November 2007

Scott of ‘Scott Yang’s Playground’ has written a ‘mini-review’ of the 3 Skypephone, which he has bought to replace his terminally flaky previous device. The thing is, the review isn’t that mini - and ironically is written in a large text format… Also it’s fairly comprehensive.

After giving some background information on the device, he lists each feature and what he makes of it with five days of real world user time chalked up. Scott is fair in his assessment of the 3 Skypephone, and is clearly excited by his most recent purchase. The article has been filed in geek, so suggesting that “I am getting more ‘Wow’ from this phone than Windows Vista” is probably a good thing.

It’s a pretty nice place to be too. With posterior planted, we listened to Gary discussing the Irish blogger Damien Mulley, who we wrote about yesterday, who is offering himself up as a 3 Skypephone guinea pig - freely passing out his SkypeID.

Gary does move on to talk briefly about the gears and cogs involved in making the 3 Skype client work the way it does, which may interest those with a penchant for the technical. If that is you then pile onto his web sofa and start chatting.

Dan of Digital Examples has been testing out his 3 Skypephone and is rightly delighted.

He begins by pointing out the newness of the device. “The 3 Skypephone is the first hybrid mobile and Skype device.” Before skimming over the fact that his desk is a mess and then compiling his further, rather positive thoughts on the phone - he culminates with the reaction “very, very impressive!

He believes for those with an invested interest in Skype i.e. a significant contact list, the device is perfect. Leave Dan a comment here.

Christian Lindholm has declared that he believes that the 3 Skypephone is the world’s best phone. That’s quite a boast, and Christian sets out the key points of his argument early on before going into more depth.

Having used other mobile VoIP clients, he feels that the leaders in the field are too battery-intensive and despite there being no “magic” involved with the 3 Skypephone, “it is the total package that makes it interesting and revolutionary.”

Although he believes there are areas for improvement and the commercial success of the handset will be judged in 6 months time, that does not deter him from finishing by celebrating the device’s arrival, “Congrats to the Hutch and the Skype teams. Really good job guys!”

“Having only just bought a Chinese phone off eBay, I was still tempted into also purchasing the newly released 3 Skypephone”. The words of Lividity, an individual who is very much convinced by the 3 Skypephone’s credentials.

Commenting on the “excellent” build quality and the fact that phone remains “compact” whilst packing in the features, Lividity then discusses Skype. Implemented “intuitively” and providing good call quality, it is something that leads to the mention of the absence of SkypeIN/OUT and the evaluation that with these included along with HSDPA, “I think I’d be convinced into dumping all my other phones, we’ll have to see if this is in the pipeline for future offerings from 3.”

Lividity, I direct you hastily forthwith to Skype IN, Skype OUT, shake it all about!

Never has a post been so aligned with the Skype ethic! It is time to talk and (Skype) chat for free.

Damien Mulley has received a 3 Skypephone to trial and needs you *insert poster of Lord Kitchener* to help him get the most out of the device by Skype-calling him.

Damien’s SkypeID is damienmulleymobile and he is, after 2PM today, awaiting your call. So don’t be shy - Skype him! And he’ll let one and all know what his thoughts are on the 3 Skypephone after he has racked up some conversation. Superb work Damien!

Feeling that the 3 Skypephone shares some properties with the Nokia 6120 Classic, Fresh Plastic has put the call out for a trial Nokia handset so he can compare the two devices.

He believes the models both have the qualities of being “small, practical and powerful”, and for this reason is itching to get using them in a side by side showdown! We’ll keep an eye out and see if he has any luck procuring a 6120 so the experimentation can begin. As he does and the tests commence, we’ll make sure you know…

The UK Gadget Blog has posted on the ability to use the 3 Skypephone as a modem for your laptop, connecting to the internet via the 3G network.

They make a similar point to Chris at Tamebay who lists 3’s internet add-on charges and says that, when these are compared to wifi costs, the value is fantastic.

As they part however, there is mention of this tethering a 3 Skypephone to a laptop so it can serve as a modem, potentially being against the 3 T&Cs. As Chris managed to achieve this using the software included with the phone, it seems unlikely that this would contravene any restrictions imposed by the network. Either way, 3mobilebuzz will endeavour to find out some specifics to clear up any grey areas.

