CES: Motorola OJO Video Phone

[James Fee]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://webmail.west.cox.net/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+mobmain?msgvw=INBOXMN382DELIM2351' target='_blank'>http://webmail.west.cox.net/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+mobmain?msgvw=INBOXMN382DELIM2351</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The Motorola Ojo Personal Videophone (Model PVP1000) transmits full-motion video (30fps) with synchronized audio over a high-speed Internet connection. No Setup: Motorola Ojo easily connects to your high-speed Internet and telephone lines and is immediately ready to send or receive calls. The elevated (eye-level), portrait-oriented LCD digital display (7”diagonal) and camera placement create an experience that is natural. During calls, the display features a small self-viewer, to see how you are positioned in front of the camera. The integrated cordless handset can be used to make voice-only calls using either the public service telephone network (PSTN) or a voice-over-IP (VoIP) network. For video calls, Motorola Ojo uses optimization of the advanced MPEG-4 coding standard (H.264), which enables transmission of 30 frames-per-second video with synchronized audio at data rates as low as 110 Kbps."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/motorolaojo.jpg" /> <br /><br />VoIP is the hot tech industry these days and the natural progression is video-over-IP. Is this the killer application that will make VoIP phones take off, or will this round of video phones die off just like all the previous attempts.

[jeffd]

I am all for video phones.. but they keep screwing it up. First, that is the ugliest design of a phone ever. where in the heck am I going to stick that thing? that display is huge!

The thing is... these phones need to be no bigger then they are now (answering machiene phones), and they need to be dirt cheap. The chips to achieve low bitrate video are dirt cheap, and small 2.5 inch screens are dirt cheap. even way back when, when ati first sold theirs, they overpriced it big time and there was no way it could sell, even though it used the same small screens being sold in pocket TVs for years.

also VoIP is very new, you need to introduce these phones to ALL forms of telephone connections, other wise the user base of video phone users will be small and no one will care to waste the money. video phones need to be treated like normal phones, and currently they can work like that, you can produce adiquit video for 2.5 inch screens accross copper wires and celluler, having video displays the size of TVs, or for your tv, is just a waste.