South Korean manufacturer Pantech&Curitel's new PH-K2500V handset reads messages out loud and sports OCR for text recognition.
It's only going to be available in Korea, but Pantech&Curitel's latest feature-laden handset may be a sign of features to come for Western markets. Not only does the petite, pendant-like PH-K2500V offer 1xEV-DO for high speed data; it also boasts text-to-speech functionality and optical character recognition software to enable the handset to read.
 | The PH-K2500V packs a smorgasboard of features in a petite shell
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Measuring in at 67 X 56 X 21 mm and weighing 88g, the PH-K2500V ranks among the very smalles of 1xEV-DO capable handsets currently available. A clamshell model, it features both an internal and an external display, both of the 18-bit TFT variety, yet with differing resolutions of 176 x 220 and 128 x 96, respectively.
The TTS capabilities of the handset will convert incoming text messages to voice messages, and read them aloud as they arrive in loudspeaker mode. Also, users can control and have the tiny clamshell read the contents of its menu, phone book and unanswered calls.
Further on the note of audio, the PH-K2500V also boasts 64-tone polyphonic ring tones, as well as an MP3 player and a whopping 512 MB of internal memory for storing both audio and other types of content. In addition, the PH-K2500V also supports music and video on demand services, enabling the handset to stream content over an 1xEV-DO connection.
Adding to the feature bonanza, there is also a 1.3 MP camera with 10x digital zoom, featuring automatic white balance adjustment and a timer function. In addition to taking still pictures, the camera also records video in MPEG4 format, which can be sent to contacts via either e-mail or MMS.
Perhaps the most unusual function of the handset, the PH-K2500V includes in-handset OCR (Optical Character Reader) software which can recognize text from JPEG files. This functionality is specifically aimed at those handling large numbers of business cards, which rather than requiring storage can simply be photographed with the built-in camera and parsed into the phone book of the device.
Priced at approximately $366 USD, the PH-K2500V will be available from January 2005 - only in Korea.
An additional picture of the Pantech&Curitel PH-K2500V is available on the following page.
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