Correction: Skype bags 7 innovation award winners at CES rather than 3...!
By
Stephen Pinches on January 24, 2007 in CES 2007, Cordless phones, GE, Logitech, Netgear, Philips, Sony, Wifi phones.
Well it appears in the white heat of CES that Skypegear missed out on a few of the Innovations awards that Skype partners had bagged at CES; turns out that it was in fact a grand tally of at least 7 rather than the still 3 that I reported previously.
As I mentioned before, these awards are given for products which have really moved consumer electronics on in some way, and so the large clutch of awards that Skype partners achieved at CES does show how many different directions Skype hardware partners are moving in.
For the statisticians amongst you, here is the final roll call:
Category: Wireless Communications
Sony Mylo personal communicator (won the Best of CES Innovations 2007 Award in its category)
Category: Telephones
- Logitech Cordless Internet Handset
- NETGEAR Cordless Phone with Skype (SPH200D)
- NETGEAR Skype Wifi Phone
- Philips VOIP841 Cordless Phone with Skype
- Philips VOIP321 DECT Skype Cordless Phone
- GE DECT 6.0 Embedded Skype Residential Phone (Model #28310EE1)
Comments
Be aware that since Skype Version 3.8.0.188 and all later versions (including Skype 4 Betas) the software Phillips supply no longer works with Skype and the VOIP321 phone.
The latest VOIP321 driver from their website suffers the same issue, even though it states "The VOIP321 USB Phone Driver V 3.8.3 which can be downloaded from Philips web site is compatible with Skype software version from V2.0.0.x until V3.8.0.x". This is plainly no longer correct with the latest stable release of Skype, V3.8.0.188.
Skype developers are unable to do anything about it and Phillips wont update their driver (Quote "... no more development/fixes are being incorporated into the VOIP321.EXE file"). Phillips would probably rather sell you a newer bit of hardware.
Don't waste your time on Phillips Skype phone devices, as their driver support is lacking when Skype is updated, so you buy a product for a few hundred dollars and it becomes useless 12 months later.
Another reason to not purchase the Phillips Skype phones is that it is Windows Only. No Mac or Linux support or drivers offered.
nelmwyn | Tuesday, Jan 13