Skype for Pocket PC Review

Skype for Pocket PC ReviewAs you probably know, we’re big fans of the Internet-based telephony application Skype, and when we got our grubby hands on an imate JAM PocketPC phone (with SanDisk Wi-Fi card), we couldn’t wait to start reaping those free VoIP calls with Skype for Pocket PC, v1.1.0.6.

A quick visit to Skype’s website bagged the free 2.5 meg download, and told us that our machine was up to the job.

Skype recommends a rather beefy 400 MHz processor or above, so our JAM phone (also known as the T-Mobile MDA Compact) should be fine for the job with its sprightly 416 Mhz CPU.

Seeing as most PDA/smartphone users typically operate their devices in power saving modes running the processor significantly slower than top speed, there is a danger that Skype’s demanding CPU footprint may turn into something of a battery hog, so be warned

Making Calls

The interface will be very familiar to Skype PC users, offering a near-identical feature list, including chat messaging. Once logged in, your phone contacts appear as usual although we found the online notification a bit flaky, often failing to correctly indicate that friends were online.

Skype for Pocket PC ReviewUsing Skype to place voice calls to Skype users or via SkypeOut was simplicity itself, with almost all attempts to connect calls successful first time. Sadly, once connected, things weren’t quite so rosy.

My first call was encouraging; with the other person’s voice coming over reasonably clear with no problems their end either.

The second call, however, was a catastrophe, with a distorted, intermittent signal making me sound like Norman Collier doing an impression of the Daleks. It was unusable.

Other calls have resulted in recipients being subjected to buzzes, clicks, pops, complete silences or weird dub remixes of my voice, while I’ve been treated to random snippets of audio, whirring clicks and, in once case, words spoken some time previously coming back in a spooky loop.

At times, it was a bit like trying to communicate over a children’s walkie-talkie at the limits of its range or hearing disconnected voices through the fug of mind bending drugs.

Skype for Pocket PC ReviewBut I battled on, and found subsequent Skype calls to be a veritable potpourri of good, bad and indifferent, with more terrible calls than good ones.

In didn’t help that Skype defaulted to using the JAM’s speakerphone, making a headset essential for any kind of clarity (and privacy).

Although you can buy natty headsets with boom microphones that make you look like an Air Traffic Controller, I’ve yet to see a Pocket PC with a dedicated mic input, so you’ll still have to bark your words into the device’s integrated microphone.

For the greater part, the IM element of Skype worked fine, and if you’ve got a wide circle of chums using Skype, is worth the download alone.

Conclusion

With the fast growth of VoiP and Wi-Fi access, there’s no denying that the software has huge potential.

Skype for Pocket PC ReviewAs we reported in March 2005, there’s free Skype access provided at hundreds of airports, railways stations etc through The Cloud’s network, which – in theory – means you could be ringing up associates worldwide for nowt.

But no business client is going to be impressed with a phone call full of buzzing noises, weird clicks with the caller sounding like Sparky the Magic Piano on a bad day.

Seeing as almost all of the problems encountered were specific to the PocketPC version, it’s hard to work out whether it’s the limitations of the platform holding back Skype, or that the software hasn’t matured yet.

The good news is that Skype for Pocket PC is a free download, so it’s definitely checking it out to see how it works on your device.

The company are aggressively developing the product, and with luck many of the issues we encountered may be resolved in the near future.

For now, we can only give it a mixed review. We love the technology and we – naturally – love the idea of free VoiP calls on a smartphone, but until calls become more reliable – and usable – we’ll be sticking to conventional networks for important calls.

Rating: 3/5

Skype

Yahoo Buys DialPad VoIP Phone Service

Yahoo Buys DialPad VoIP Phone ServiceYahoo has whipped out its wallet and snapped up DialPad Communications, a company making VoIP software allowing users to make cut-price calls over the Internet.

Yahoo will use DialPad to expand its product array in the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) sector.

Based in California, DialPad is a six year-old company with around 40 employees competing in the hot potato sector of rerouting calls from computers to servers to telephones.

