Here is a look at the Saygus V1 vphone, which will be the first Open Development Initiative handset for Verizon Wireless.

802.11, Apple, Business, Data Communications, Services, Telecommunications, Verizon Wireless, Wireless

Winners in the fifth annual CTIA E-Tech Awards were announced on March 23rd in 15 categories covering the areas of mobile CE, applications, enterprise, green solutions, luxury mobile and network infrastructure. Winners were announced during International CTIA WIRELESS 2010® which takes March 23-25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Mobile CE – Phone/Smartphone
First: Samsung I8530, Samsung Telecommunications America
Second: HTC HD2 from T-Mobile, HTC
Third: Saygus VPhone, Saygus, Inc.

Source: Mobility Wire

CTIA, HTC Corporation, HTC HD2, International CTIA WIRELESS 2010, Las Vegas Nevada, Samsung Group, T-Mobile, Wireless

The Saygus VPHONE was named a finalist for the CTIA (Cellular Technology
and Internet Association) Show’s 2010 E-Tech Awards in the MOBILE CE
(Consumer Electronics) Smartphone category!  CTIA is the mobile
device/mobile accessories and cellular technolgy industry’s show where the
latest electronic and mobile devices are displayed and demonstrated for
international retailers and resellers to see and buy. It is not open to
the general public. Buyers and sellers come to CTIA to decide on what they
will be putting on their shelves in the coming months for their customers.

CTIA issued a press release last week announcing the E-Tech Award
finalists here:

http://www.ctiawireless.com/media/news_details.cfm?newsID=243

There are two other ways for the Saygus VPHONE to win not only the MOBILE
CE “Best Phone/Smartphone”, which is decided by a CTIA selected committee,
but also to win Best Online Pick and Best in Show! The deadline to vote
for the Saygus VPHONE as Best Online Pick is Monday, March 22nd at 5PM…
probably Pacific Time, but you might want to vote by 5PM Eastern Time just
in case. To vote the Saygus VPHONE for Best Online Pick go to:

www.ctiashow.com/awards

Source: Droid Ninja

Best Online Pick, Business, Consumer electronics, CTIA, Mobile device, Saygus VPhone, Telecommunications, Wireless

Phone Arena played with the third Android phone for Verizon Wireless, the Saygus Vphone, at the MWC. The device is still more on the unofficial side, so whether or not it will launch at some point remains a mystery.

The Saygus Vphone is an Android 1.6-running side-slider with a four-row QWERTY keyboard, 5MP camera and powerful hardware, including an 800MHz Marvell processor and 256MB RAM. The screen is a capacitive one, measuring at 3.5” with WVGA resolution.

It’s also significantly thicker than its Android opponents, but sports a very nice sliding mechanism. It might launch in May, if it launches at all.

Android, Handhelds, Mobile World Congress, QWERTY, Random-access memory, Saygus VPhone, VerizonWireless, Wireless

Saygus are apparently getting ready to launch their first V1 Android handset (known as the VPhone) across the Verizon Wireless network.

The VPhone will mark Verizon’s first Open Development Initiative handset, and will feature a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3.5-inch (800 x 480px) high resolution capacitive touch display, 5 mega-pixel camera (with flash), and support for supports EVDO Rev. A, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR connectivity.
The handset also includes an accelerometer,…

[source: Current]

Bluetooth, Data Communications, Evolution-Data Optimized, Global Positioning System, QWERTY, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi, Wireless

The chunky VPhone (also known as the V1) will be the only two-way video-calling phone in the U.S., if it makes it to market. It will be the first consumer phone certified through Verizon’s Open Development Initiative, which up until now busied itself approving devices like house-arrest ankle bracelets and wireless electricity meters. And it’ll be the only Verizon Android phone so far not to use the “Droid” name.

Saygus sees the phone as a way to show off their video-calling software, which can transmit 352×288 video at 24-30 frames per second over a 48-kilobit stream, Sayers said. It’s efficient enough that video calling will cost much less than it does on AT&T, where prices start at 25 cents per minute. Saygus has been working on their software for a dozen years, but never found a buyer, so they decided to strike out on their own and make the ultimate video phone.

Video calling isn’t the VPhone’s only new trick. The phone will act as a Wi-Fi access point like Novatel’s MiFi, connecting up to eight PCs to the Internet at one time. Those PC users better watch out, though, as the VPhone’s service plans are likely to have the same 5GB per month data limit that you see on all Verizon plans. That’s enough for tons of video calling, considering Saygus’ extremely efficient compression, but tethering may strain your plan’s limits.

The phones will obviously call each other, but Riker said they’re also working on making them compatible with SIP/H.263 video-calling systems and desktop PC applications. They’d like to work with Skype, he said, but Skype has to allow them. International calling to foreign networks like 3, which already support video chat on mobile phones, is further out on the horizon.

Using ODI makes the VPhone’s path to market a bit weird. ODI devices don’t use Verizon’s stock service plans. Instead, Saygus wants to make deals with big-box retailers, who will offer their own service plans that use Verizon’s network and mirror Verizon’s own prices. They’re still working out who would provide product and tech support for these plans, Riker said.

