Jan 9, 2009 7:01 am US/Pacific
Iriver Wave Home Is All-In-One Communications Hub
LAS VEGAS (CNET) ―
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With the Iriver Wave Home, you can access the Web, photos, music, and videos, and there's an FM radio that Iriver says can be "enjoyed through Wave Home's built-in, high-quality stereo speakers."
Iriver/CNET
There's been a little bit of buzz at CES here
about the Iriver Wave Home, which marries a networked mulitmedia device
with a communications hub to form a kitchen/home office-friendly
gadget.
A 7-inch 800x480 touch screen is built into the unit along with
a detachable wireless handset and speakerphone for VoIP calls (you can
make calls from the phone or an onscreen virtual keypad and the device
supports video calls as well). You can access the Web, photos, music,
and videos, and there's an FM radio that Iriver says can be "enjoyed
through Wave Home's built-in, high-quality stereo speakers."
"High quality" might be stretching it a bit, but you get the
picture: the thing is basically a digital photo frame on steroids,
complete with a 1.3-megapixel CMOS camera. Additional features include
an Ethernet jack, SD card slot, USB connectivity, and support for
digipen input.
Iriver is also touting the device's intelligent Widget, which "provides
instant weather, stock and traffic updates, as well as Web and
multimedia services that users can enjoy without a computer since the
device is connected to broadband internet." Wave Home also supports
Flash-based games and you can send and receive SMS and MMS texts.
What's missing? An iPod dock. My God, what were these people thinking?
I'm kidding. Well, sort of. Anyway, there's no definitive word on
pricing or availability, but Iriver is allegedly trying to keep the
cost below $400.
Author: Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy oversees
CNET's Home and Hardware reviews, which includes all things related to
home theaters, PCs, and digital imaging. He also writes his Fully Equipped column, covering the gamut of gadgets and gizmos.
(© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.)
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