mattywoz from the HotUKDeals forum has snapped up a 3Skypephone for £12.49 at his local Sainsbury’s for his mother-in-law to keep in touch with her son abroad.
Ant UK spotted this and posted on his Fresh Plastic site, along with a few details about Skype and topping up. He says that in these ‘global credit meltdown thingy-majig’ times the price represents a good purchase. He recommends snapping up a couple or three.
I had no idea what Flashpacking was before reading this post. To be honest, I still had no idea immediately afterwards. In fact, it took a Google search and a visit to Wikipedia before I discovered that Flashpacking is simply ‘backpacking with a bigger budget’. That explains why I had never heard the term before.
Flashpacker guideblog, The Tux in the Backpack, shares its top ten online resources for the affluent backpacker. Alongside such sites as Tripadvisor, Travelpod and (of course) Wikipedia, the 3 Skypephone is praised for bringing the most popular VoIP service out there into your pocket – rescuing our wealthy wanderers from those “call abroad for cheap” phone booths.
While it’s great that the 3 Skypephone continues to attract attention for its unique benefits, I hardly think it’s the reserve of well-off wanderers. Have any ordinary backpackers taken the 3 Skypephone abroad with them? If so, how did it work out?
To stay true to our roots, we thought we should link to Rational Geekery and his post on the 3 Skypephone, and the post about the same subject from Butterfly Mind.
Aaron Heath, the man behind RatGeek, has had his piece in the works for a while and it shows, as he lays down insightful specifications followed by analysis of value. He then discusses the 3 Skypephone in relation to using a client for Skype via a smartphone.
Butterfly Mind approaches the 3 Skypephone summary from a more anecdotal angle, and relays woes of porting her number all over the place, due to a variety of consumer woes. Armed with the 3 Skypephone, these troubles are behind her and all for an excellent price. As they say “The kids are already asking if they can ditch their providers and get Skypephones too”.
Doesn’t it feel pleasant to return to a bit of 3 Skypephone action just once in a while…
Ben Smith of SMS Text News has been skiing and has fully informed everyone, through the power of a blog entry, of his gadgetry themed escapades while away carving edges and putting his rear on chair-lifts.
Featuring among the many devices that feature is the 3 Skypephone, Ben’s choice for accompanying him out on the peaks. A selection he made because “it’s a great-sized handset with a decent camera for pictures on the slopes and USB charging means no proprietary adapter is required. Also at £50 I won’t be too distressed if it’s damaged.”
To read the extensive details of his time away and all the gadget action he got into click here.
Before his wife had lost her phone, Chris Garrett of Codswallop: Technology and Productivity was unaware of the 3 Skypephone. However, during the search for a new device, he heard about the possibility of free mobile calling available on the 3 handset and needed to hear no more.
Despite experiencing some slight disappointment due to not being able to make video calls, the free Skype calls more than make up for it. Especially when he considers the amount that the few calls he makes when out and about total up each month and now, with the 3 Skypephone, the majority of these are absorbed by Skype at no cost at all.
He is keen to learn about other peoples experiences with the device as currently he finds it hard to fault, so feel free to leave him a comment.
Jonzo’s blog title, Jonzo’s Rantings is slightly misleading, especially regarding his post on the 3 Skypephone. It is much less of a rant, more of a polite review.
The review begins by explaining how Jonzo bought the device for his computer business and instantly states the it is a “great little phone.” Initially the article is all about the Skype functionality before switching to the 3 Skypehones standard features, including mobile internet that features, “Windows Live Messenger, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo! Search etc, [while also] making it great for checking e-mails etc when on the move.”
Also mentioned briefly is the TV option, before Jonzo sums up positively on the device in relation to its price and stylish exterior. His final thought, “I would recommend one [3 Skypephone] to anyone who uses Skype and mobile phones.”
Available as of now are accessories for your 3 Skypephone, you can find them all at the 3 Accessory store.
Better late than never, one can now get hold of those elusive replacement batteries along with a veritable myriad of extra-curricular bits and pieces. Speakers, docks, car kits and hard cases all make an appearance, and if mobile paraphernalia is something you can’t get enough off you’ll be more than satisfied. And for those with less of a pressing need, there are the more necessary accessories to help you get the best user experience out of your handset. Enjoy!
At MobileShop.com Technical Markus admits that his review of the 3 Skypephone is somewhat belated. However, he has had a chance to “muck about” with it and feels that it is plenty worthy of a post.
