The Hub is a fully integrated, updatable home communications device that can almost justify its high cost, but there are some limitations. For instance, with the device, you can send text and picture messages, but only to Verizon Wireless phones. There’s also a phone book and calendar, but neither one can sync with your mobile phone or with cloud-based services such as Google or Yahoo. Media options are limited to a dozen internet radio stations and a bunch of canned video clips from outlets such as CNN, NBC, and the Food Network which are found on Verizon’s V-Cast Network. There are no options for a Web browser or for e-mail or social-networking apps.

Text input on the Hub’s touch screen is simple and accurate, especially if you use the included stylus. But if the thought of using a stylus to add contacts (you can store up to 128) or dozens of appointments seems too rediculous, the Web interface will solve that problem. (Many of the Hub’s features, including call logs, visual voice mail, photo upload, and calling settings, can be accessed online.) You can also import (but not sync) contacts from Google, Yahoo, or an Outlook CSV file. Like the Hub, the Web interface also supports Verizon Relay, which adds a Tile (something like a sticky note) each time you receive a text, picture, or video message from the member of a group that you set up.

Audio quality when using the speakerphone or the cordless DECT 6.0 handset is similar to that of other VoIP phones. The built-in speaker was built for phone calls, however, so radio stations sound really tinny. An audio-out jack is included on the right-hand side of the unit, but external speakers just exacerbate the fidelity problems that come with low streaming bit rates. Also, there’s no option to store music on the Hub or to stream it from other devices on your home network. Video quality is acceptable at thumbnail sizes but becomes jittery and pixelated and when expanded to fill up the device’s screen.

A helpful directory application displays business results on a map and can send locations directly to a mobile phone with VZ Navigator, or allows you to make calls directly to businesses from within the directory listing. There’s also a tool that delivers Navteq traffic reports. Other applications include movie listings, a calculator, and Verizon’s Chaperone location-tracking service.

When not in use for communication, the Hub becomes a digital photo frame, capable of cycling through images as a slideshow, or as a screen saver after 5, 10, or 30 minutes of inactivity. You can send images to the frame from a Verizon Wireless phone as a picture message, or upload up to 200 at a time through the Hub Web site. Images are rescaled and compressed, but are not resized to fill the display.

Verizon Hub Widget Phone

I’m reviewing the somewhat anachronistic Verizon Hub connected phone. Now that I’ve seen its future—an open platform built on Linux with sleek hardware from this decade, like capacitive touchscreens—it’s way more exciting.

Verizon Hub 

Nevertheless, you can’t beat the convienence of a small terminal in the kitchen, which is exactly what Verizon Wireless is hoping for with their new Verizon Hub.

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