Not that we don’t love the random doo-hickeys that The Sharper Image stores and catalogues try to sell us – ionic air purifiers, chair massagers, and alarm clocks are cool and all, but they don’t exactly hit the top of our “must-have” gadget-list. Still, TSI does very well for themselves by convincing a lot of people that the ionic air purifier is a $400 necessity for any truly “modern” home. And, as such, the crap-boutique has started to offer, of all things, mobile phones. These Chinese-sourced, generic handsets range from barely acceptable to downright nasty – with three out of four handsets proudly showing off their “The Sharper Image” branding.
First up, we have the AMOI N810 Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional smartphone. The AMOI N810 is the most powerful handset in TSI’s lineup, and boasts a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, touchscreen (it’s a “Professional” WinMo device, after all), and an integrated GPS receiver. Unfortunately, the powerhouse of TSI’s mobile phone stable (branded as the Sharper Image 101TSI) is a lowly tri-band jobby with a GPRS data connection – a bit disappointing, given its $499.95 price-point.
Then there’s the LG Chocolate rip-off (as only the Chinese knock-off market can do). Like the original Chocolate, the TSI-branded Sharper Image 005TSI is a music-oriented handset with a sleek, shiny black finish and touch-sensitive music control on its face. Unlike the Chocolate, however, the 005TSi rocks a touchscreen display in lieu of the slide-out keypad. And, with a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, and microSD card slot, this $299.95 is TSI’s most worthy cellphone offering.
Rounding out the bottom of this barrel, we see the Sharper Image 008TSI black slider that should never have been, and the 007TSI super-generic silver flip-phone. Neither handset will be giving any mainstream offering a run for their money – with little more than a VGA camera, pitling little display, and some expandable memory storage (via microSD), the 008TSI and 007TSI redefine “low-end.” The Sharper Image 008TSI will run you $249.95, while the Sharper image 007TSI costs just $169.95.
The Sharper Image is emphasizing the “unlocked” status of all their branded handsets, hoping to lure those not “in the know” into getting a device that’s capable of working on almost any GSM network. It’s just too bad these mostly disappointing handsets are, well, so disappointing. Who wants a handset with “The Sharper Image” plastered in bold, white font on the front-face? Anyone?
[Via: Engadget Mobile]