Communications Devices, Audio in Spotlight at New York Holiday Tech Show

Motorola showed its 5G Moto Mod, which brings 5G capability to the company’s z2 Force and later phones. It will be available at Verizon stores when the carrier launches 5G service in New York Thursday, a Motorola spokesperson told us. The Mod, which snaps magnetically to the back of a Moto Z smartphone, will continue to sell at a $50 promotional price vs. the $199 suggested retail price, to help build awareness as 5G coverage builds, he said. Motorola's price of $499 for the Moto Z4, plus $50 for the 5G Mod, is “half the price of everything else out there,” he said, giving consumers an entry to 5G that’s “more palatable” than competing solutions. The Mod’s dedicated 2000 mAh battery provides roughly a day of use with 5G service, he said.

Moxee showed a mobile personal safety device that will sell exclusively on the T-Mobile network, beginning Monday, before rolling out to other carriers next year, a spokesperson said. The pager-size device, without a display, lets users press a button to indicate status: a single button shares their location with contacts; two presses sends an alert to contacts, with location; and three presses sends an alert to contacts and a professional monitoring service, the spokesman said. The $120 device has a $15-$20 monthly service fee, depending on payment method. Peer-to-peer contacts set up in the Moxee app can listen to alerts and chat about them to coordinate a faster response, he said.

Among kid-friendly electronics, Puro Sound Labs showed headphones that max out at 85 decibels to guard against hearing damage, founder Dave Russell told us. The company launched Thursday the $79 PuroGamer, what it called the first gaming headphones for kids designed to limit audio spikes that occur in game soundtracks. It also showed standard headphones for kids priced from $49-$100 with the same maximum output level.

On how Section 301 List 4A tariffs affected pricing of Puro headphones, which are made in China, Russell pulled a money clip out of his pocket to indicate he absorbed the 15 percent duty that went into effect Sept. 1. “It happened so quick, we didn’t have time to adjust,” Russell said, adding, “We can’t go anywhere else; the supply chain’s not there.” Puro will study options for future manufacturing, including Taipei and Malaysia, to avoid the Trump administration's tariffs on goods produced in China, he said. Meantime, promotional prices “won’t drop as much as they would have" this holiday season, he said.

Gabb Wireless positioned itself as a kind of anti-smartphone for kids, launching a phone and nationwide wireless network Thursday with no access to the internet or external apps. The company’s message is that kids are exposed to too much technology too early, leading to anxiety and depression; despite having the form factor of smartphones, the devices can only be used for calls and messages. The ZTE-manufactured Gabb Z1 ($99, $20 a month for service), has a 5-megapixel camera and offers SMS texts. Due next month is a Samsung model ($199, $23 a month for service) with 8-megapixel camera, Bluetooth and FM radio, with the ability to send MMS texts.

Pow Audio launched two portable Bluetooth speakers for the holidays: the Una ($99), a flat, round speaker that can float in a pool; it expands using Pow’s WaveBloom technology to boost low frequencies; the step-up Una X adds two hours’ battery life (to 16) and a mic.

Sleep Number made its Pepcom debut, showing its 360 smart bed and a Sleep Robot cushion ($599) from the Netherlands-based Somnox that’s designed to help consumers relax by mimicking customer-set breathing patterns of the cushion. Sleep Number has a new platform, Sleep IQ, which the company hopes to advance as a data platform for its smart beds, offering diagnostic tools for customers to detect conditions such as sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome in addition to biometric sleep tracking, a spokeswoman said. The smart bed mattresses range from $999-$4,500.