Yahoo Buys DialPad VoIP Phone ServiceThe company offers a selection of VoIP subscription plans to users – including prepaid VoIP calling cards – with charges ranging from as little as 1.7 cents per minute for calls to more than 200 countries.

DialPad has been offering calling plans for about two years and boasts more than 14 million users.

Although the specifics of the deal are yet to be released, Yahoo spokeswoman Joanna Stevens said that the new products integrating the DialPad technology could be debuting within a month. Pricing has yet to be announced.

Yahoo Buys DialPad VoIP Phone ServiceIn its announcement, Dialpad served up a bit more information about the deal: “Yahoo plans on leveraging Dialpad’s PSTN calling capabilities to add to Yahoo Messenger’s recently enhanced PC-to-PC voice calling offering. These products are very complementary and by combining our strengths, we are better positioned to take advantage of the fast growing IP telephony market and build a range of exciting new services.”

The acquisition comes hot on the heels of Yahoo introducing a test version of its instant messaging software which bundled an Internet telephony component that allowing users to make free computer-to-computer calls.

With rumours recently circulating the Web about Yahoo scooping up Skype, it now seems that Yahoo is looking to take on the VoIP upstart head on. Fight! Fight!

DialPad
Yahoo

BT Fusion Integrates Landline And Mobile Calls

BT Fusion Integrates Landline And Mobile CallsBT has unveiled a smarty-pants phone designed to integrate landline and mobile phone technologies.

Called BT Fusion, the handset promises callers the “best of both worlds” and works like a regular mobile phone away from home, but when the rambling caller comes home, the clever stuff whirrs into action.

As soon as the user’s home broadband hub is detected, the call is transferred to a VoIP connection through the phone’s own Bluetooth software.

BT is hoping that the service (dubbed “Project Bluephone” during development) will tickle the fancy of consumers looking for the functionality of a cell phone with cheaper fixed-line prices.

“We know that many of our customers enjoy the convenience of their mobile phones when they’re out and about, but switch to using a landline phone when they arrive back home to save money or because they have little or no mobile coverage”, observed Ian Livingstone, chief executive of BT Retail.

BT Fusion Integrates Landline And Mobile CallsBT Fusion is part of the company’s strategy to lure back customers wooed by mobile telephonic temptresses touting cheap calls.

The BT Fusion service – using adapted Motorola V560 GSM phones – will initially be trialled by 400 customers, with a more widespread consumer launch in September, followed up by a corporate package rollout in 2006.

BT was tight-lipped about how many customers it expected to sign up to the service, but was clearly eyeing up the 30 percent of their customers who make mobile phone calls from their homes.

BT Fusion Integrates Landline And Mobile Calls“The future will be convergence”, insisted Livingstone. “This is going to be a market that grows fantastically over time even though it might take a while to get going. We still expect many millions of converged handsets by the end of the decade.”

BT’s monthly packages will come in two flavours, offering 100 cross-network minutes for £9.99 (US$18.07~ €15) or 200 minutes for £14.99 (US$27.12~ €22.5) for 200 minutes.

BT Fusion Integrates Landline And Mobile Calls Calls to landlines originating in the home will be ratcheted up at BT’s regular rate of 5.5 p (10 cents, €0.08) for up to an hour.

Subscribers wanting to join the BT Fusion gang will need both a BT landline and access to BT broadband, with a special access point, called the BT Hub, being installed in the home.

Although currently using Bluetooth, BT is planning an upgrade to Wi-Fi technology and has already installed the necessary wireless equipment in the hubs.

Although Ian Livingstone, chief executive at BT Retail, has commented that the service could be used on any broadband service provider “if we decide to make it available”, subscribers will have to use BT’s own broadband service and Vodafone for now.

BT Fusion
Motorola’s RAZR Coming Soon to BT Fusion Service

Skype Voicemail Out Of Beta, Now Live

Skype Launches Voicemail ServiceAfter several weeks in beta, Skype has officially launched the Skype Voicemail service, the company’s second pre-paid premium offering.

