Here’s a nice concept phone that we hope becomes available at retail stores soon. The EOS concept phone from Kyocera, which was shown off at CTIA, can fold into a wallet shaped device, with a QWERTY keyboard visible when folded, and a full widescreen OLED display when you want. Kyocera is even dreaming up shape memory keys that can morph flat when not in use. It will be great when we finally see such devices on the market. Kyocera has said that it plans to implement some of these concept ideas into its “near future” lineup of devices, which we certainly hope will be available sooner rather than later.

Kyocera Communications has officially announced its G2GO M2000 (pronounced “Good-to-Go”), which is positioned as a full QWERTY, low-cost, text-centric device. The device features some interesting specs, such as:

• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• Bluetooth
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• 2.4-inch QVGA display
• Accelerometer
• microSD card expansion

Time to tighten our belts. We need all the help we can get to prepare against the storms in the horizon. Two likely allies come, in the form of Virgin Mobile’s very basic Kyocera S1300 Melo, the JAX, with a color screen and the more impressive of the two, the X-tc, which boasts a comprehensive set of features, including a 1.3 megapixel camera, sliding keyboard, Facebook and MySpace applications to boot! Still not convinced? Well perhaps the price may help in the decision making process – all for a cool $100! Not bad for tough times.

Talk about running dry of ideas - it seems as though Kyocera engineers are still stuck in the mid-1990s with the S1000 cell phone. You won't be able to find the latest and greatest in this CDMA handset, as it not only lacks a digital camera of any kind, but it also fails miserably when it comes to playing MP3s (no MP3 playback support here). The only pre-21st century features are an alarm clock and vibration alert to notify you of an incoming call or text message during a meeting. With such meagre features, this ought to be a pretty cheap handset. Sub-$50, perhaps?

The folks at Kyocera must have perfect vision due to the extremely tiny size of the M1000's internal display. Despite throwing in a full QWERTY keyboard and EV-DO connectivity for speedy data exchanges, the small 1.8" 160 x 120 262k TFT color display definitely does not bode well for such a text intensive device. Additional features include a 1.3 megapixel camera that does not only take photos but records videos as well, Java support, and Bluetooth connectivity. Those who treasure their eyesight would be better off checking out other alternatives that are available in the market which are much easier on the eyes.

The Kyocera W51K is yet another cellphone that will probably not make its way across the Pacific from Japan, so we'll just have to read about the specifications and drool over it. The W51K boasts an integrated TV tuner as well as a rotating flip display that seems to be the standard these days for DVB-capable handsets. This clamhsell handset also comes with a charging station that features a built-in subwoofer as well. Additional functions include a 2 megapixel camera, a generous 2.7" WQVGA display screen, and a FM tuner. There is no word on pricing details as at press time, but you will be able to pick one up in Japan.