Cell Phones, Computers, Switched Video, Reviews, Mobile Phones
Hype Check: Verizon Hub
HYPE CHECK: Verizon Hub
What it is: The Hub is a VoIP (Voice over IP) home smartphone: Picture your normal home phone and add a 7-inch touch screen, Internet connectivity, and an interface similar to your computer's desktop complete with icons and widgets.
Why it's different: While the Hub reminds us of the iriver Wave Home announced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the combination of a white-bread household phone and slick computer desktop is something new for a major telecommunications company like Verizon. VoIP phones ditch the copper wire of traditional landlines for a broadband Ethernet cable, enabling advanced features like visual voicemail and contact list management in addition to standard call features like call waiting and call forwarding, and the Hub ads widgets and a number of other services to this list. Perhaps most notable of these is a maps feature that allows you to send directions from the Hub to your Verizon cellular phone (provided that your phone is equipped with the company's VZ Navigator app). In fact, the device's integration with Verizon's cellular service is simultaneously a blessing and a curse: one that enables some impressive services we haven't seen before in home phones, yet also saddles you with an exclusive contract forcing you to be a Verizon wireless subscribers if you want a Hub. Hopefully we can sort through this dichotomy and find an answer.
What we like: A suite of helpful features dramatically expands the service you are used to with you home phone. Watch movie trailers and buy your tickets straight from the device, then send directions to the theater from the Hub to your cell. Watch Vcast television content while sipping your coffee before checking your calendar and then have the Hub send you a text message later reminding you about dinner plans in the evening. Get live weather and traffic updates before hitting the road and sync up contacts and calendars from the office using the Hub's companion Web site. The Linux operating system is responsive and apps open quickly with smooth animated transitions. The desktop on a device like the Hub can easily get crowded and fortunately Verizon has done a good job of keeping things clean.
What we don't like: As we mentioned above, you must be a Verizon wireless subscriber to use the Hub. The device costs $200 after a $50 mail-in rebate and saddles you with an additional $35 per month service fee. You can use any broadband Internet connection with the phone (in case you live somewhere without Verizon broadband service), but forcing people to be wireless customers as well will immediately alienate many potential customers who are already tied into other mobile contracts.
Also disappointing, you can't sync up contacts or calendars directly from your mobile phone to the Hub... reschedule an appointment on your cell and you'd have to do it again on the Hub to bring it up to date. Don't try syncing with Outlook or other popular e-mail and scheduling programs either; you are limited to doing all your syncing on the companion Web site and the device itself (although we do have word from Verizon that they are working on this problem; one advantage of a smart device like this is that could it can be automatically updated as services expand). Also oddly missing is a Web cam: With the device's broadband connection and capable chat feature, it seems like an obvious feature that we are surprised to see left out of the mix. Lastly, we'd like to see the unit opened up to downloadable widgets and additional applications. As of now, you are limited to what comes pre-installed on the device.
Is it worth the hype? With many people opting to ditch their landlines altogether, Verizon is hoping to entice people back to hang on to the idea of a home phone by combining the convenience of a landline with the features of a smartphone. VoIP offers better services and lower prices than landlines and you can bet on seeing more devices like the Hub in the near future. While we dream about an open source version of the device with easily downloadable content that isn't attached to a hefty wireless contract, our experience with the HUB was favorable overall. If you are already a Verizon customer, it may be just what your kitchen countertop has been missing.
Related Links:
What we don't like: As we mentioned above, you must be a Verizon wireless subscriber to use the Hub. The device costs $200 after a $50 mail-in rebate and saddles you with an additional $35 per month service fee. You can use any broadband Internet connection with the phone (in case you live somewhere without Verizon broadband service), but forcing people to be wireless customers as well will immediately alienate many potential customers who are already tied into other mobile contracts.
Also disappointing, you can't sync up contacts or calendars directly from your mobile phone to the Hub... reschedule an appointment on your cell and you'd have to do it again on the Hub to bring it up to date. Don't try syncing with Outlook or other popular e-mail and scheduling programs either; you are limited to doing all your syncing on the companion Web site and the device itself (although we do have word from Verizon that they are working on this problem; one advantage of a smart device like this is that could it can be automatically updated as services expand). Also oddly missing is a Web cam: With the device's broadband connection and capable chat feature, it seems like an obvious feature that we are surprised to see left out of the mix. Lastly, we'd like to see the unit opened up to downloadable widgets and additional applications. As of now, you are limited to what comes pre-installed on the device.
Is it worth the hype? With many people opting to ditch their landlines altogether, Verizon is hoping to entice people back to hang on to the idea of a home phone by combining the convenience of a landline with the features of a smartphone. VoIP offers better services and lower prices than landlines and you can bet on seeing more devices like the Hub in the near future. While we dream about an open source version of the device with easily downloadable content that isn't attached to a hefty wireless contract, our experience with the HUB was favorable overall. If you are already a Verizon customer, it may be just what your kitchen countertop has been missing.
Related Links:
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bret said 11:03AM on 4-02-2009
What a joke. a $35/month service fee??? People are getting away from landlines because of the cost and now they want you to pay for a VOIP line AND a stupid $35 a month charge? HELLO! It's called the Internet!! I'll check traffic there. Leave it to Verizon to think of a cockamamie product like this.
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