Kyocera at CTIA 2007

Japan's Kyocera used CTIA today for an aggressive leap into the business of designer phones. The E5000 (shown) stands out for its devotion to an often-neglected part of clamshell design: the hinge. Instead of a merely utilitarian joint, the E5000's link is a curved S-shape built out of stainless steel. The phone is also geared towards music and brings touch-sensitive external music controls to the shell as well as stereo Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and EVDO access. It should be ready for CDMA-based carriers in the US and elsewhere by this fall.

More phones and a gallery follow the jump.

At the more conservative end are the E2000 and E1000. The E2000 is essentially a subdued but still fashionable version of the E5000, according to Kyocera. The external controls, Bluetooth, camera, and other features carry over from the E5000 with a standard hinge and physical music buttons. It and the E1000, which drops EVDO, should be ready in the fall and summer respectively.

Two phones have also been revealed outside of the E-series. The M1000 is a budget alternative to the LG enV at Verizon which embraces the same philosophy, serving as a regular bar phone when closed but opening to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and a larger internal screen. It includes a 1.3-megapixel camera and Bluetooth and should be ready in the summer alongside the S1000, a no-frills bar phone designed for the most basic cellphone users.

Lastly, Kyocera ends its CTIA lineup with the KPC680, an ExpressCard 34 adapter for MacBook Pros and other modern notebooks that lets them connect to faster EVDO Rev. A networks (as well as legacy EVDO) on the road. It includes an adapter to fit earlier PC Card slots and will arrive in the summer.

E5000



E2000



E1000



M1000



S1000

By Electronista Staff

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