The phone may also appear on other carriers in the future, Sayers said.

Under the Hood

The VPhone was built for Saygus by a nameless Chinese device manufacturer, and it feels like it. It’s chunky at 4.6 by 2.3 by 0.8 inches (HWD) and inelegant, but packed with features. The phone is thicker, but lighter than the Motorola Droid, and entirely wrapped in cheap-feeling black plastic. The 800×480 screen is sharp, and the keyboard is nicely well-spaced and much clickier than the flat, limp Motorola Droid keyboard.

The phone was a very early unit, so I couldn’t say much about performance or test the video-calling capabilities. But I got a general sense that this was a highly capable, although somewhat bulbous phone.

The VPhone runs Android 1.6, though Riker said they’re going to try to put 2.0 in there if the timing is right. They’ve tweaked 1.6 with some open-source extensions that seems to be borrowed from HTC, altering the home screen style and allowing for unlimited, expandable home screens. They’re still negotiating with Google about getting the Google apps onto the phone. Multi-touch support will come with the Android 2.0 upgrade, Riker said.

Under the hood, there’s a 624 Mhz Marvell PXA312 processor. We’ve seen that before on Verizon’s Samsung Omnia, but it has never appeared in an Android phone. That’s roughly equivalent to an ARM11 processor, so it may not be as fast as a Motorola Droid’s Cortex-A8 processor.

The phone has a 5-megapixel camera on the back and a VGA camera on the front. Both cameras can record 640×480 video at 30 frames per second. Bluetooth, GPS, and an FM radio are also on board, according to the phone’s spec sheet. The phone will get 3-4 hours of video calling and 6-7 hours of talk time on its chunky 1500 mAh battery, Sayers said.

I’ve seen a lot of small, new cell-phone companies say they’re going to crack the U.S. market, and they rarely do. Heck, even Nokia has trouble finding room in our closed, clubby, carrier-run world. Sayers said they have a former LG sales manager, Ash Darwish, helping them negotiate the rapids and shoals. That puts them ahead of companies such as Logic Wireless and Zer01, which don’t have mobile insiders playing major roles.

It’s unclear how much the VPhone will cost. Verizon has previously said they won’t subsidize ODI phones, but Sayers said they’re working on figuring out some sort of subsidy arrangement whether it’s through Verizon or their retailers. The VPhone is slated to come out early next year.

[Source: PC Mag]

Android, Business, House arrest, Saygus, Services, Telecommunications, United States, Verizon Communications, Vphone, Wireless

If you follow smartphones you’ve probably seen a pretty cool phone appear out of nowhere recently, the V1, from a company you’ve probably never heard of, Saygus. The V1 is an Android-based phone that closely resembles Verizon’s Droid. It looks impressive, and when you throw in its video conferencing capabilities, seems almost too good to be true. Maybe it is. I found it unusual that such a sophisticated-looking phone could be made by such an unknown company like Saygus, so I set off to discover everything I could about the firm. What I found left me with more questions than answers.

I’m pretty plugged into the smartphone scene, so I was eager to find out where Saygus came from and what sort of smartphone-making expertise it was bringing to the table. The rumor that the V1 would come out of Verizon’s Open Development initiative, in particular, really piqued my curiosity. But while I was unable to come up with much information about the company (there’s not a lot available), what I did find struck me as bizarre.

Saygus, according to its web site, is based in South Jordan, Utah; it was founded by CEO Chad Sayers. It bills itself as an “innovative leader in the communications industry specializing in the design, development, beta testing and market implementation of the world‘s first live wireless two-way video conferencing PCDA (Personal Communications Data Assistant).”

Saygus is set to release in the “fourth quarter of this year” the V1 — “the world’s first two-way live video conferencing PCDA.” The picture of the V1 (above) depicts the phone that is appearing all over the web as the new Android phone to possibly be carried by Verizon.

Read the rest of the story at jkontherun

Android, Business, Company, Smartphone, V1, Verizon, Videoconferencing, Wireless

Saygus told Phone Scoop that its V1 Android handset — to be branded as the VPhone — will be Verizon Wireless’ first Open Development Initiative handset. The V1 boasts some impressive specs, and is just “days” away from certification on Verizon’s network. The stand-out feature of the VPhone is going to be a video sharing service that will allow two people to share a live, two-way video feed. It will also be able to act as a Wi-Fi router, similar to the Novatel MiFi. According to the Saygus web site, the VPhone has a 3.5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel, high resolution capacitive touch display. It is powered by a 624MHz processor, has a 5 megapixel main camera and a VGA camera that faces users. It supports EVDO Rev. A, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, accelerometer, digital compass and microSD cards up to 32GB. The device is a sideways slider that has a full QWERTY keyboard. Saygus said that because the VPhone is an ODI device, it won’t be beholden to some of the restrictions placed on Verizon’s regular handsets and it will support applications such as VoIP via the 3G network. Saygus believes the device will be available late 2009 or early 2010 through most of Verizon’s sales channels. The VPhone was recently approved by the FCC.

Bluetooth, Data Communications, Evolution-Data Optimized, MicroSD, Novatel Wireless, VerizonWireless, Wi-Fi, Wireless