Linksys

Laptop Magazine in the US recently published its annual Ultimate Mobility supplement, and sure enough it noted a bunch of Skype products that can help advance your own personal 'ultimate mobility' with Skype. It's not the greatest scan (PDF here), but these pages highlight 5 Skype Certified products and a few other products that aren't Skype Certified.

LAPTOP named the Phillips 8411B (aka VOIP841, review here, store here) its Ultimate Choice 2007 for VOIP phones, saying "VOIP phones don't come any slicker or more versatile." The article also mentions the Netgear SPH200D (my personal fav, review here, store here), the Linksys CIT400 (review here, store here), and the Logitech Cordless Internet Handset, which I haven't had the chance to review yet but looks pretty slick.

The article also names the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium USB stick (store here) as its Ultimate Choice 2007 for USB memory drives. It uses SanDisk's U3 technology to let you run Skype and other programs in a convenient self-contained environment. We've mentioned it on the blog before here. I actually have one of these drives on my keychain, the SanDisk Cruzer Micro (not Titanium, sadly) and I love it especially for its design--it's small and the USB jack slides in and out easily so you don't damage it when it's in your pocket or have a cap to lose.

Check out the full Skype coverage in the Ultimate Mobility section here.

Skypegear is no stranger to Linksys devices--We've done roadtests of the CIT400 a while back and the WIP320 more recently. The Linksys CIT300 Cordless Dual-Mode Internet Telephony Kit is another member of the Linksys family that I've had the opportunity to use around the house for the past week. It's a solid device for people who want to make their Skype calls and landline calls on the same phone but don't want to spend a ton of money to do it. Read on for my review.

Continue reading "Skypegear Roadtest: Linksys CIT300 Cordless Handset" »

Have you seen how many different phones there are to make Skype calls now?! This year has seen an explosion in different new models, so I thought it was time for a quick Skypegear overview on the different phones you can use to make calls via Skype.

Cost-wise Skype phones run from around £10 right up to hundreds of pounds, so it's important when you're choosing a phone that you pick one based not just on your budget, but more importantly on your needs. I've divided them up into four categories:

• Phones that you need to have your PC on to use
• Phones that can be used without a PC
• Speakerphones
• Headsets.

Of course there are other ways to make calls such as by plugging in a phone adaptor to your regular phone, or by using the in-built mic in your webcam, but these really are 4 main ways of improving your Skype audio calls with hardware.

There's also a great interactive guide to choosing a phone in the Skype store, but read on for more info...

Continue reading "The 4 main types of Skype phone...or, a beginner's guide to buying a Skype phone" »

It's great to use Skype on your computer with a headset, but once you try it with something that looks and feels like a real phone it's tough to go back. The Linksys WIP320 Wireless-G iPhone for Skype is a good example. It's a WiFi phone available at the US Skype Store that I've had the opportunity to play around with for the past couple days. Read on for my take on this iPhone.

Continue reading "Skypegear Roadtest: Linksys WIP 320 Wireless-G iPhone" »

The Linksys CIT400 is designed to fit square in the centre of a family's telephone setup. Ultimately designed to take the place of your old DECT home phone, it can handle both your old-style normal telephone calls and also make and receive calls made via Skype: one handset does everything, you just choose how you want to make the call.

Continue reading "Skypegear Roadtest: Linksys CIT400 iPhone" »

Estimates suggest that in the UK alone there are around 9 million people with some kind of hearing impairment, and that up to 4 million of those people use hearing aids or have cochlear implants.

For these people, Skype can offer a really useful way of being able to communicate cheaply and easily through multiple channels, be it voice, text, video or some of the extra ways of communicating in Skype 3.

Continue reading "Which Skype phones are Hearing Aid Compatible?" »

US-based Linksys brought out their first Skype phones way back in the summer of 2004, but the two new phones in their iPhone range are the first two Skype phones they've bought out that don't need PCs to run. Both are being released in the US immediately, which should hopefully mean that US-based customers will be able to get their hands on them from retailers such as Amazon in time for Christmas. In fact, Amazon are already listing them here and here!

Continue reading "New iPhone Wifi and Cordless Skype phones announced by Linksys" »