The new Skype Voicemail service allows callers to leave unlimited voicemail messages for Skype users when they are unavailable or offline.

Unlike bog-standard voicemail systems, Skype Voicemail also lets users send pre-recorded voice messages to other Skype users – even if they’re not a subscriber to the service.

The SkypeIn beta ran in eight countries, and testers in those countries can also receive Voicemail messages from ordinary fixed or mobile phones.

Users of the service can personalise their Skype Voicemail by setting their answer preferences, adding their own witty and kray-zee greeting and electing to receive messages up to 10 minutes long.

Skype Voicemail subscriptions are available for €5 (~US$7~£4.00~) for 3 months or €15 (~US$19~£11.00~) for one year. Orders may be pre-paid with a credit card or via PayPal or Moneybookers at the Skype Store.

Also rolling off the Skype production line is the latest Skype for Windows v1.3, incorporating several feature improvements, including enhancements for importing new contacts to contact lists and a more customisable user profile area.

Skype Launches Voicemail ServiceSkype v1.3 allows bolts on the ability to populate Skype contact lists from desktop applications including MSN, and auto-populate exact matches from Microsoft Outlook.

Skype for Windows also offers an “enhanced visual experience” (whatever that is) with streamlined user interfaces and improved upgrade and premium notices.

There are also some new animated emoticons which, apparently, give instant messages “more expression”. Or maybe just irritate people more.

The company’s first premium offering, SkypeOut, allowed Skype users pre-paid calling to traditional and mobile phone numbers for local rates, attracted more than 1.5 million paid users since its launch in July 2004.

All of the company’s premium services – Skype Voicemail, SkypeOut, and the beta version of SkypeIn – are compatible with the latest versions of Skype for Linux, Mac OS X, Pocket PC and Windows platforms.

The company boasts more than 42 million registered users increasing by approximately 150,000 new users a day.

In the last few days, Internet rumours have been rife about Skype being the subject of a possible merger, commercial partnership or buy-out by Yahoo. Nothing’s been confirmed – or denied – yet, but we’ll keep you posted!

Skype

United B757-200 First Certified For US Inflight Wi-Fi

United Airlines and Verizon Airfone Certified for Inflight Wi-FiUnited and Verizon Airfone have become the first companies to receive Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to install Wi-Fi for use on US domestic commercial aircraft.

After extensive trials, approval was forthcoming after the two companies successfully demonstrated that using 802.11 b/g wireless technology within the cabin didn’t send the airplane into a loop-de-loop or spark off random explosions of Star Trek-esque white smoke.

United Airlines and Verizon Airfone Certified for Inflight Wi-FiAlthough the FAA approval currently only applies to the cabin of United’s B757-200 aircraft, it’s an important landmark on the way to enabling full high-speed wireless Internet access on board all United aircraft.

“Our research shows that connecting to the Internet is customers’ most preferred form of communication to the ground, and this certification is a crucial step to bring this inflight wireless access to our customers,” said Dennis Cary, United’s senior vice president-Marketing.

Verizon Airfone currently provides voice services and JetConnect(SM) Messaging services on United’s flights, and securing in-flight Wi-Fi Internet access is sure to be a coffer-filling money-spinner.

Verizon Airfone really had no option but to lead this initiative, someone was going to do it, and once done, all of Verizon Airfone’s high prices call revenue would be gone, as the Ilses started to run Skype on their laptops or PDA’s phones.

United Airlines and Verizon Airfone Certified for Inflight Wi-Fi“Our wireless broadband system will require only the addition of an avionics box, a wireless access point and a directional antenna, making it the faster and more affordable choice for United and its passengers,” said Bill Pallone, president, Verizon Airfone.

Passengers desperate for some in-seat network fragging are going to have to wait on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) scheduled “Air-to-Ground” spectrum auction to be held in the coming months. At the auction, providers will battle it out for lucrative service rights and the range of frequencies for onboard passenger access to the Internet.

