I’ve seen people reading books behind the wheel in traffic and girls looking in the mirror to put on make up when driving. Anyway, because I will tell you about the Zumba phone (first truly hands-free mobile phone), it’s your brain that’s distracted when you’re on the phone, not your hands. I sincerely advise you to care about your safety as a driver more than your personal problems.

Now, great news! The Zumba phone offers you the world’s first fully accurate voice recognition system for mobile phones. Now I am tempted to say: “So what? To my mind it’s the same if you use a hands-free plugged into your phone or if you use the Zumba when driving!“, but Zumba has a nice feature that allows you to send text messages using speech alone! While doing the kinky job of sending an SMS using voice recognition, your phone’s data (including your contacts) is stored on a 100% secure website.

Zumba has a nice design and you can speak to your friends while it is tucked away in your jacket’s pocket or in your car’s boot. The secret is an ear hook type device that covers your ear. You can do everything by pressing a single button!

It really sounds revolutionary (and good for us, the drivers) but because the producer is a small company, I might be skeptic about his future.

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The Vroom for iPhone 3G is an unique case with a tire track-patterned back which not only looks cool, but also protects the cell phone from bumps and scratches. Full front protection is included as well, plus the obvious easy access to all buttons and functions.

It’s available for $14.99 on Case-Mate.com and would make a great Christmas present for a car (and technology) lover. Even better if it comes with included iPhone…

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a) place it on the dashboard and hope it doesn’t slide off

b) modify the dashboard to safely hold the phone

c) buy an iPhone Car Mount.

Since it can be installed in a couple of seconds and doesn’t endanger your phone, I’d say option c) is the best. The base attaches to the windshield with a suction cup and continues with a flexible gooseneck that allows easy repositioning of the phone to get a better view. When you’re not driving, we hope.

Another thing you absolutely shouldn’t do while driving is watch videos. But when you’re stationary you can just rotate the bracket to place the iPhone in landscape position.

One thing to note, though: it doesn’t work with the iPhone 3G.

First, you need an iPhone. Then you install a clever little app called G-Park and enjoy. When you find a parking spot, you hit the “Park me” button; afterwards, when you want to find your car, you push “Where Did I Park?” and a Google Map with instructions will appear on screen.

You can’t run out and buy it just now, but it will be available starting from July 11 on the official iTunes App Store.

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The tech stuff: its most impressive feature is probably the touchscreen. It also has a 2.0 inch color display with 260k colors, a 1.3 megapixel camera, an MP3 player with background play which supports many formats (though they are not specified), a movie player that can play 3GP and MP4 without file restrictions and can go full-screen. And it looks like its wheels are going to poke your head if you try to use it.

But its main selling point is, of course, the shape. You can see more pictures after the jump.

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This is where the Cell Phone Call Notifier comes in. This small gadget attaches with velcro tape to your chosen spot and can detect an incoming call from up to 5′. When it picks one up, the 2 red LEDs start blinking to attract your attention.

Just one thing you have to remember: when you’re driving, concentrate on the road, not your phone.

Two photos of the notifier in action after the jump.

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It has all the standard features, so you can play MP3 and video and browse the internet (WAP) and it offers a talk time of 120 – 200 minutes and 150 – 220 hours in standby.

It will set you back ₤96.38 (almost $200), but that’s still cheaper than any official Ferrari phone.

Two more photos after the jump.

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It offers up to 500 hours of autonomy in standby, has a built-in modem and e-mail client. It is quad-band and also features Dual-SIM. Some (not very impressive) specs follow:

• 256k colors, 176 x 220 pixel TFT display screen
• 2 megapixel camera
• media player (mp3)
• 11 MB built in memory
• microSD card slot
• GPRS
• Bluetooth
• 103 x 51 x 12 mm

If you want to get one as soon as it hits the market, find someone who lives in Russia, because that’s where it will be first marketed (first quarter of 2008) or Latin America (end of second quarter). Judging by the $400 price tag of the HT1, the HT2 will probably be just as overpriced.

See after the jump for detailed photos of the phone.

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It has both phone and music functions, supporting a range of players and phones (you can check here to see if yours is on the list; and yes, it works with an iPhone) and offering support for English, French and German.

While a touchscreen seems to defeat the purpose of a Bluetooth device (you want it because you can’t look at your phone, right?), it looks like that on-screen buttons are larger and easier to use than those on a normal phone, so it might prove itself useful. At least you can use it easier than a phone while waiting at a red light.

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It can be attached to your windshield with a suction cup and its functions include voice dial, last-number redial, hold, mute and 3-way calling.

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