Hold the Chitchat

The latest cellphones not only allow you to take pictures, download music, send text messages, and connect to the Internet - they let you tune in live TV, too.

•The Sony Ericsson W810i Walkman ($399 without a service contract, spring - shown above left) comes with a 512-megabyte (MB) Memory Stick PRO Duo flash card, but it can be upgraded with an optional 2-GB Memory Stick (about $150). A Walkman button pulls up the music menu no matter what other applications you're using, and there's a built-in speaker for sharing tunes with friends. Music automatically pauses when there's an incoming call and resumes play as soon as you hang up. There's a 2-megapixel camera, and you can also access the Internet to download games and stream video. •Samsung's ZX20 (price to be announced, spring) can handle a media blitz - including music downloads and video streams - at blazing fast speeds. •Also exceedingly cool is the Sanyo MM-900 ($380, shown above right), which supports a number of perks like Sprint Music Store, On Demand, and Sprint TV. Thanks to the Sprint Power Vision Network, you can use the phone to preview and buy music, get live Sprint TV and fast Web browsing, and enjoy on-demand news, weather, and sports. When you buy a song from the Sprint Music Store, you get a lower-quality version for the phone and a higher-quality one for PC playback.

At Your Service

CES is still mainly a hardware show, but it was amazing how many announcements there were this year for new entertainment services - especially ones that provide video on demand.

•Starz, the cable/satellite movie channel, launched a video download service called Vongo ("video on the go"). Anyone with a Windows PC and a broadband connection can download as many movies, concerts, and other programs as they want from a library of about 900 titles for $9.99 a month or, without a subscription, $3.99 a movie. Since Vongo uses Microsoft's Digital Rights Management (DRM), you can transfer your downloads into portable players, including LG's PM70. •Google, meanwhile, introduced Google Video Store. Thanks to a deal with CBS, computer users can download classic shows like I Love Lucy for unlimited viewing at $1.99 an episode. Current series, such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, are also $1.99 each but are limited to a 24-hour viewing window. The Video Store could become a serious competitor to Apple's iTunes Music Store, which already offers several current TV series from various networks. •A number of services were announced that will let you watch live TV on a cellphone or over a Wi-Fi network. MobiTV2 carries more than two dozen channels, including ESPN, The Learning Channel, ABC News Now, C-Span, Fox Sports, Discovery, CNBC, and The Weather Channel. Subscribers can receive them through Sprint or Cingular on certain cellphone models. MobiTV2 uses Wi-Fi to provide programming to some Palm models. Meanwhile, Modeo plans to deliver live mobile TV in 2007 to the 30 largest U.S. cities. It will be available on a range of handheld devices, including Motorola and Nokia cellphones. •Verizon Wireless used CES to unveil the V Cast Music Store. VCast subscribers can purchase tunes for $1.99 each using phones like the LG VX8100 and the Samsung a950 and then download two copies - one to their phone and one to a Windows XP PC. (Or you can buy the song from a PC for 99¢ and then transfer it via USB cable to your phone.) The V Cast Music Store is expected to have a million tunes available from all the major labels plus independents by spring.

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