2DP) and allows you to talk hands-free using any compatible accessory with Bluetooth wireless technology, version 2.0
* BREW 3.1.5 platform* - allows for downloads of games, ringers, contacts and much more*
* Color picture caller-ID
* Data capable*
* Email, web based email
* Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) capable*
* Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC)
* Multi-media Messaging Service (MMS) capable*
* Instant messaging capable*
* Multiple language options
* Secondary external caller ID - 16 x 104 single color OLED
* Speakerphone with dedicated key
* TTY/TDD capable*
* Vibrate alert
* Voice-activated dialing
* Voice memo
* Web access* - WAP 2.0 browser to view your favorite Web sites specifically formatted for your phone
Tech Specs

* Talk Time:
Up to 220 minutes
* Standby Time:
Up to 220 hours

Times will vary based on user settings, feature use and network configuration.

* Size (closed):
3.52 in x 2.05 in x 0.66 in (89.5 x 52 x 16.7 mm)
* Weight:
3.17 ounces (90 grams)
* Mode:
CDMA2000® 1xRTT, tri-band (800, 1900 MHz, AWS), S-GPS*
* Screen Resolution:
Internal: 2.2", 240 x 320 pixels, 262K- color QVGA / External: 16 x 104 single color OLED
* Camera:
1.3 megapixel
* Battery Type:
790 mAh lithium ion (Lilon) battery
* Vocoders:
13 Kbps (PureVoice) and EVRC
* Operational Temperature:
-22° to 140°F (-30° to 60°C) [Note: Battery performance limited in temperatures below 32°F (0°C).]

It seems like paper would be shooting out of there like a Gatling gun, blanketing the office in a thick layer of spreadsheets and memos. However the KJ4 claims to pull it off thanks to its proprietary piezoelectric ceramics technology. It also features a 4.25 inch printline—the largest in its class. Look for the new printhead to go global starting in April. [7 Gadgets via 2dayBlog via Crunchgear]

Nice looking, but a 1.3 MP camera? Exactly.

Kyocera E5000
This elegant, slim handset features an iconic, patent-pending sculpted "S" hinge design made of stainless steel that is certain to stand out amongst a crowd. With a superior entertainment experience that includes high-speed 1xEV-DO for music and video on demand* (MOD/VOD) and a 1.3 megapixel camera with video recorder, Kyocera's E5000 is that "must have" device for pop culture junkies and fashionistas alike. Audiophiles will love the dedicated, touch-sensitive external controls for the integrated music player and stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) capability. To ensure space for a large collection of media files, the E5000 includes a microSD™ memory expansion slot for storing up to 2GB of extra music, pictures or movies.

While E5000's technical capabilities impress, the "S" factor and sheer beauty of this handset set it apart. Extensively tested for durability and strength, the innovative "S" hinge strikes the perfect balance between style and usability. Leaving no detail unchecked, the hinge also influences other design elements of the phone including the number pad and rounded edges of the handset.

"When I tell people what I do, I constantly get asked what the next revolutionary design element is going to be for mobile phones," said Tyneski. "With E5000, I truly believe that we have conceived an iconic, revolutionary look that will be immediately recognizable and instantly equated with high fashion and style."

A dual-band digital handset with a 2-inch QCIF+ internal TFT display, Kyocera E5000 will be available from global CDMA carriers in Fall 2007.

Texting freaks should love this phone, but for anyone else it may be worth a pass. It is a pretty average or even low-end phone. It does support EV-DO, which is a plus, especially for lightening-fast IMing or text messaging. I'll see if I can con our intrepid reporters on-site at CTIA to go give the M1000 a little grope. Until then, jump for a picture of the device closed.

–Travis Hudson

Kyocera's M1000 QWERTY Messenger Launches [Mobileburn]

Every morning as I approach my workspace on 14th Street, I'm assaulted by two very different sensory experiences. The first is the whiff of stale urine outside a certain construction site, where nightly Mad Dog throwdowns seem to occur. The second is the hollering of a tout who spends eight straight hours piping, "Free Sprint phones! Free T-Mobile phones!" She's out there rain or shine, handing out flyers for a nearby cellphone depot. So piercing is her scream that I've started hearing it in my dreams.

