Verizon Hub Home Phone

Verizon's do-it-all home phone delivers weather, traffic, a calendar and more.

While those who geeked out over iRiver’s debut of the Wave Home at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show will be anxiously waiting to import them from Korea for months, Verizon has cooked up something awfully similar for the states. The Verizon Hub combines a VoIP home phone with an array of Internet-connected widgets, from calendar and weather applications to an integrated digital phone book and mapping application.

Verizon Hub Home Phone

Much like the Wave Home, the Hub resembles a digital picture frame with a phone planted into it (not surprisingly, it can also double as a picture frame when it’s not performing moreadvanced functions). Users can control just about every function of the hub from the LCD touch screen, including advanced phone features like visually navigating through voicemails or setting up callforwarding.

Busy families will also be able to add information, like calendar entries and contacts, from a companion Web site, allowing them to pop up on the Hub even when retrieved from afar.

Though Verizon’s press release claims that the Hub will work with any Internet provider, it also mentions “service plans” for the device, which would imply that some sort of subscription will be mandatory. Some of the Hub’s functions will also interface directly with the company’s wireless network, like the ability to send turn-by-turn directions or text reminders to cell phones.

So far, Verizon has revealed that the device will launch on February 1, but pricing and other details are not yet available. More information can be found in the company’s press release.