Panasonic VoIP, wireless-camera and bone-conduction DECT phones
Among the new season DECT phones been demo’d to retailers at this week’s Panasonic trade show are a few models not due to go on sale in the UK until October – assuming dealers are willing to stock them.
In terms of volume sales, the most intriguing prospect might appear to be the KX-TG9120 – a USB-equipped colour-screen phone that will be sold in two variants. One, the TG9140 bundle, will include a mains-powered wireless-transmitter camera that allows the package to be used as a front-door security device or for baby-watching – with pictures appearing on the handset’s 1.5in screen.
The other, the TG9150, will come bundled with a VoIP module that, we assume, enables users to take and place VoIP calls without being stuck at their PCs.
KX-TG9120The KX-TG9120 will be sold with two different
modules – one for VoIP, the other for a wireless camera
In contrast, the KX-TG7170 phone is a needs, rather than wants, kind of product. It’s aimed at the not inconsiderable proportion of the population with hearing difficulties caused by outer-ear/middle-ear problems. The phone by-passes the problem areas completely and instead uses bone conduction to allow the user to hear incoming calls.
The big black circular jobbie at the top of the handset shown below isn’t a speaker but, instead, a vibrator (okay, we know a speaker is a vibrator of sorts, too). Hold that against the side of your head and the sound gets transmitted to the inner ear using vibrations that pass through the skull.
Presumably based on the assumption that such hearing difficulties are most common in the elderly, the KX-TG7170 also features larger-than-normal buttons that are also backlit.
