Technobabble

My recent searches (see the December 2009 blog entry about the ASUS SV1TS ) for a Skype phone replacement for the Netgear SPH200D brought me to IPEVO’s S0-20 wifi Skype phone . This is an all-in-one wifi phone from Taiwanese company IPEVO . It has a form factor of a regular cell phone and is extremely light-weight – just 80g including the 3.7V Li-ion rechargeable battery (rated at 900mAh)! The phone connects to 802.11 b/g networks. After charging the battery initially for a few hours, the phone was a breeze to setup – walk through a few setup screens to choose and connect to the wifi network, and then sign-in to Skype. I was able to place my Skype test call in under one minute. The phone automatically downloads contacts as well account information. The phone charges in a cradle which comes with a 100-240V 50-60Hz charger, making it suitable for international use. The phone can also be charged via mini-USB (USB cable not included in the package). IPEVO also provides periodic firm...

The ASUS Skype Video Phone Touch SV1TS (Silver/Blue) is one of the newer Skype phones that brings PC-less video calls to Skype. It’s an all-in-one unit with a 7-inch 800x480 touch-screen display, built-in microphone, speaker, webcam, wifi and ethernet, and jacks for optional external headset. The phone also comes with a rechargeable battery pack. The touch screen and menus made it a breeze to setup and start making calls in a couple of minutes. Audio quality is great but the video resolution leaves a lot to be desired. The complete package is also rather bulky, weighing in at 1.6 kg (about 3.5 lb) and at 25.3 cm (9.9 in) tall. The photographs of the phone don’t highlight this aspect but when seen in-person, the phone is definitely heavy and huge! One of the big disadvantages of this phone is the lack of portability compared to the cordless/wifi Skype handsets. Since the focus is on video calls, it can only be used a desk, making it unsuitable for causal home use as a replacement for...

The SPH200D Dual-mode Cordless Phone from Netgear offers one of the most convenient ways to use Skype . It's a cordless phone that plugs in directly to a router and allows one to use Skype without a computer. It can also function as a cordless phone for plain old telephone service (POTS). Hence the "dual-mode" in the name. The phone uses Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) to connect up to four handsets to the base station. Based on all the positive reviews and feedback from other users, I purchased the phone from Amazon.com for $165.85 with a $30 mail-in-rebate . The box arrived within a few days with the following contents: Base station with power adapter Cordless handset with rechargeable batteries Handset charging cradle and power adapter Ethernet and POTS cables CD with user guide Warranty It was a breeze to setup the base station and the handset. Once I turned on the handset, the system walked me through a couple of selections for country code...