Saygus VPhone Coming to Verizon

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The Saygus Vphone V1 is slated for release as the third Android phone on Verizon. We know--who, what, and where is Saygus? Honestly, we wish we could tell you, we've never heard of the company until now. Saygus will be the third Android phone on Big Red (which is quickly becoming the home for Android devices) and was created through Verizon's own Open Development Program designed to make it easy to deliver Android handsets to Big Red's CDMA Network.

The specs are actually halfway decent and if it does really launch on Verizon, it'll certainly warrant a closer look.

800x480 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen
624 MHz Marvell processor (PXA 310)
512 ROM / 256 RAM
5 Megapixel autofocus camera with flash, front facing camera for video calling
GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, accelerometer, compass, FM Radio
1500 mAh battery

Courtesy of Android Central

Saygus VPhone to bring video calls and a bit of chub to Android and Verizon

From Engadget Mobile:

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If you know that your personal happiness lies somewhere in the Verizon / Android abyss but neither the Droid nor the Droid Eris are hitting the spot, you might consider trying something completely out of left field. How "left field" are we talking here? Well, for starters, odds are good that you've never heard of a company called Saygus, and its shiny new QWERTY slider, the VPhone, won't be offered directly from Verizon -- it's a product of the carrier's Open Development initiative. Sure enough, that handset we spied a few days back is real, and the specs are all panning out: 624MHz PXA310 XScale core, 512MB of Flash on board coupled with 256MB of RAM, 3.5-inch capacitive WVGA touchscreen, WiFi, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, front-facing VGA camera and -- of course -- EV-DO Rev. A support. The current incarnation is running Android 1.6, but it should be running 2.0 by the time of its launch next year, along with getting some Google-certification to let it run the Google apps. Saygus' real thrust here is apparently two-way video calling (good thing they picked Verizon, huh?), though they aren't showing it off just yet. The hardware itself is rather chubby, but it leaves room for an oversized QWERTY keyboard that could very well solve your Droid woes. No word on price or a firm release date.

Saygus VPhone Hands On

From Engadget Mobile:

Want to see that new Saygus VPhone in action? Can't get enough QWERTY in your Android? Enjoy videos shot amongst a crowd of screaming trade show attendees? Boy are you in luck. Check out our video hands-on of the handset after the break, and please excuse the noise.


http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/11/11/saygus-vphone-video-hands-on/

Phone Scoop Hands on Saygus and Video

Verizon Wireless has been pitching its Open Development Initiative to hardware makers for a while now. Up to this point, the only types of devices that have been certified on the network are business-focused items that are not cell phones, but other types of hardware with data connections enabled via Verizon. That's all about to change with the arrival of the Saygus VPhone.

The VPhone -- aka V1 -- is being manufactured by Saygus. It runs Android 1.6 and will be updatable to Android 2.0 at some point in the future. Saygus executives said that the device will be available to Verizon Wireless customers, but it won't be supported by Verizon Wireless. That's one of the drawbacks of using an ODI handset. Anyone who eventually purchases this device will have to rely on Saygus for support if things go screwy. Once certified, the VPhone will be able to access Verizon's voice and data network, but won't offer Verizon-branded services.

Instead, Saygus is offering its own, home-cooked applications to make the VPhone stand out. The primary feature of the phone is a video sharing capability that will allow users to stream a live, bi-directional video feed between two phones. Yes, that means video phone calls from a cell phone. (Saygus claims its video compression technology is second to none, and will even work on EDGE networks.)

Unfortunately, Saygus didn't show off this feature. In fact, a lot of the menus were under embargo and couldn't be shown. That didn't stop Phone Scoop from playing with the device for a bit.

First, it's HUGE. It has to be the thickest phone manufactured in the last four or five years. Despite its size, it isn't all that heavy. The plastics and materials feel a little on the cheap side, but the manufacture appears to be fairly tight.

It has three keys on the front, which are minimalistic and have very little travel and feedback. The device is rimmed by what looks like 1,000 buttons and hatches. They all felt OK. These buttons include volume toggle, application key, dedicated camera key and lock/unlock key. Hatches covering the miniUSB port and microSD port are here, too.

The slider mechanism feels pretty solid, with not too much wiggle room. The keyboard is absolutely gigantic. The keys are well spaced, have a very nice shape to them, and offer excellent travel and feedback. I'd say the keyboard is probably the most impressive aspect of the hardware...

...with the exception of the display. Similar to the recently released Motorola Droid, the VPhone is packing a 480 x 800 pixel display, making it high def. It looks fantastic. Images, icons and text popped off the display.

Aside from the video sharing feature, perhaps the phone's most impressive capability is that it will act as a Wi-Fi router. This means it will connect to Verizon's 3G network, and then allow a laptop to tether to the VPhone via Wi-Fi rather than a cable. In other words, it will act similar to the Novatel MiFi. Saygus wouldn't say how many simultaneous connections the VPhone would support.

The device had Android 1.6 -- aka Donut -- loaded on it. The UI had seven active screens and actually looked a lot like HTC's Sense UI. Saygus assured us that they were simply using alternate icons that are built into the Android platform. As for performance, it was a bit slow. Despite having a 624MHz processor, it was stutter-y and transitions from screen to screen were a little rough. Hopefully this is something that Saygus can work out before the device hits the street.

In all, this is an interesting device. Saygus believes it will be available for sale in late 2009 or early 2010. Given the level of innovation show by Saygus, it offers a teeny bit of hope that other hardware makers will follow suit and offer their own new and innovative products.

im not sure how i feel about this device

what scares me is that Verizon wont support it