Wednesday, November 29, 2006
VTraveller Skype Phone
There are several ways to communicate with friends and colleagues when you're travelling. Shouting very loudly is one option, but it's pretty useless unless the person you're trying to contact is within spitting distance. So what do you do? No, you don't pack two tin cans and a really long bit of string. You use the phone. The problem is, contrary to the popular saying, talk is not cheap. But it is if you use the ingenious Skype-friendly VTraveller. That's because this chic little phone allows you to make quality VoIP calls wherever you may roam.
For anyone who's spent the past couple of years with their head in a barrel of tar, Skype is a simple bit of software that utilises VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology. This lets you use your computer to make free calls to other Skype users and obscenely low cost calls to regular landlines and mobiles all over the world. How? Well, in a nutshell it digitally converts your voice through your internet connection (broadband is best) and on to its final destination. Clever, eh?
But what's so good about the VTraveller, we hear you ask. Well, this stylish mobile-lookalike is a fully functional USB-powered phone that works in exactly the same way as our other VoIP handsets. The difference is it's a compact one-piece unit that you can take anywhere. Just pop in the Skype CD, plug the VTraveller into your computer's USB socket, and Bob's your uncle. It's easier than, er, picking up the phone!
Despite its supreme portability the VTraveller is crammed with features including an LED message/connection indicator, one click voicemail, voice recognition technology and wideband circuitry for crystal clear sound. Best of all you can navigate all of Skype's services via the VTraveller's keypad, so there's no need to faff around with fiddly laptop mouse thingies.
Apart from a James Bond briefcase full of flat-packed supermodels, we can think of no better travelling companion than the VTraveller, as it allows you to natter away for nothing wherever you may roam. But even if you're not going anywhere the VTraveller is a brilliant investment, because it's so gorgeously compact you can shove it in a drawer when you're not using it - which won't be very often, because once you start Skype-ing on the VTraveller you'll be hooked.
link
For anyone who's spent the past couple of years with their head in a barrel of tar, Skype is a simple bit of software that utilises VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology. This lets you use your computer to make free calls to other Skype users and obscenely low cost calls to regular landlines and mobiles all over the world. How? Well, in a nutshell it digitally converts your voice through your internet connection (broadband is best) and on to its final destination. Clever, eh?
But what's so good about the VTraveller, we hear you ask. Well, this stylish mobile-lookalike is a fully functional USB-powered phone that works in exactly the same way as our other VoIP handsets. The difference is it's a compact one-piece unit that you can take anywhere. Just pop in the Skype CD, plug the VTraveller into your computer's USB socket, and Bob's your uncle. It's easier than, er, picking up the phone!
Despite its supreme portability the VTraveller is crammed with features including an LED message/connection indicator, one click voicemail, voice recognition technology and wideband circuitry for crystal clear sound. Best of all you can navigate all of Skype's services via the VTraveller's keypad, so there's no need to faff around with fiddly laptop mouse thingies.
Apart from a James Bond briefcase full of flat-packed supermodels, we can think of no better travelling companion than the VTraveller, as it allows you to natter away for nothing wherever you may roam. But even if you're not going anywhere the VTraveller is a brilliant investment, because it's so gorgeously compact you can shove it in a drawer when you're not using it - which won't be very often, because once you start Skype-ing on the VTraveller you'll be hooked.
link
Friday, November 03, 2006
Mobile Skype Really Sucks
I just tested Skype for Pocket PC again, and got my best results ever: call quality that's only slightly worse than talking into a tin can at the bottom of a well, relayed via satellite from Iraq.
I've used the Pocket PC version of Skype on three or four devices now, and I'm always amazed at what a foul dog this program is. Echoes? Check. Static? You bet. Device slowdowns? De rigeur. Clear conversations? Not on your life. Never mind that the thing only works through wired headsets, killing off twenty-five years of the trend of holding up phones to your ear, but neglecting to anticipate Bluetooth.
Go onto the Skype support forums and you'll find a bunch of Skype fans desperately trying to sew a silk purse out of this thing: "It works using Build 42, but not Build 41, as long as you open Internet Explorer first, propitiate the rain gods, and hold your phone upside down." Forget beta - is there a letter before alpha?
Skype's attraction is low cost international calling. But there are other solutions which leverage the ease of use and quality of service of the actual voice cellular networks, yet lower your per-minute international charges, such as drugstore calling cards and Rebtel. I imagine there are also a few desperate cheapskates out there who want to make ordinary domestic calls without signing up for as many cellular minutes as they need to use. But the cost is just too high in terms of installation headaches, battery burn and awful, awful, miserable quality.
I'm not against all VOIP. Vonage gets the formula right: make it look and work just like the good ol' phone network. I've never cottoned on to those PC softphones like regular Skype -- do you really want to rely on the legendary stability of Microsoft Windows for your phone service? But I see analyst Davis Janowski chatting on his PC all the time, so I assume it works OK in terms of voice quality.
But not the Pocket PC version. It may be free, but it's not worth the price.
link
