I'm sure nobody saw this coming, but Pioneer went ahead and did it anyway. Not o­nly is it a cordless IP phone, it can be used as a PC headset. But the fun doesn't stop there! It can also be used as a normal, run of the mill cordless phone.

Oh, and it's pink. For some reason. I guess the designer had something against a more neutral color.

Pioneer Communications will release the "TF-FS22M-R" cordless phone during the back half of February. It costs 19,000 yen and, when connected to the PC via a USB connection, can be used as a headset.

In addition to being able to be used as a normal cordless phone, the TF-FS22M-R can also be used for chatting and internet telephony when connected to a PC via USB. So, in a sense, users can talk o­nline as though they were talking o­n a true cordless phone. Also, it includes the capability to receive signals from the PC and ring when certain events take place, like people logging in or files finish downloading.

As for the phone functions, it includes capabilities such as automatically recognizing the top 3 units of a phone number to determine whether it is a cellular phone, IP phone, etc, the group-based "katakana dial," and "favorite dial" which records the 10 most called numbers for convenient access.

The phone size is 43.4 x 43.2 x 171.5 mm (W x D x H) and including the battery, weighs 150g. The cradle is 86 x 171 x 98.5 (W x D x H) and weighs 270g. Supported operating systems are Windows XP, 2000 Professional, ME, and 98SE. Talk time is about 9 hours per battery charge.

Inspired by:
http://bb.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/news/3952.html

News Release:
http://pioneer-pcc.jp/press/press040121.html