United Airlines and Verizon Airfone Certified for Inflight Wi-FiOnce a service provider is selected by the FCC, United should be able to meet their passengers’ Wi-Fi needs in double quick time with, no doubt, zillions of other airlines following their lead.

United Airlines

Video4skype From Dialcom adds Video To Skype

Video4skype From Dialcom adds Video To SkypeSkype users can now gaze at each other’s ugly mugs (and other body parts) while they waffle online, thanks to a new free plug in from Dialcom.

The Spontania Video4skype plug-in uses the Skype P2P engine and allows Skype account holders with broadband access to plug in their webcam and start making free video-calls through Skype.

The plug-in offers a full screen mode, end-to-end encryption and is billed as being “firewall, NAT and proxy friendly”, so there should be no need to start rummaging around in your network configuration settings.

Dialcom’s Sponania video plug-in hasn’t been specifically written for Skype – it’s designed to be integrated with any third party VoIP system – but Skype has benefited from being the first to use it.

There doesn’t seem to be any obvious business model for Dialcom yet, but we suspect that they may introduce paid versions with extra features and add-on sales at a later date.

Skype’s VoIP system has now scooped up nearly 40 million registered users, with take-up rolling along at a healthy 150,000 new users per day.

Skype’s recent affiliate program trials have proved something of a success, signing up more than 1,800 affiliate Websites to share Web traffic with Skype during the test period.

Video4skype From Dialcom adds Video To SkypeThe deal for Webmasters is that Skype will dish out commissions of up to 10 per cent of its own store purchase revenues when a buyer is referred from their site.

The 30-day referral period starts after the first click, and credits site owners for all purchases made from return visits to the Skype Store.

“We look forward to rewarding our most ardent online evangelisers by creating an avenue to increase profits from their websites,” buzzworded Skype CEO and co-founder Niklas Zennström last week. “A strong affiliate program not only opens up a revenue stream for Skype devotees, but also provides an interactive communications tool for Website publishers to engage in dialogue with their audiences.”

There’s also a back-scratching reverse synergy deal (I’ve wanted to say that for years) with Skype able to direct its zillions of users to other sites through advertising links.

Skype’s ‘super affiliate’ partnerships include 192.com, Firstream, LunarStorm Sweden, LunarStorm United Kingdom, and MyFamily.com.

Skype recently released the latest beta of Skype 1.3 for Windows, but with their ‘known issues’ list stretching to fourteen items, many are advising holding back for a while before installing.

Video4Skype
Skype

Skype Affiliate Programme Becomes Official

Skype Affiliate Programme Becomes OfficialHere at VON Europe in Stockholm, Sweden, Niklas Zennstrom, CEO of Skype, has just announced the official launch of the Skype affiliate scheme. The scheme has been running as a trial for a few weeks, gaining 1,800 members.

Working with affiliate site Commission Junction, they plan to reward Skype users who promote their pay for services. In return, affiliates will get a varying percentage of the value of the purchase, depending on the service and the number of people that they sign up each month.

They do this by simply by placing a link on their site or by sending the links through via an email.

Speaking to Niklas yesterday (audio interview with Niklas Zennstrom 20mins, 19Mb), he told Digital-Lifestyles, “We’re creating a structure where Skype users who promote us, can start to make a buck out of it,” while he acknowledged that they also benefit.

There will also be “super affiliates” that will have their own Skype account manager – a first for them. The first two announced are Luna Storm in Sweden and SuperAva in Italy. Luna Storm is a online phenomenon in Sweden, having over 2m members, which in a country of 9m in total is pretty impressive.

Looking at the percentages that are offered, they give guidance as to which Skype services are the most profitable, and it’s no surprise to see that they’re SkypeIn and voicemail. SkypeOut, which connects Skype VoIP user to the public phone network, enabling them to call land-lines. When connecting to the public phone network, Skype has to pay operators for the time the call is connected.

Not surprisingly if people sign up for the normal free Skype service, the affiliate receives no financial reward.

Skype are in a position where they have grown very fast, recently hitting 3m concurrent users, but they are still vulnerable to an alternative service coming along and usupring them.

