Kempler & Strauss' Billionair B6 and B7 pose alongside the W watchphone

Kempler & Strauss -- which pretty much came out of nowhere this week to announce a pair of 3G WinMo devices and a watchphone -- is pulling out all the stops here at CTIA to get its new products noticed, so everything they've got is on display and ready to use (or in some cases, wear). First up are the Billionair B6 and B7, full touch and portrait QWERTY WinMo devices respectively that currently run 6.1 -- but we're told that 6.5 upgrades will be available by the end of the year. Neither phone looks that awesome and feel generally cheap; the B6 borrows styling cues from the original HTC Touch, to boot, so there's an overall KIRFy feel to the thing. The skin they've dropped atop the operating system is pretty uninspiring, too -- though many WinMo skins look uninspiring when they're up against something thoroughly modern like a recent build of TouchFLO 3D. The phones' saving grace might be the fact that they're cheap -- sub-$300 -- and in the case of the B7, the combo portrait keyboard / QVGA touchscreen is still a nice, sadly too-rare combo.

Turning our attention to the more interesting device of the trio, the W is a watchphone that employs a pretty standard GUI we've seen on similar models, but this one employs perhaps the most livable styling that we've seen this side of an LG GD910, and it all comes at a small fraction of the price. The touchscreen doesn't come with a traditional stylus, per se, but instead you get a "communicator" accessory that functions as a combination stylus / Bluetooth handsfree / remote control -- pretty cool, although we'd feel pretty silly (and sad) if we misplaced it. At $200, we could almost justify buying one of these just for the sheer novelty of it -- just don't expect desktop-class browsing on that display, and you should be a happy camper.

Kempler & Strauss' Billionair B6 and B7 pose alongside the W watchphone

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 8th 2009 2:41AM]

watch display looks like shit..is it oled or just crappy lcd?

[mmm Posted Oct 8th 2009 2:43AM]

FYI, only ZuneHD uses the brand spanking new OLED tech as for now.
thanks for asking.

[smartmouth Posted Oct 8th 2009 3:13AM]

For the love of god, engadget...please devise a system in which first posts are automatically deleted.

[smartmouth Posted Oct 8th 2009 4:52PM]

Oh nevermind, seems that they actually read my plea.

My hat off to you, mysterious good samaritan.

[Emitor Posted Oct 8th 2009 3:15AM]

I thought the zune HD was shit but finally got a chance to look at it, it's not to bad. Maybe the iTouch will be HD by next year with a camera TOO! geesh.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 8th 2009 3:20AM]

yeah looks great, I believe it's VFD.

[suncho Posted Oct 8th 2009 4:07AM]

W watchphone - take one off the wrist.

[Kelvinyam Posted Oct 8th 2009 4:52AM]

I have a feeling that these are made in China. You can actually get one with only half the price (if I remember correctly). Even cheaper if you buy in bulk.

[JeezWhiz87 Posted Oct 8th 2009 5:46AM]

Roger Moore will be so pleased.

[Shinigami Posted Oct 8th 2009 6:17AM]

80s design? Or what would you call it?
Never liked it. I don't mind watchphone or something but COME ON! YOU CAN MAKE IT LOOK BETTER!!!

[Shinigami Posted Oct 8th 2009 6:18AM]

Sorry for caps, couldn't hold it any more.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 8th 2009 7:50AM]

Seahound,
what the F is an iTouch?
Don't tell me you mean the iPod Touch, because then I have to bitchslap you without any babypowder!

[Rossgadget Posted Oct 8th 2009 8:20AM]

Why does one of the phones have "HKC" written in a HTC-esque styling? Is that intended to be a joke?

[Eternity Posted Oct 8th 2009 9:14AM]

Dick Tracy called. He wants his watch back!

[Ricky Rawse Posted Oct 9th 2009 12:29PM]

I would get more tail than Roman Polanski at Nickelodeon Studios wearing that thing.

[joihan777 Posted Oct 8th 2009 11:11AM]

LOL! He's gonna be learning all kinds of new "talents" soon!

But seriously, that watchphone looks cool. I can imagine a lot of folks with Netbooks for browsing using this watchphone for watching & phoning. Hmmm... ingenious name no?

If I didn't need a big screened phone (crossing fingers for Leo on AT&T) this little gadget would be on my list!

[BoullionCube Posted Oct 8th 2009 1:07PM]

Nothing billionaire about this watch. Doesn't look classy at all. I'd rather wear my Tag Heuer.

[xeijix Posted Oct 8th 2009 2:59PM]

The gui for the B6 is actually SPB mobile shell. I have it installed on my phone and i think it's exceptionally better than HTC' TouchFlo3D. There are tons of themes for it if the default doesn't look good enough, but the ability to add widgets on the screen makes the shell more usable than HTC's.

[Philipp123 Posted Oct 8th 2009 4:31PM]

Is this a Korean or Chinese company that came up with a German name trying to sound legit?

[DangerRabbit Posted Oct 9th 2009 12:40AM]

Cheap