Hasta La Gadget!

Jan 06

Saygus Android Phone Promises Easy Video Calls

Posted in: Android, Phones, skype, Today's Chili, video

LAS VEGAS — It’s not easy to find an Android phone that hasn’t been churned out by the HTC factory. The Saygus Vphone is a smartphone from a Utah-based company that promises a nifty handset with one unique feature: the ability to make two-way video calls even on an EDGE network.

“We have designed our own proprietary video calling software that’s optimized so you can get three to four hours of video calling capability on extremely low bandwidths,” says Chad Sayers, founder and CEO of Saygus.

Video conferencing is still a novelty in smartphones. It can guzzle bandwidth and carriers have been hesitant to support the applications. Saygus says its video calling software can change that. It won’t bog down the network and can run 18-22 frames a second on Edge network and up to 30 frames a second on 3G. Saygus estimates that 5GB of bandwidth can support 10,000 minutes of video conferencing on the phone.

Saygus also hopes to partner with Skype to bring Skype video calling to the phone.

The Saygus Vphone has a 5-megapixel camera with auto focus and flash and also a forward facing camera. The phone runs a Marvel 624 MHz processor and has a 3.5-inch touchscreen (Complete specs.) Overall, the phone looks similar to Motorola’s Droid in its hardware design. But for the few minutes that we got our hands on it, the keyboard felt a lot more comfortable and easy to use than the Droid.

The CDMA Vphone is currently in carrier testing and there’s speculation it could make eventually be available on Verizon. As for pricing, all Sayers will say is that it will be “very competitive.”