Calling Dick Tracy...

It seems there's always at least one manufacturer at CES trying to strap something on your wrist. Remember the wrist TV of a few years ago? This year it's LG's turn, with what it's hailing as the world's first "market-ready" touch "watch phone." (Click on image at right for a closer look.)

Based on a prototype shown at last year's CES, the 14mm-thick LG-GD910 has a tiny 1.43-in. display with touch-screen controls, which LG says facilitates text messaging. (That should be interesting.) It also features text to speech, which means the phone can "read" text messages to you over its speaker. It supports 3G HSDPA that enables faster data transmission and even allows you to make "video phone calls" using the built-in camera. It's a quad-band GSM phone, so you’ll be able to take it with you if you travel abroad. It also crams in an MP3 player, organizer, and support for Bluetooth technology. Oh, and of course, it tells time. The watch phone will be available worldwide in the second half of 2009 for an undisclosed price.

Noise-canceling cell phones?

A more promising development from LG is a noise-reduction technology it plans to add to its cell phones later this year to help people carry on conversations in noisy environments, such as a busy street or a crowded bus.

Called DSE, the technology uses two microphones, just as some Bluetooth headsets do, to squelch unwanted background noise. Any improvement in voice quality would be a boon, because scores in our tests of cell phones (available to subscribers) have barely budged in several years.

—Mike Gikas