Philips busts out a couple yawner VoIP phones
By Paul Miller 
posted Jan 8th 2008 2:20PM
posted Jan 8th 2008 2:20PM
posted Jan 8th 2008 2:20PM
The percentage of returned gadgets that have nothing wrong with them.
Of the $13.8 billion worth of returned products in 2007, only 5 percent were because gadgets were actually broken, according to a 2008 study.
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Nice looking phones but they don't get anywhere near to where we want VoIP phones to go. We really need good phones that don't require a computer to be on like the Belkin and Netgear phones... but actually good and not priced out of the market. Then we'd see a change in customer preference!
Siemens Gigaset S450IP - go google... :)
/G
Maybe *you* need a phone without PC, I only make skype call when I'm working in front of my PC, so this kind of phone make perfect sense to me.
You can also use the phone with Google Talk and Live messenger (or any other IM client)
Philips announced a product that matches your request at the 2007 CES, and after searching endlessly for a place to buy it for many months, I gave up.
Only place that sold Philips phones in the Twin Cities was CompUSA, which is now gone. If Philips marketing had an ounce of a clue, they'd sell these at IKEA (since IKEA uses their phones as props anyway). Good luck getting a hold of any of these Philips phones ...
Are Apple Mac computers supported? As everybody knows, 99% of these USB VoIP handsets never seem to work on Macs as it is. For us these handsets are practically useless. In fact, I've got a "USRobotics" USB handset sitting on my desk right now, and I haven't touched it in 4 months because its buttons were never programmed correctly by USRobotics engineers, nor enabled ex post facto by USRobotics software support dep't, so my Gizmo application can't use it.
And I wonder, does this Phillips one work with other apps besides "SKYPE"? Skype is a sham, the company is going under. People are switching to other VoIP services, like Gizmo. So is Gizmo supported by this phone? I can't understand why it is so difficult for USB handset manufacturers to throw together platform-specific software enablers for their products --- it's not like there are THAT many platform/VoIPapplication permutations out there. Yet it appears these idiots don't even bother to TEST their products any platform but Microsoft Windows.
So Phillips, have you tested this with Gizmo on Mac OS 10.5? If the answer is no, then I will not buy your product.
This kind of phones are only USB mic and speaker, it should work with anything that work with mics and speakers.
I have a Philips VOIP080 (corded, arhgg) and works with all kind of stuff
See those buttons? Those ought to work, otherwise the phone is a dud.
How is Skype a sham exactly? I've used it for over a year now and it's always worked fine for me. Please elaborate.
Actually, Phillips already makes a Skype phone that looks identical - I already have this phone. I use it as a second line in the house. It works fine, but there are other alternatives. Frankly, I would think they would at least improved the design of the phone.