Sue of Tamebay has continued to commit test photo’s taken with the 3 Skypephone’s 2MP camera to Flickr. Below are a couple of the images that 3mobilebuzz liked in particular, click on them to jump to the Tamebay Flickr account.

Admittedly most of the stir was created by Simon Wakeman’s three-year-old son, but it was a stir nonetheless, and big enough to unbalance the level head required for documented unboxing.

After the initial commotion of the 3 Skypephone arrival, the devices were divvied up and the various members of the Wakeman family have been putting them to good use staying in touch via Skype. Simon is measured in his thoughts on the device and asks about the change in the market place that the technology 3 are incorporating could potentially inflict. He also sees that making VoIP available in a branded handset may lead to a swift uptake as “barriers” created by consumers being unsure of new gadgetry are pulled down.

Simon intends to post further thoughts on the 3 Skypephone in the coming weeks including a full review, the intriguing prospect of how the device may fit into a small business model and maybe most anticipated, an insight into the handling of the phone’s social media relations… stay tuned.

Over at All About Symbian, Steve Litchfield, Rafe Blandford and Ewan Spence discuss Skype mobile solutions in neat and tidy podcast format. As part of this, the three address the topic of the 3 Skypephone, before moving in a more smart phone centric direction.

The 3 Skypephone is mentioned at the off in the 25 minute podcast and commended for it’s incorporation of Skype Chat, something that is not offered on the N95 X-Series. After this, Rafe and Ewan go into plenty of technical details, specifically talking about iSkoot and the disruptive status of VoIP technology.

To read more about the podcast content and to access it, jump to here.

Frank Warwick has been playing with the 3 Skypephone for almost a week and began, like a “good padawan”, with the basics… He read the manual.

After doing so, he went on his merry 3 Skypephone way and posted on Icon Today, declaring that when it comes to the handset, he “loves the size, or should I say ‘lack of size’. It’s great, slim, small, hide it in your hand, fits in your pocket, it’s not chunky and does not weigh you down.” This positive is followed up by comment on the length of headphone wire, which for Frank is a little short. This led to some experimentation in the 3mobilebuzz office, where we found that the wire is comfortable from front pocket to ear on a 6′ 1″ person, although it was suggested the guinea pig had a particularly short torso, thus creating a headphone friendly physique.

Feeling that the voice quality of Skype calls is very similar to those conducted over a PC, I’ll quote Frank’s final thoughts succinctly, “overall I like the phone and I like the price.”

Mantex has before him a shiny, new 3 Skypephone and it is more than enough to urge him into posting.

Enjoying the fact that calls are free and that when taking on a contract the handset is also gratis, the freefest gets significant appreciation from Mantex. He states, “[The 3 Skypephone has] got all you’d expect from the best mobiles - like a 2 megapixel camera, big high-res display and music player.”

One point made by Mantex that isn’t entirely positive is an occasional voice-lag he experienced on some long distance Skype calls. This is something that doesn’t get him down too much though as he’s still revelling in the veritable freeness of it all.

The Australian based blog ‘Colin Charles Agenda’ has posted a substantial review of the 3 Skypephone.

Easily digestible, due to the appropriate sub-headings used to punctuate the post, it covers all the areas you want to know about, from the O/S and camera to the build quality and interface. Colin makes sure to spend some extra time discussing Skype, commenting on the very good audio quality and his experiences of being involved in a four way call.

His summation comes in the first paragraph, “Generally, I like it, and think it is going in the right direction. I can’t wait for improvements to this product line.” To let Colin know your thoughts on the device, leave him a comment.

The blog ‘I am the voice of reason and I will NOT be silenced’ has written about the recent purchase of a 3 Skypephone.

Referring to the device as a “great bit of kit”, the article makes a brief mention of the Skype client software, and then goes onto to talk about Saturday tinkering. After which, the voice of reason had the 3 Skypephone providing internet access for a laptop using bluetooth at 3G velocity, which is stated as being at around 800kb/s.

If you want to ask the VOR about his tinkering, you can do so here.