Microsoft’s newest gadget, the “Zune phone”, which isn’t a phone, is still in the making, but is so appealing that it is already turning heads. Well, if you haven’t heard yet, the device is said to be used as broadband and networking by consumers. It uses OFDM, which is its communications protocol, instead of Bluetooth or WiFi. The orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), is a scheme that is going to be used with the 4G standards that is going to be coming up far into the future.

The Zune phone will allow you to talk to people over the Internet. How cool is that? You will also be able to share music with others who have it, not through WiFi, but with WiMax. The Zune phone will have you downloading from the net at speeds as high as 2 Mbps. With those speeds you would have ultimate streaming for playing video games.

There should be an announcement by St. Patrick’s Day about its actual name. Then we will also be informed about all of the launch specifics. So far, all we know is that it should hit the shelves sometime in May of 2007 in the U.S., and 2008 in Europe. At this point, the features are still a mystery and are still being created as we speak. It is also said that the Zune phone is to be different than all of its competitors, including iPhone.

Speaking of Apple products, the Zune phone was Microsoft’s response to Apple’s iPhone. Apple actually held onto the iPhone to do more work with it, and decided to also release it in 2007. If you ask me, it seems Apple was trying to cheat. Here are a few things that would really help Zune phone beat the iPhone:

1. Touch Screen
2. Live anywhere over 3G, which would allow gamers to play on XBOX through the Zune phone.
3. Vista Sideshow capability.
4. Streaming from Media Center or XBOX

There is word going around that when the Zune phone is dropped, Sprint/Nextel will be its carrier. It will most likely spread to other wireless carriers, but probably not Cingular since iPhone is going to be released to it. One way Microsoft is sure to beat them with is price. It is rumored that the iPhone will be ranging around $600-$800, while the Zune phone will have prices close to that of the PS3.

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