The larger their installed base of users, the larger the barrier is to competitors. They know that the more people in a Skype users social/family circle that download and sign up for Skype, the more difficult it becomes for a competitor to unseat them. The process of talking you mum, granny and sister-in-law isn’t something you want to repeat.

Skype Affiliate scheme

Hop-on $39 WiFi Phone Announced

Hop-on 39 WiFi Phone AnnouncedThey’ve got a bit of a reputation for being a tad over-affirmative with their announcements, but Californian wireless solutions company Hop-on have revealed details of their new US$39 (~€31~£21.33) WiFi phone.

The device – which looks like a homage to a late 90s chunky Nokia phone – lets users make Voice over IP phone calls from available public or private Wi-Fi access points.

Measuring a pocket-challenging 126.2 x 46.3 x 27.5 mm, the HOP1502 Wi-Fi IP weighs 135g (with battery) and sports a Ye Olde Mono backlit LCD, offering a 102 x 650 pixels screen size.

The 1800mAh Standard Li-Ion battery is claimed to provide 3.5 hours of talk time or 30 hours of standby.

The WiFi handset supports a wide variety of VoIP features and functions, based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Depending on the service provider, users can enjoy call features such as three-way calling, call waiting and call forwarding etc.

The clunky chunky phone also enables voice processes, including the curiously monikered “comfort noise generation” as well as voice activity detection, and echo cancellation, and IP protocol features such as Real-Time Transfer Protocol (RTP), Session Description Protocol, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), and Virtual SIM (VSIM).

Hop-on 39 WiFi Phone AnnouncedOf course, the main attraction of this phone is the low, low price, with the company claiming that it “provides all the features and functionality of a VoIP terminal adapter but has the advantage of enabling users to talk from any available public or private WiFi access point. ”

VoIP handsets are set to become increasingly popular, with market research firm Instat claiming that the number of mobile/WLAN (VOIP) subscribers will reach over 256 million worldwide by 2009, with the numbers of subscribers using WLAN for voice expected to exceed those using WLAN for data only by that date.

“Hop-on believes that the features and price point of the HOP1502 WiFi IP handset will be challenging to the Industry,” insisted Samuel Demissie, President of Hop-on. “WiFi phones have not yet been deployed in quantity by carriers due to security challenges such as fraud, theft of call information, passwords and the lack of 911 Emergency Service.”

Hop-on worked with security partners to develop a “total solution package” (we like those) for carriers and hotspot owners, enabling “seamless authentication and billing enablement for the carrier.”

Hop on claims that their Virtual SIM (VSIM) patented software technology replicates the same benefits of GSM/CDMA security and authentication in WiFi phones and “substantially” reduces the security and billing challenges faced by carriers.

Hop-on 39 WiFi Phone AnnouncedIt’s an ugly looking beast all right, but we like the idea of cheap VoIP handsets, although hardened old cynics like us would suggest that you don’t hold your breath on this one, quite yet.

Hop-on

Toshiba Quantum Key Server To Secure Video

Toshiba Demos Quantum Secure VideoThe clever-clogs at Toshiba Research Europe have announced that they have been successful in applying quantum cryptography to the transmission of video and voice over IP.

This means that it will be next to impossible for hackers to “tap” into voice and video files streamed over the net.

White coated boffins at Toshiba’s Cambridge UK labs demonstrated their Quantum Key Server system, which involves encoding bits of encryption data onto particles of light (photons).

This ultra secure technology looks set to revolutionise digital security by replacing the current distribution methods for keys, which are needed to decrypt secure messages.

Toshiba Demos Quantum Secure VideoToshiba’s quantum video link increases the security of communication systems by encrypting every single video frame with a unique digital key – so cracking one frame of a video would be useless unless all the other frames were cracked too.

The secrecy of each of these keys is ensured by quantum cryptography, an ultra-secure key distribution method.