But don't get me wrong, I admire the lady bigtime—not just for her Teutonic work ethic, but for advancing the cause, however slightly, of handset enticements. You see, wireless providers seem to think there's only two ways of getting your business: coverage (hence those now-stale "Can you hear me now?" Verizon ads) and plans (hence that really annoying T-Mobile ad with the two long-haired stoners, their dads, and a loudspeaker that blares "Overage! Overage!"). But neither of these is really the way to a cheapskate's heart—and, by extension, his wallet. We're the sorts who prefer a dollar today to a buck fifty two years down the line, and so what we look for is this, and this alone: what sort of free cell do I get for signing up? After the jump, a rundown of what America's wireless providers are giving away at present, as a means to deciding which company really, truly loves us low-enders.

Verizon Wireless The fact that Verizon thinks they can hook you with coverage promises really shows in their lineup of freebies. The chunky CDM-180, manufactured by Audiovox, is the most expensive handset they're willing to part with; it's marked down from $69.99 if you'll do a two-year contract. It's a relatively ancient product, actually, having been launched at the 2005 CES—a fact that Verizon conveniently fails to mention on its hype sheet. It's also strange that they flog the CDM-180's wide screen as perfect for "playing games and browsing the web." Um, Verizon? If I'm signing up for the cheapest possible phone, that probably means I'm not likely to fork over for a data plan, too. Better bet: the PN-210, from our "friends" at Pantech. It's drab and featureless, for sure, but at least it's lightweight.

Cingular "Raising the bar"? Boy, do ad slogans ever lie. The sole free flip phone in Cingular's lineup (again requiring a two-year contract—the rule of thumb from here on in) is the LG C2000. I can tell you from experience that this year-old phone has a ghastly camera, as well as middling talk time. If you must have Bluetooth, then you can opt for the Motorola L2, which lacks a lid. Strangely, I've also read that the L2 was priced in the $175 range when it debuted last August. I wonder if its quick descent into low-end land tells you something about it's quality.

Sprint Lord knows I'm no fan of Sprint, which I ditched many moons ago after growing weary of asking myself, "How the hell can I be roaming in my kitchen?" I'm definitely not the only person who's down on the house the Cleyson Leroy Brown built; I heard the emcee at the Apollo Theater's Amateur Night make a similar joke a few months back, and the audience went absolutely buck nuts in agreement. So how do you repair your image? Why, by offering a pretty decent assortment of freebies. The nicest stuff here is by Samsung, particularly the A640. What's incredible about the A640 deal is that it's such a new handset, having only been released this past July. The fact that they're handing this out to new recruits isn't exactly a sign that you should start buying Sprint stock, but a company's misery is often a miser's gain, eh?

T-Mobile The way I feel about T-Mobile is the same way I feel about TBS and TNT—solid, but not apt to wow (though I do enjoy those Family Guy reruns on TBS, I'll admit). T-Mobile's lineup of entry-level handsets is about what you'd expect from such a company, with the best attraction being the year-old Motorola V360. It's a serviceable phone, I guess, and I definitely appreciate them not saddling with you a 65,000-color screen like some tightfisted providers. But my ultimate reaction is along the lines of "meh". (On the other hand, note that the ad on the Mobiledia review promos a deal that'll net you a profit of $50 in exchange for your two-year agreement—how come the wireless providers themselves never advertise such deals on their sites?)

Alltel I have no idea what to think about this Johnny-come-lately, at least judging by their handset deals. No true freebies here, but they do have two so-so models available for nominal fees: the Kyocera Candid KX16 for 99 cents, and the LG AX4270 at two-for-a-dollar. The LG offer seems especially tasty at first glance, though the handset's spec sheet is decrepit—a listed talk time of 168 minutes probably means you'll get an eighth of that within a few months, if you're lucky. But what I'm really conflicted about is whether the nominal-fee scheme is ingenious marketing, or some sort of total dick move. I'm actually looking into writing an upcoming column on the psychology of various promotional tactics, so stay tuned.

The Bottom Line I never thought I'd say this, but...Sprint wins! Sprint wins! They're definitely layin' it all on the line, in terms of putting passable cellphones in the hands of new cheapskate subscribers. But, as noted above, the abysmal service the company offers should soon end the honeymoon. Which makes me wonder—is there some sort of axiom we can take away from this? Does the appeal of a wireless providers' entry-level handsets increase in direct proportion to how awful their service is? If that turns out to be the case, let's totally call it the Low End Theory Rule #2; Low End Theory Rule #1, of course, is never buy a $100 Powerbook from an eBay seller who lists his e-mail address as hdrhghgfhgh@yahoo.com.cn.

Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor at Wired and a columnist for both The New York Times and Slate. His Low End Theory column appears every Thursday on Gizmodo.

