Back in the eighties, we all thought that our phones would eventually have video cameras and displays by the year 2000. Well, most of us have webcams and Skype that can accomplish this, but that has been only in the past few years.

However, the UseeIsee takes this video communicating technology off your computer and puts it on your kitchen counter, just where we thought it would be back in the day.

In fact, you can have this new technology for a flat fee of about $39.95 a month, which features unlimited calls to landlines and mobile phones in North America. According to the UseeIsee Picture Fone’s site, they “just may teach a little humility to fat cats like AT&T, Vonage, and Sprint”. That’s a pretty big boast to make, but it is cheaper than most wireless plans.

The monthly fee may be inexpensive, but the unit for the phone, the GXV-3000, costs about $249.95. This advanced IP video phone is based on SIP and H.264 standard. It also has a 5.6 inch TFT color screen, as well as “superb audio and video quality, rich functionality, ease of use, [and] stylish exterior design”.

So we’re looking at quite an expense here, but that might be a small price to a pay for a device that looks very user-friendly. Perhaps this device will allow grandparents everywhere to be able to view their grandkids in real-time video.

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