Dr Andrew Shields, head honcho of the Toshiba group developing the system, said, “Corporate networks are increasingly vulnerable to the theft of keys from the desktop, either by hacking, Trojans or fraudulent employees. The Toshiba Quantum Key Server mitigates this risk by allowing frequent key refresh.”

“The Toshiba Quantum Key Server can be used to enhance the security of not just video and speech, but also a wide range of other high bandwidth data communications, ranging from sensitive legal documents to medical and tax records.” he added.

Quantum cryptography also allows the key distribution link to be monitored for tapping and other skulduggery, and although we can’t pretend to understand half of what the good Doctor is on about, we liked this bit:

Toshiba Demos Quantum Secure Video“Imagine if you received a letter, you opened that letter and read it, there is no way of telling if someone has read that letter en route. When you encode the information on single particles, the letter self destructs whenever someone else reads it.”

“I sometimes say it is like the messages in Mission Impossible,” he added, “If anyone tries to read the messages, they self destruct.”

Toshiba has so far received “good feedback” from government and financial institutions shown the demonstrations, although commercial implementation looks to be some years away.

Toshiba Europe Research

Treo 650 Smartphone: UK PalmOne Launch

Treo 650 Smartphone: UK LaunchPalmOne has formally launched its Treo 650 in the UK – more than six months after jammy Americans got their mitts on the keenly anticipated smartphone.

We’re not quite sure what ‘formally launched’ means, because there’s still no UK telecom networks offering them and you can’t officially buy them anywhere.

There was, however, a man from Orange at the press launch, wildly enthusing about the Treo’s capabilities. When pushed for an actual, real-life release date on the Orange network, the best we could get out of him was “Soon.”

It’s all rather frustrating because the presentation had thoroughly whetted our appetite for the Treo.

The updated version of the hugely successful Treo 600 offers a higher-resolution 320×320, 65,000-colour screen, a removable battery, 312MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor, 32MB of Flash memory (21MB available to the user), Palm OS 5.4 ‘Garnet’, an enhanced VGA digicam and – finally – Bluetooth.

Treo 650 Smartphone: UK LaunchThe handset includes useful quad-band GSM/GPRS connectivity for voice and data, with the bundled VersaMail email application supporting a single Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 ActiveSync account and multiple IMAP and POP accounts.

Anyone who’s ever battled with the complexities of hooking up email services on a mobile will appreciate the mass of preloaded server settings for local ISPs and other email providers built into the Treo. So long as your ISP is listed, setting up a new account takes a matter of seconds.

One thing noticeable by its absence was WiFi. Although palmOne offers an optional WiFi SDIO card for some of its Tungsten PDAs, it currently doesn’t work with the Treo 650.

I asked François Bornibus, vice president for palmOne EMEA, about this oversight, and was told that “drivers were being written” for the Treo, although he couldn’t give me a definite release date.

He also said that a Treo with a fully integrated WiFi “was on the roadmap”, although he wasn’t mindful of giving me a peek at this map.

Treo 650 Smartphone: UK LaunchEven with WiFi, Treo users will still be missing out on the killer VoIP application, Skype, so I asked if there were any plans to introduce a version for the Palm platform.

With a Gallic shrug, Bornibus suggested that it would be up to Skype themselves.

(PalmOne’s Senior Systems Engineer, John Walker, later told me that the current WiFi SDIO Card doesn’t have VoIP functionality anyway, so Treo users can forget all about joining in with the VoIP revolution for a while.)

Finally, I told Bornibus about the countless rumours of a windows-based Treo (sometimes called the Treo 670) that had been circulating around the Internet and asked him if there was such a device in the pipeline.

With an enigmatic smile, he answered, “Anything is possible” – make what you will of that!

Treo 650 Smartphone: UK LaunchDespite attending an official product launch, I left none the wiser as to when the Treo will actually be available or what other network carriers (apart from Orange) will be offering the phone. Naturally, there wasn’t a peep about pricing plans either.

Despite the somewhat UK shambolic release timetable, reviews across the Atlantic have generally been very enthusiastic, and as soon as we finally get our grubby mitts on a Treo, we’ll be posting up a full review.

Treo 650