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Available now for $29.99. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Virgin Mobile via Mobile Whack]

Cheapo Handset Bill of Rights

Us veterans of the food-service industry know that a restaurant's best-selling bottle of wine is almost invariably the second cheapest on the list. The common assumption among diners is that the lowest priced vino is probably fit for little more than disinfecting pustular sores, and so they might as well spend the extra $4 and get something at least halfway drinkable. Plus, let's face it, no one wants their date/client/grandma to think, "Gee, this guy makes Ebenezer Scrooge look like Daddy Warbucks."

The same sort of psychology seems to be at work among pressed-for-cash cellphone buyers. In response to last week's column on ultra-cheap handsets, a reader pointed me toward some anecdotal evidence—okay, okay, a speech by a Qualcomm exec—insisting that discount-conscious handset buyers actually prefer phones one or two notches up from the biggest bargains. The cheapest handsets, it seems are perceived as too feature-poor and unreliable to be worth the scratch—the digital versions of that $18 bottle of fetid Chianti that your local Italian joint is eager to push on unsuspecting cheapskates.

In some ways, the ultra-cheap handsets are getting a bad rap based on this tic of consumer psychology. But then again, when you strip away every reasonable feature in the name of low, low price, you're eventually gonna make the product undesirable to even entry-level buyers. With that in mind, I gave a good, long think to some perks that every buyer of a sub-$35 handset should be entitled to, regardless of race, ethnicity, creed, or species. If you're reading, oh lords of Nokia and Motorola, take note and start treating my short-armed, deep-pocketed brothers right. PLUS: The first handset to break the 1,000 rupee barrier?

Before I rattle off the list, a quick note on what's not going to be on cheapo handsets anytime soon: cameras, color screens, and clamshell tops. I'm particularly enamored of the last design detail, but in the name of low-end bliss, I can do without. I do, however, look forward to the day when someone figures out how to add a one-megapixel cam to a cellphone without jacking up the overall price by 30 percent. Any companies out there working on this, or am I just a nut and a crazy dreamer?

These must-have features are in no particular order; please e-mail me with suggestions for others, and I'll try to run 'em next week:

Save Preset Text The "canned" text bites that come equipped on most low-end phones are maddeningly useless. I remember that on my ol' Samsung A300, the only one I ever ended up using was "Thank you," and even that was a rarity. (Particularly annoying was "Be there in 15 minutes"—what if I only needed 10 minutes?) My suggestion, then, is for there to be a way to type out and store some stock catchphrases of your own design. For example, why on Earth shouldn't I be able to add "Whatchu up 2?" Doesn't seem to be a memory problem, as the A300 (as well as most other basic handsets) allow you to store many of lines of text in the Notepad. A simple software fix should suffice to allow this, right?

Stopwatch Why this isn't a standard feature on every phone, I have no clue. In fact, I've never seen it on any phone I've ever owned, which makes me conclude that few handsets are designed by Germans residing in large cities. I mean, what pleasure could possibly be more Teutonic than measuring exactly how many seconds it takes you to walk a certain number of blocks, or ride the subway from one neighborhood to another. The clock may give you a rough estimate but, believe you me, there's a big difference between a 40-minute subway ride and one that lasts 45 seconds more. (For the record: I am part German and hopelessly anal retentive about maximizing efficiency.—in other words, I kid because I am.)

One-Touch Redial What's standard on cordless phone should be standard on cheap handsets. Given the problem with fade-outs, it makes sense to expedite the redial process. But most of us still have to sift through the Calls list to find out most recently dialed or received number, and then press the Send key. Yes, I realize that I'm talking about saving folks a grand total of about seven minutes per year. But you'll thank me on your deathbed, when you'd trade it all for just another seven minutes of precious life. (Like I said, I'm part German, and thus given over to bouts of morbidity. Apologies.)

Preset Games One of my biggest disappointments with the Razr has been the lack of preset games. I know that they're trying to hook you on subscriptions to Bejeweled and whatnot, but how much fonder I'd be of Motorola if they'd simply thrown Push Push on there.

SIM Card This should go without saying, but apparently it doesn't. Why on Earth would a smart company like Samsung sell me a handset that backs up via USB to my PC, but then that information can't be transferred to my new Razr? I guess that's just their way of trying to keep the little guy hooked on Samsung products—the old compatibility trick. I say a pox on 'em, and SIM cards for all—how expensive a feature can that be, given that the bottom-o'-the-line Nokia 1100 is SIMed out?

Ceaseless Alarm Clocks I once missed a train because my handset's alarm only rang for 60 seconds, then quit. I say screw the battery life issues and make those suckers ring 'til its owner either hits snooze or the off button.

