Verizon to Launch Hub 2 in 2H 2009

Although hardly two months have passed since we learned that Verizon Wireless had released into the wild its Verizon Hub touchscreen home phone system, it seems that the company is already gearing up for the release of a successor, which is expected to come around in the second half of the year.

What the first Verizon Hub has to offer is a mixture of both wired and wireless communications on the same device, providing support for any broadband connection, whether it is provided by Verizon itself or another company. This way, the operator offered home users a simple solution that was meant to replace the old-fashioned wired phones.

Although the device came to the shelves with a nice range of features, including texting, contacts and calendar management options, audible turn-by-turn directions, local traffic and weather news, it seems that the upcoming version of the Hub should include even more features, as well as a pack of improvements for the currently available capabilities.

For the time being there is no specific information on what the upcoming Verizon Hub 2 will actually include, nor an exact date when it should become available on the market, but we're sure the carrier will provide us with further details in due time. Some details on the price tag of the device should also surface in the near future.

In the meantime, we should also note that the mobile phone carrier is reported to work along with HP on subsidized WWAN-enabled laptops that should be launched during the second quarter of the ongoing year. According to engadget, we should be able to see Big Red announce a cheap Mini 1000 on a two-year contract, given the fact that the netbook computers have become such a trend these days. No official word from the carrier on this matter either, but details should emerge soon.