Knowing only that the device is Skype-capable straight out of the box, Markus dived in and spent a night in the company of the first mobile handset to feature fully integrated VoIP. And what was the result? Presumptions about the 3 Skypephone being “gimmicky” were quickly dissipated as he began to realise that it isn’t just a mobile with Skype incorporated, “it’s a proper, full on Skype Phone, where it’s very reason for existence is the Skype messenger built into it.”
The attractive prospects of free calling to not just other 3 Skypephone users, but also Skype users sat at a PC, were more than enough to keep Markus’ interest peaked. If you have a response to the article you can leave Markus a comment here.
Over on the Hexus boards Koocha is talking about his 3 Skypephone.
Purchasing a device to merely see what all the fuss was about has led him to the conclusion that “for the £50 they [3] want, it’s well worth it. Fantastic little phone.” He has now begun to look for a SatNav application so as to direct him wherever he may go. Unfortunately for Koocha, as far as we know, there isn’t currently one available – but we will keep our eyes peeled.
Koocha also asks if there are any secret codes one can enter into the phone to make it do “super duper things”, as if free international calling is not enough?!
John Slane reviews the 3 Skypephone and his verdict is one of praise for the device.
After seeing it advertised while using Skype, John took the plunge, convinced by the possibility of Mobile Skype and MSN at an affordable price. His review goes into the options of PAYG and contract, should any prospective 3 Skypephone owners be adverse to either mode of tariff, before professing the suitability of the handset for those with a penchant for MSN. John finishes his overview by stating that he is unaware of a phone that is as good as the 3 Skypephone and available for the same amount of cash.
The rest of his review is broken into features, performance and whether he’d recommend it to others. You can read these further explorations and the positive outcomes on his site.
Those of you who take an interest in such things will have noted 3mobilebuzz’s very own Flickr roll updating rapidly recently. This all down to the photo-go-go work of Paul and Aline, extremely active members of the photo-sharing community.
Since purchasing the 3 Skypephone (a moment captured above), the device has had it’s camera shutter well and truly exercised, on the beach, at the airport and in the home. I’ve included a couple of the best and should you want to immerse yourself in the Paul and Aline AMOI WP S1 experience further you can, see them all here.
Adam Caitlin has written on the 3 Skypephone and it seems that it’s variation of pink is quite a hit, “Pink colour has its own appeal. It signifies anything that is beautiful and valuable. And hence the fact that the 3 Skypephone is available in the colour pink is like divine providence.”
Once Adam gets past the joy of pink, he delivers his review of the device mentioning all the important details, Skype, 2MP camera, music player, web-browsing, bluetooth and so forth. It is all the features that lead Adam to his conclusion, a conclusion that contains his final mention of the pink detailing on his handset, “All these features combined together make the pink 3 Skypephone a very dependable gadget.”
Feature-laden, dependable and pink. What more could you want?
Across the pond, Venture Beat is discussing the benefits to the consumer of a U.S. based mobile price war. Embroiled in the article is a paragraph regarding Skype.
After covering the news of Skype’s 100 billion minute success, author of the piece MG Siegler mentions the other peak Skype reached, over 12 million concurrent users!
The article goes on, pitching the 3 Skypephone as a smart move, because in light of the trend toward VoIP across the market (a change that Seigler believes will be slowed by the current price war), the device ensures Skype are prominent in the space and ahead of the competition. Can Skype’s ascendancy be challenged?
Ben Werdmuller, co-founder of Elgg, has divulged the five technologies he can’t live without, one of which, is Skype.
Stating that when he is on the phone, he is almost invariably on Skype, a service he describes as “invaluable” when talking to people overseas, as well as being excellent for video conferencing and IM-ing. He then suggests that pre-empting the market and moving into mobile VoIP with the 3 Skypephone, is likely to keep Skype as the market leader in the VoIP melee, something which will undoubtedly be assisted by the 100 billion minutes mark recently based by the company.
To read about Ben’s other four choices and Ben in his own right, click this link.
Ciaran Moore of CiaranMoore.blogspot.com has been getting involved with the 3 Skypephone for a few months and has just posted his thoughts in an article titled “This Is Cool”.
A man preoccupied with style, his attention first falls on the look of the device, which he commends using a selection of words including nice, simple, comfortable and solid. That box checked, he moves on to the functionality. Despite having some frustrations getting the Skype connection as consistent as it should be, Ciaran was impressed, especially with some of the other features that the 3 Skypephone offers. Mostly this revolved around enjoying the 2MP camera for its “social-snapping” abilities, and being able to use Windows Messenger to instant message whilst on the move.
And what of the Skype Revolution? “Wouldn’t it be great if everyone had a 3 Skypephone, so we would be able to rid the world of costly communication. That day will come, people.”
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