Hasta La Gadget!

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

LAS VEGAS — CES isn’t just about new tablets, 3D TVs and one gazillion new Android phones. Sometimes its about the weird and the wonderful from unknown companies, and this iPhone Bluetooth handset from Hong Kong-based Native Union is plenty weird. And yes, I said handset, not headset.

The Moshi Moshi MM03i turns your iPhone into a landline phone, aesthetically at least. The weighted base has a slot for the iPhone, and you can leave it there happily charging and syncing. When you want to make a call, grab the receiver and you can make like 1995, back when you actually had a landline in your house.

To answer an incoming call, just pick it up and chat for up to six hours on a charge. You can also pair the handset with your computer for making Skype calls, and there are pick-up and hang-up buttons on the handset, along with volume controls. There’s even a 3.5mm jack in the base for hooking up to speakers.

For the tin-foil-hatters, you get the comfort of knowing that you aren’t frying your brains will evil cell-radiation every time you make a call. For everyone else, you can pretend you’re Don Draper. Pass me the whisky, now!

Available now, $150, in black or white.

Moshi Moshi product page [Native Union]

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LAS VEGAS — Samsung climbed aboard the increasingly crowded 4G train with a trio of 4G LTE-enabled devices Thursday afternoon at CES 2011.

Among the devices are a new version of the Galaxy Tab. Along with 4G connectivity capability, the new tablet will have an upgraded 5-megapixel back facing camera, distinguished from the current model’s 3 megapixels.

Samsung didn’t announce when the tablet would be available. It will be exclusive to Verizon’s 4G network in the U.S.

In addition to the new tablet, Samsung also unveiled a new, yet-to-be named smartphone, provisionally called the 4G LTE. It’s yet another launch of a mobile device with a massive super AMOLED screen — it measures in at 4.3-inches — debuting only days after the company had first announced its 4.5-inch Infuse smartphone.

Under the hood, the 4G LTE has a 1 GHz single-core processor. Just like the Infuse, the 4G LTE has an 8-megapixel back facing camera, with a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for video chat. Both the 4G LTE and the Infuse will run Froyo. Like the tablet, there aren’t any pricing or availability details being made public yet.

And to round out the announcement, Samsung also introduced its aptly named 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot for Verizon’s 4G network. The device will work much like other hotspots do, acting as a wireless access point for up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices at once. It’s also backward compatible with Verizon’s 3G network.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

The Motorola Droid Bionic is Verizon's flagship smartphone on the 4G network. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

LAS VEGAS — Just as TV manufacturers have been hawking 3-D TVs with barely any 3-D content to watch, carriers are heavily promoting 4G devices for networks that have spotty coverage at best.

After years of hyping up its fourth-generation cellular network, Verizon on Thursday announced 10 4G devices that will be rolling out this year. AT&T also said this week that it plans to release 20 4G devices by end of 2011.

Both companies have made only initial steps in deploying their 4G networks, so if you buy one of their high-speed devices today, you’ll probably be using it in the slower 3G mode more often than not.

That’s not stopping company executives from making grand pronouncements.

“During this three-year journey, from acquiring spectrum to launch, we not only transformed our network, but also our business,” said Dan Mead, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless. “The result is true magic — the sum of a powerful network, applications, software systems and devices that bring 4G LTE to life.”

It’s probably not going to seem very magical when your brand-new 4G smartphone can’t find a signal.

To date, Sprint is the only carrier that actually has a widespread 4G network. Sprint started deploying its network in 2008, and it currently offers 4G coverage in 70 markets and through 17 4G devices, including phones and netbooks.

AT&T, on the other hand, is only beginning to launch its 4G service, planning to roll it out widely by sometime mid-2011. Verizon just last month started its 4G network in 38 major metropolitan areas. That means for AT&T and Verizon customers, 4G coverage this year will only be available for a few dozen cities.

Succeeding 3G networks, the 4G network operates under a cellular standard called LTE, or Long Term Evolution, that carriers are adopting internationally. (If you haven’t already, read Wired.com’s full explainer on 4G.)

Verizon and rival AT&T both highlighted their 4G networks at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Both carriers are promoting flagship Motorola 4G smartphones: the Atrix 4G on AT&T and the Droid Bionic on Verizon. Each smartphone features the brand-new, dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor.

Verizon has partnered with manufacturers HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung to serve smartphones on the 4G network. Additionally, the company is working with Motorola and Samsung to offer 4G tablets.

The rest of Verizon’s 4G lineup includes the Motorola Xoom — a tablet that will ship with Honeycomb, Google’s Android OS modified for tablets. Also, the already-released Samsung Galaxy Tab will work on Verizon’s 4G network, too.

The remaining devices are Android smartphones from LG, HTC and Samsung that include the older 1-GHz Snapdragon processor.

Releasing 10 devices can be considered a punch in the face to AT&T, which only listed three 4G smartphones during CES. However, AT&T did say it expects to have more than 20 4G devices released by the end of 2011.

But no matter how many devices the companies toss into the 4G world, they can’t change the fact that their 4G networks are far from mature.

LAS VEGAS — After all the ruckus at CES 2011 over Motorola’s Honeycomb-dedicated XOOM tablet died down, I got a chance to get my hands on the latest in the company’s Droid series of smartphones, the Bionic.

Like its Droid X predecessor, the Bionic is definitely not small. The 4.3-inch screen is one of the largest on the smartphone market right now, and if you’re wearing tight jeans and hoofing it around the Vegas strip all day like I’ve been doing, a fat-bodied Bionic in your pocket might bring on a bit of chafing.

But the screen’s aesthetic appeal makes up for any inconvenience its size may bring. Shooting pictures with the back-facing 8-megapixel camera was made easier by the extra screen area for planning and viewing shots.

Whereas Apple’s iPhones are all about the smooth-backed covers, the Bionic goes the way of rubberized grip-style case. The phone’s backside has ample tooth to it, another line of defense against clumsy phone-droppers like myself. But the gripping doesn’t make the Bionic feel bulky or weighed down. It’s a nice touch, even if it may add to the aforementioned pocket-chafing.

We weren’t allowed to pop open the hood to see the phone’s 1-GHz dual-core processor insides, but by the looks of flipping through the Android 2.2 menu screens, the Bionic’s guts seemed to be doing their job well. No visible stuttering was to be seen in the few apps I ran, and load time was minimal. It was, however, a brand new phone with its 16 GB of on-board storage still relatively empty. I’d like to see how it runs after an app-hungry tween has had her hands on it.

All in all, I dug what I saw of the Bionic. It may be a bit large for my taste, but for the crowd that’s into the big and powerful (and prefers a Motorola handset over a Samsung offering) the Bionic is surely worth a second look.

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com