Like I said before, this is only a partial list, and I'd love to hear from the peanut gallery. And while you're at it, if you've got any info on good places to eat/drink in Utica, New York, I'd be much obliged—I'm heading there tomorrow for book research, and dread having to settle for Taco Bell. Many thanks.

LAST HANDSETS BIT, PROMISE: Last week, I appealed for cheapo handset info from around-the-globe. Correspondents from India to Mexico responded, and the verdict was pretty much the same—Kyocera, not Motorola, is leading the charge toward sub-$30 handsets. An Indian low-end fan, for example, wrote in with word that the Kyocera Prisma is now being offered in his land for a mere 999 ruppees—quite likely the first handset to crack the magical 1,000 rupee barrier. And down Mexico way, a Kyocera Blade can be had for 399 pesos, a price that includes 100 pesos worth of talk time.

So let's hear it for our friends at Kyocera. And, honest to God, you won't hear another peep out of me about handsets for at least the next 14 days. Unless I totally get writer's block next Thursday, which is always a possibility. (Thanks, Salvador and Aditya)

Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor at Wired and a columnist for both The New York Times and Slate. His Low End Theory column appears every Thursday on Gizmodo.

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Users can use the 802.11b/g connection or plug their computers directly into the ethernet ports. All the standard router features are there, firewall, DHCP, NAT and access control.

Available at the Kyocera store for $299.99. – Jason Chen

Store [Kyocera]

Product Page [Kyocera via Uber gizmo]

It's a clamshell that opens lengthwise to expose the QWERTY keyboard and a 128x160 widescreen display. Of course, there will be full support of a cacophony of ring tones which are incongruously called "Super phonic." Kidding aside, it looks like a pretty good handset for $149.99, no matter how old you are. Available this month.

The Switch Back Handset For Teens [Mobilewhack]

Kyocera W41K, the 3.2 megapixel behemoth with anti-shake technology and a woofer [Phoneyworld]

This Kyocera Strobe phone has all the moves. With a candybar design, it opens lengthwise and has an external keypad and color screen as well as a second, larger display next to another keyboard on the inside. Perfect for the younger, text-driven crowd, it only has a 0.3-megapixel camera with flash and a dedicated camera button. Also expect a WAP 2.0 microbrowser, support for third-party applications via either Java or BREW, polyphonic ring tones and the ability to record voice memos. No price yet, but should be out second half of this year.

Thumbboard-toting Kyocera Strobe flashes onstage [Infosyncworld]

Seems Kyocera has joined the "Sidekick killer" trend that's popping up with cellphone manufacturers and carriers. The KX21 or "Switchback" is a QWERTY keyboard phone for Virgin Mobile. The phone has 1x RTT data, as well as a built-in camera and is aimed toward text messaging. Don't expect anything too great though. No Bluetooth is included with the KX21, making it the ideal cheap-ass phone for pre-paid. It also appears to have a rugged design for when teens drop the phone while roaming the mall. Expect a release date very soon from Virgin Mobile.

Kyocera KX21 Cellphone [Mobile Whack]

Best pricing on Kyocera cellphones[Shopping.com]

The first phone that they're rolling out with Kyocera is the Jet, seen here. It's a CDMA phone, with push-to-talk walkie-talkie features. The Jet is EVDO-capable, able to show 30 fps video, has a built-in VGA camera, and supports up to 2GB of memory. Word is that the phone itself will cost $99. As for the service fees, the Amp'd rep says that they're following the cable subscription model: there'll be the basic voice package, and consumers can add on a data package, a premium content package (like Sports), and even some On Demand items (like a music video). Pricing wasn't available yet but it'll probably be out later this year.

I was also told there'll be another Amp'd Mobile phone coming out from Kyocera called "Angel", and a Motorola phone codenamed "Hollywood" (though the name is subject to change).

Next is the Slider Remix KX5, which isn't anything new, except that this one has Bluetooth. Everything else is pretty much the same: music player, 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD slot, uses Tranflash memory, 262k color display. This will also be available in November this year.

Finally there's the KX12, a very nice-looking ruggedized walkie-talkie phone. It'll be utilizing CDMA push-to-talk technology, and comes complete with front-ported loudspeaker, an internal antenna, and rubberized side grips for increased durability. Also has a built-in flashlight for emergencies. The KX12 will be available Q1 of 2006.

Live photos of the Slider Remix KX5 and the KX12 after the jump.

Press Release [Kyocera]