Hasta La Gadget!

BlueAnt has unveiled the Interphone F4 hands-free communication system for motorcycle riders–and at first glance, it looks brilliant. The system lets riders speak to each other via a wireless intercom, and also lets each rider make or receive cell phone calls using their voice–without having to let go of one of the handlebars.

The Interphone F4 comes with a main unit that mounts on a helmet, plus two earbuds on wires and a extra-long boom mic (pictured–helmet is translucent). Riders can answer calls simply by saying “hello.” (I wonder if that means you’ll have to say hello twice–once to answer the call and again to greet the other party?) The system also streams stereo music through A2DP, and supports voice dialing and redial.

BlueAnt designed the Interphone F4 to work clearly at speeds up to 110 mph, and can connect with other F4 units as long as bikers cruise within 1,640 feet of each other (just over a quarter of a mile apart). Each F4 will pair with up to eight Bluetooth devices, and contains multipoint technology for pairing with two of them simultaneously. The F4 offers 10 hours of talk time, 700 hours of standby time, and comes with a 2-year warranty.

The Interphone F4 is available now at www.blueantwireless.com for $225.00.

Motorola has invested an undisclosed sum into Sensitive Object, a multi-touch company, in a move that could signal a new generation of interfaces for the troubled cell phone maker, according to InformationWeek.

Sensitive Object’s interface differs from today’s capacitive and older resistive touch screens by–get this–using software to analyze sound waves coming from the point of each touch. The idea is to create a more natural, acoustic-based interface that includes multi-touch, virtual controls, and other three-dimensional controls, the report said. (Here are a few graphic representations of what they’re talking about.)

Motorola’s handset arm looked left for dead earlier in the year, but seems to be resurgent thanks to the Droid and other Android-powered smart devices.

HP’s corporate-themed iPAQ smartphones have been pretty solid over the years. Now the company has unveiled the iPAQ Glisten, a fully updated model that will be available subsidized on AT&T–unlike the unlocked HP iPAQ 910 we reviewed last year.

Like that iPAQ 910, the HP iPAQ Glisten is your standard black QWERTY slab. HP distinguishes the Glisten, however, with a vibrant AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) touch screen–a first for AT&T smartphones.

The Glisten features Windows Mobile 6.5, Wi-Fi, GPS, and access to Windows Marketplace for Mobile. In addition, there’s a 3.1-megapixel camera, and AT&T throws in its free Wi-Fi Hotspot access for more than 20,000 locations.

The iPAQ Glisten will land “in the coming weeks” for $229.99 with a two-year agreement and after rebates. It will be available through HP corporate sales, AT&T business services, and AT&T and HP SMB Web sites, as well as third-party e-commerce sites.

I had a chance to test out Sony Ericsson’s new Xperia X10 (codenamed “Rachael”) for a few minutes at last night’s Pepcom in NYC.

The Xperia X10 is a slim, sleek slab with an expansive 4-inch capacitive touch screen with 854-by-480-pixel resolution. That’s the same pixel count but slightly larger than the 3.7-inch screen on the Motorola Droid. Unlike its predecessor, the Xperia X1, the X10 drops the keyboard and also switches from Windows Mobile to Android.

Has Nokia finally figured out the formula for a successful Internet tablet-gadget-thing? We’re about to find out, because Nokia just announced the Maemo-powered N900 is now on sale in the U.S. and shipping to customers who pre-ordered the device.

Unlike Nokia’s earlier efforts such as the N800 and N810, the N900 is roughly the size of a regular smartphone. It also actually makes cellular calls on T-Mobile’s 3G network or AT&T’s 2G EDGE network, instead of relying on Wi-Fi or WiMAX. The N900 offers the Linux-based, open-source Maemo OS, along with 32GB
of internal storage, 3G connectivity, multitasking, and the ability to
install third-party apps (commercial, homebrew, or otherwise).

The N900 also features a 3.5-inch touch screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, four customizable home screens, and Adobe Flash 9.4 support within the N900 Web browser. Look for it in Nokia’s flagship Chicago and New York stores for–hold onto your earmuffs–$649 unlocked, as well as online at www.nokiausa.com and www.amazon.com. And if you grab one, let us know what you think of it in the comments.