NEC 506iS flat-panel speaker cellphone

NTT is winding down its development of high-spec 2G handsets--the current 506 range may well be the last, and there's a lower-priced 700i range of FOMA phones coming in the spring to give the 3G migration a further boost. However, that hasn't stopped NEC from throwing one innovation at us in the form of their N506iS's flat panel speaker--in other words, a display that also functions as a speaker. This is something that has cropped up in their recent desktop PCs, but it's a first in a cellphone. Other specs are about what we've come to expect--the screen can be rotated 180 degrees and folded flat again, there's a 1.3-megapixel camera, OCR functionality for scanning business cards, and a hookup cable for displaying photos and video clips on a TV.

One use of the display speaker that is not going to take off, however: "The user can hear the person on the other end by placing an ear anywhere on the panel," they say. Pressing our ears against a cold phone screen doesn't sound like it would feel too good, even without the potential ear gunk problems.

[Read: NTT DoCoMo press release]