Urban Hello introduces bizarrely attractive home phone via Kickstarter, we go eyes-on

The Kickstarter page for Urban Hello's beautiful, strange home phone may not be live yet, but we've already gotten our hands all over it. The HD voice device is more than looks, though, featuring two OLED screens built into a minimalist aesthetic, intended to simplify the home phone experience. The handset even comes in a handful of colors, "in order to blend in better with the decoration of any interior." A pre-order of $85 will net you one of the very first off the production line -- of course, the Kickstarter has to go live before you can pledge any money. Head past the break for all the specifics, straight from Urban Hello.

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The first ever smart home phone awarded at CES 2013

Press release: Telephony / UrbanHello. CES Las Vegas, 6th January 2013

The first ever magic home phone from UrbanHello awarded at CES 2013

The UrbanHello phone, awarded with the prestigious 'Innovations Award' at CES Las Vegas 2013, is an entirely new generation of home phone. It is a simple and smart device which is conceived to fulfill the needs of the household.
Designed with HD sound to give clarity to conversations and make them livelier, the phone knows how to automatically transform itself into a loudspeaker when required and disseminates truly sublime and clear conversations.

This telephone is plug & play in all homes: it is compatible with any pre-installed base station and with all upcoming generation of CAT-iq Internet gateways.

UrbanHello is a young French start-up which has already been awarded with the prestigious Innovations Award at the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 for its first product: the UrbanHello home phone. UrbanHello provides new intelligent devices designed for everyday communications by inventing the Home Phone!

The Home Phone is first of all a beautifully designed object which is extremely simple to use. It's a device which is so beautiful it can be given to someone as a present just like a bouquet of flowers. In order to blend in better with the decoration of any interior, the UrbanHello phone comes in a range of various colours.

Smart and simple with sound specially designed for the household.

Hervé Artus, Founder of UrbanHello: "The Smartphone was conceived for the individual. The Home Phone was designed for the whole household."

The Home Phone was conceived to offer all of the useful features needed for a phone at home. Its patented technology which enables it to automatically switch to hands free mode makes this a thoroughly unique object. The hands free feature is completely intuitive; the telephone automatically switches to the appropriate mode and transmits 360° High Definition sound. At last, it is possible to communicate simply and clearly with the rest of the family which enables people to spend quality time together. The inbuilt 360° speaker reproduces deep bass sounds and transmits a natural, profound and clear sound.

Its innovative design enables it to have 50% more autonomous talk time compared to other telephones which are currently available on the market and it is also capable of sustaining up to 8 days on standby.

UrbanHello also respects the family: by encouraging people to use the loudspeaker mode, the use of the Home Phone reduces exposure to electromagnetic waves by more than 99%.


The first Plug & play phone designed for the home.

The Home Phone is the first cordless telephone available in retail which is already ready for the next generation of Internet gateways: the UrbanHello handset is 100% compatible with any standard DECT-GAP base station and with any advanced internet gateway with the CAT-iq standard.

The simplicity of the Home Phone is also located within its mechanical keyboard which is stripped of all the superfluous functions which no one uses; it only features the essential buttons: only one single obvious function per button.
Two discrete and elegant OLED displays are located on the top and at the bottom of the handset. They self activate only when using the phone, to reduce power consumption.


UrbanHello is launching a campaign on KickStarter as from the 6th January 2013. The first UrbanHello products are available for pre-order from 85 $

About UrbanHello
UrbanHello was founded in Paris, France in January 2012. It is a new signature of a range of smart products. UrbanHello is designed to re-create the everyday objects that surround us by bringing them back to their very nature. UrbanHello enhances the devices we use in everyday life by designing them to fulfill their essential purpose.

About the Founders
Hervé Artus, after training as an engineer at l'Institut d'Optique Graduate School, has acquired over 10 years of experience in the home telephony market and connected objects as a Development Engineer and Product Manager for SAGEM, Inventel and Technicolor, three major players in internet access and DECT telephony.
Catherine Seys, engineer from Mines de Paris, has more than 10 years experience as a Strategy Consultant.
urbanhello.com

UrbanHello will be participating in CES Unveiled Las Vegas. 4-7 p.m, January 6, 2013. Mandalay Bay, Level 3, South Seas Ballroom C, Las Vegas.

Visit UrbanHello stand at CES Las Vegas. The Venetian, Level 3, Eureka Booth # 74106, from January 8th to January 12th, 2013

UrbanHello Smart Home Phone technical specifications

Features
360° High Definition hands-free mode
Automatic switching system between earphone and loudspeaker
One button access: any feature can be accessed by pressing only one button
Phone compatible with any installed base
Easy pairing
Standby time : 200 hours (8 days)

High comfort hardware
2 screens OLED mono-color white (top and bottom). Resolution: 128 x 32 pix
3W High Definition Loudspeaker with bass boost
On/Off switch
Dedicated key for DECT pairing
Dedicated key for manual hands-free control
Paging ringing: locate mislaid handset

Calls
Phonebook: 20 entries
Call list: 20 entries
CLIP/CNIP : Caller Identification by Number or Name
Pre dialing (dial before calling), post dialing (take the line before dialing)
Microphone mute during calls
Intercom with other handsets

DECT compliance
CAT-iq 1.0
GAP
Range: up to 300 m outdoors, up to 50 m indoors

Multiband DECT compatibility
Europe
North America
Australia

Codecs
Wideband audio: 150Hz – 7000Hz

Technical data
Batteries: 3x AAA NiMh
Dimensions : 218 x 81 x 74 (H x B x D)
Weight : Approx 250g, including batteries
Standby time : up to 8 days
Talk time (earphone) : 20 hours
Talk time (loudspeaker) : 2 hours 30 minutes