Video: The Skype Phone, it is real, 10 minute hands on preview

Video was sent to me by Emilio Vignapiano from Cellulare Magazine. At first I refused to believe the Skype phone was even real, regardless of the pictures and the press release. Something about creating a phone around a proprietary voice service, albeit the most popular one in the world, is just unsettling. This is however revolutionary on so many levels, Skype has built in presence, chatting, your contacts are backed up on their servers, all these things regular GSM users take for granted. While this isn’t a phone for me, I can’t remember the last time I had a phone call longer than 5 minutes, this is absolutely great for a majority of the people out there who simply use voice and SMS.

I wonder if they will sell this device unlocked?

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

Victor

I really don’t understand what’s the big hoo haa about this…
It’s an iSkoot dedicated phone.

mmm…

My N73 can do the same.
Anthony

The big hoo haa is because of the price point, the features for the price point and the usability. It’s also about what this means for the mobile industry as a whole.

I love my Nokia phones and my next will be a Nokia too. Nokia don’t offer such a feature-rich phone at this price point. Still, I’m not tempted to get the Skypephone as it’s not feature-rich enough, not for me! And it’s BREW, so I’d miss all those great apps that are available for free or for little cost.

This phone is IMO ideal for families. That’s the market, kids and teens and their parents (if they’re on a budget.) Once those people get used to the benefits of free calls between each other they’re unlikely to want to switch carrier/network.
James

I think this will be great…way to go Skype, I live overseas and over the past few years I saved a lot in call charges and also having the luxury of having a videochat with clarity is a big bonus when you want to see you loved ones, which unfortunately you cannot avail in a normal telecom service.
Also with this service I probably dont have to call forward skype to my mobile phone – hope this one has skypeout feature to make cheap international calls.
Anyway Im impressed with skype and the call and video quality.
Massimo Moruzzi

unlocked? what for? so you can use it with another operator and actually pay for all your calls? (skype won’t work with any other operator, of course)
Anthony

It’s unlocked. I’ve yet to try it for myself (I’m awaiting my preview pair) but it comes straight from the horse’s mouth. Hmm, I read it on one of their sites somewhere or in an interview with 3 but can’t seem to find it now.

But like Massimo says, the Skype functionality wouldn’t work with another operator so what would be the point?

Stefan, these handsets should be good for more than just calls and messaging. For £5 p/m there’s unlimited internet (well 2GB, yeah I know not *really* unlimited!) which these phones hopefully can handle well enough. I intend to give one handset to my sister’s kids (they’re not even teenagers) who are well versed in browsing the web on my Nokia and would love, and use, the internet on a device like this.
Anthony

I’ve got mine now and they are really well made, certainly for how much they retail at on PAYG/pre-pay. Put it this way, they’re better put together than my Nokia N73!

Skype functionality works really well and because it’s not just some seperate app running, it doesn’t “fall over” or cause anything else to close. This is far better than using fring or X-Series Skype on my N73.

Opera Mini Beta 4 works without a hitch and I’ve even managed to have the music player working in the background (you have to start it first and can’t go back to it if using a java app) The bonus here is that BT stereo headsets work and I’m able to change track using the headset.

Also, browser and java apps load super quick.