The news
At IFA,
Philips promised to introduce before Christmas a phone that
regular Skype users will lust after mightily. The VOIP841 combines a
DECT phone for wireless landline calls along with Skype WiFi
functionality that allows VoIP calls to be made and received wirelessly
without needing a PC to be switched on or even present. Likely
VAT-inclusive retail
price, we were told, is €199 (£136).
This news - including the price - is likely to come as a nasty shock to
Netgear and Belkin. Each company has made quite a bit of noise
about its own Skype-only WiFi phone in recent months but these
products have been delayed and were far from prominent at the
Berlin show.
And, discussions we had with the two companies at IFA - about
launch dates and pricing - were rather woolly, too.
Belkin didn't even include any mention of its Skype WiFi phone
in its IFA press pack and when asked about the product said it would be
arriving in two-to-three months (in time for Christmas,
hopefully) and guesstimated a price in the region of
€240 (£163). However, it did, at least,
have a believable explanation for the delay and one that might
increase the phone's appeal to Skype-using road-warriors.
According to Belkin, extra work was found necessary
to add in a feature missing from the original spec - a browser that
will let the phone be used for Skyping via those hotspots (the
majority, we reckon) that require logging in.
Originally, the phone was said to be intended for use at home and only
outside it with hotspots that don't require log-ins (see this
HEXUS.lifestyle.headline -
Belkin
set to heavily undercut Netgear's Skype WiFi phone).
The same was the case with the Netgear (see this
HEXUS.lifestyle.headline -
Netgear
unveils world's first Skype WiFi phone at London showcase event).
Since the two products look like they're coming out of the same factory
(though the Belkin is black and the Netgear white), it's possible
that Netgear's WiFi phone will have a browser, too,
when it does turn up.
However, there was no mention of this possibility from the good folk on
Netgear's stand who told us only that the price would be in the region
of €250 (£170) and availability
would be two-to-three months (also, hopefully, in time for
Christmas).
Rather surprisingly,
Amazon
USA is quoting a specific release date for the
Netgear - October 15 - along with a firm price, $250
(£134) including delivery. What the detailed product
information on Amazon USA doesn't mention, though, is anything at all
about use with hotspots that require log-ins. Over at
Amazon
UK, where there's rather less information,
the quoted price for the Netgear is rather stiff
£156 (inc VAT and delivery) and the site says - we
think misleadingly - that the product is
"usually dispatched within 1 to 2 weeks".
Further confusing matters (or possibly confirming our supposition),
Skype's
own UK online store says about the Netgear phone, "will work
anywhere in the world a user has a secured or open access to a WiFi
network". Price on Skype is £140 (inc VAT, but not delivery)
and the phone is said to be, "Coming soon" - more accurately,
"Coming Soon!".
Getting back to the Philips model - this carries a 65k full-colour
screen that the company reckons helps make it simple
to place landline and Skype calls. We had a fiddle with a working
prototype in a backroom at the show and were initially completely
baffled because we were looking for (and failing to find) a
way to choose, at the very outset, whether the call would be
conventional or via Skype.
However, the interface is actually rather clever. What you have to do
first is choose who you're going to call and then whether to
use Skype or landline - each contact can have both options.
What needs to be understood, though, is that - as best as we can tell -
there is no way that the Philips product could be used for WiFi Skyping
away from home. That's because it wirelessly connects not to a router
(or a hotspot) - as the Netgear and Belkin do - but to its own
base station. And it's the base station that connects to a
router - via an Ethernet cable. On the upside, that means it
can be used with any ADSL router, not just those that offer WiFi.
The base station is roughly the size of WiFi ADSL router and
can be used with up to four of Philips' DECT/WiFi phones. The image
above does
not
show the base station - what you're seeing is the phone in its
charging cradle.
Philips' PR info about the VOIP841 reckons says
that, "The enhanced speakerphone and outstanding voice clarity
bring emotion back to phone calls". During a presentation we sat in on
at IFA, jointly given by Nick Dosanjh (a Philips VP and general
manager, communication and connectivity) and James Bilefield (European
general manager for Skype), Nick said that the phone offers wideband
voice quality over Skype and James made a comment that's
rather more significant - that for Skype,
the Philips phone gives the best quality Skype itself has ever heard.
A number of other VoIP products were introduced by Philips at the show,
including one that Nick and James got quite worked up about - a USB
Skype phone, the VOIP080, aimed at laptop users on the move.
The distinguishing feature about this particular wired phone - priced
at €29 (£20) - is that it comes with carrying case
and has a groove running around its edges into which the USB cable is
wound when not in use. Also significant, like the WiFi model,
it's said to have wideband voice quality over Skype.
For more about of these and other new Philips VoIP
offerings, check out the company's overview press release on page two
of this article.
What you won't find there, though, is one product that was teasingly
mentioned by Nick Dosanjh - a WiFi videophone. He said little
more except that it doesn't use Skype and will be available in the
Netherlands, "soon".
So, does Philips' combined DECT/Skype WiFi phone ring
a bell at your end or would you opt for a Skype-only product, such as
the Belkin, that lets you connect wirelessly anywhere? Or is
there something different you'd prefer? Let us know in the
IFA news
forum.
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community ::
discussion
thread about this article
HEXUS.lifestyle.headlines
::
Netgear
unveils world's first Skype WiFi phone at London showcase event
HEXUS.lifestyle.headlines
::
Belkin
set to heavily undercut Netgear's Skype WiFi phone
All
HEXUS IFA coverage ::
IFA
- Internationale Funkausstellung - Berlin 2006
External.links
Skype UK online store -
Netgear
WiFi Phone for Skype
Belkin -
Wi-Fi
Phone for Skype (F1PP000GN-SK) home page
Netgear -
Skype
WiFi Phone (SPH101) home page
Amazon USA -
page
about Netgear Skype WiFi Phone
Amazon UK -
page
about Netgear Skype WiFi Phone
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