Rugged Bluetooth, Driving Apps, Phone Watches Prominent at CTIA

By Nicholas Kolakowski

The Kempler & Strauss W Phonewatch is a wearable GSM quad-band cell phone combined with a wristwatch. Features include an MP3 player and still and video camera, all of it accessible via a touch screen. Listen and talk via either a Bluetooth headset or the watch’s built-in speaker.

Igugu Internetv streams Internet video to a television via this remote control. It has been built to take advantage of 4G connections for high-quality images.

The BlueAnt QI Bluetooth headset now comes with a Google Android application (compatible with Android 2.0 and higher) that reads text messages aloud.

The BlueAnt T1 Bluetooth headset, which will ship this summer, features a silicon shell designed to ruggedize the device in harsher environments. The Wind Armor technology reduces ambient noise, particularly in the great outdoors.

The OtterBox Defender Series encases a smartphone in a layer of silicone over a polycarbonate shell. It is designed to withstand a 4-foot drop (as from belt level) to concrete.

OtterBox also offers other levels of protection with its Commuter Series and Impact Series, which feature durable silicone skins and inner layers to disperse shock from a drop.

The 4G Handheld Personal Hotspot, by Cradlepoint, is one of the many products at CTIA capitalizing on increased interest in 4G networks and capabilities.

Cradlepoint’s 4G Handheld Docking Station is designed to boost a signal, particularly within a building where such signals would ordinarily be dampened.

Zagg has produced stylish leather skins for a variety of devices, including the iPhone and Motorola Droid. This fits into a larger trend of stylizing device cases with funky and unique designs.

Zagg also produces protective polycarbonate skins with flashy designs.

The D-Link Mobile Broadband Wireless Router is paired with a mobile broadband USB adapter to create an ultraportable WiFi network.

The D-Link Rush features a 4×4 antenna design that boosts power of 802.11 a, b, g or n routers to 600M-bps speed and extends the signal by around 450 feet depending on the local geography.

The Destinator application includes textured maps, live traffic alerts and other features. Available for the iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile, it reflects the growing trend of navigation apps for mobile smartphones.

The Kingston Class 10 16GB MicroSDHC is built for speed, with a 10MB-per-second minimum data transfer rate. In practical terms, that much storage means between 7,000 and 10,000 photos on a phone.

Although MiFi portable WiFi hotspots from Novatel Wireless have been around for some time, the company recently tested a WiMax version of the device.

As it currently stands, a MiFi can handle five users simultaneously and boasts a 30-foot range.

TextArrest is designed to protect drivers from being distracted by their smartphones while on the road, by detecting when the device is in motion and locking down any functions such as text messaging or e-mailing that require looking at the screen.

TextArrest can also send alerts if the car exceeds a certain speed. Since the application runs in the background, it requires a smartphone that can handle multitasking, such as BlackBerry and Android devices.