Philips VOIP 080 Skype VOIP Travel Phone
by Philips Accessories
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Our Price: $59.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $59.94 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Philips VOIP 080 Skype VOIP Travel Phone
Customer Review: perfect sound!
Summary: 5 Stars
was worried about buying one of the least expencive voip phone, but it really works great!Customer Review: not perfect, but works reliably
Summary: 4 Stars
I've have been a Skype user for several years. Prior to purchasing the Philips VOIP 080 USB handset, I've tried a few generic USB VOIP handsets from eBay. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, none of the eBay models I've purchased worked. This Philips handset was going to be my last try before biting the bullet and invest into a more expensive WiFi handset model. Much to my surprise, the Philips 080 worked! Here are my impressions/opinions on this product:
Pro
- Even though the handset is NOT plug-and-play directly out of the box, but after the one-time setup process that involves the installation of a "VOIP080" program, the handset works reliably there after.
- When the VOIP080 is executed, it will kick start Skype, load the driver for 080, and configure the audio in/out for Skepe on the handset. This is normally a single-click operation.
- The voice quality is VERY good. Provided your internet connection is reliable, the voice quality on this handset is definitely comparable to normal landline phones. There is no echo, no distortion, or any other audible artifacts.
- You can dial numbers directly on the handset. However, when you punch the numbers in, they actually appear in the Skepe window that's running on your COMPUTER, as the handset itself does not have any display.
- Incoming calls will ring the handset, with several ringer choices.
Cons
- The fact that this thing is not plug-and-play is rather inconvenient. You can only use it on the computer that already has the VOIP080 program installed. If you're traveling and using a shared computer somewhere, you're out of luck.
- Sometimes, not always, the normal audio on the computer is being routed to the handset. Per design, only the Skepe audio should be routed to the handset. For whatever reason, this doesn't always work, which is annoying.
- The handset is rather cheaply constructed. The USB cable, in particular, is problematic. Because you need to wrap the cable around the grove on the sides of the handset every time you "travel", the ultra thin USB cable will simply snap in time. I'm already on my second one. The base shown in the picture is a useless piece of light plastic.
- Because the VOIP080 program actually hooks into the Skepe application itself, I suspect there will be potential compatibility when Skype rolls out new versions in the future.
Conclusions
It gets the job done, as long as your expectations for it are not too high.
Customer Review: Why not, just in case?
Summary: 4 Stars
Some times it has almost indistinguishable from land-line sound quality, other times it sounds kinda spotty. This may be a function of Skype and network traffic.
Anyway, I haven't used it too much, but other than sound, it has pretty good build quality, and a nice case. It probably does all that you need! The Wifi ones seem great, but I almost never make LD calls, so paying $150 to $200 isn't reasonable for me.
Gee, $20 in the cell phone, landline, and long distance arena is really CHUMP change so you ought to give it a try and maybe find a use for it!
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It had been a long time since I had last used it and as I had both a cell phone and a landline and didn't travel much, I had not been keeping up with its use.
Apparently, the phone needs to have drivers for the keys to work in Skype and even using the most current drivers from the Philips website installs an old version of Skype over the current. I am trying to figure out a way that current versions of Skype can be used with it.
Customer Review: I like this phone a lot!!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw this phone at the skype webpage first and then I look for it in Amazon. The price wasn't bad and most of the reviews were pretty good, so I got one. I use skype quite often to talk with family and relatives all over the globe. This phone brought extra quality to our conversations, and with this I said bye bye calling cards. Quality now is way better, even better than with cards from a regular phone. No echo, No distortion, if I leave the phone connected to my laptop and somebody calls it sounds like a regular phone and the cord is long enough to move around a little bit. So far I bought 3 more: one for my parents and a couple more for some other relatives I talk quite often with.Customer Review: Functional VOIP phone
Summary: 4 Stars
This product has worked for me just fine. I would recommend the purchase to anyone.
The minor shortcomings can be ignored for this value-priced item.
I have not read the manual thouroughly but:
The mute button doesn't seem to work,
The earphone volume was a little low and I found no way to adjust it.
I did a workaround by making the Phillips VOIP the default sound device in my SKYPE set up. The workaround routes the ear signal to my computer speakers and the volume is completely adjustable with the windows controls.
I then use the Phillips hand set as a microphone and have great communication.