Multi-protocol Wireless VOIP phone
Voice-over-IP (VOIP) usage such as Skype and SIP continues to take off in a big way. There is already lots of hardware to make using VOIP more user-friendly - USB-handsets such as the Cyberphone K, cordless phones such as the Dualphone, and retro-handsets such as those from Hulger. Or of course you can just use a microphone and headset as many people do.
In my mind, the real killer product will be the one that frees the user from needing a host-computer running the VOIP software, and is portable. The spread of Wi-Fi access points all over the world, or in your home, combined with a portable VOIP handset, promises the opportunity of free global calling on the move.
One way you can do this is via a mobile phone/PDA running an operating system like PocketPC or Windows Mobile, that also has Wi-Fi capability, on which you can run your Skype or SIP client - for example some of those from QTek or i-mate. What is really needed is a dedicated VOIP Wi-Fi handset. Netgear announced its intentions down this route with the Netgear Wi-Fi Skype phone, but so far it seems to be stuck at pre-order status, and it also has some major deficiencies such as only having the notoriously hackable WEP encryption, not the increasingly common and more secure WPA. There’s also the nice-looking Linksys WIP330, but it only supports SIP, not Skype. There’s a WIP330 review here.
The Register reported yesterday on a new device seen from an apparently little-known company called BCM, that on the face of it delivers everything you could want. It looks pretty similar to the product listed here by the Taiwanese manufacturer MPN. The Register claims it is compatible with Skype, SIP services, MSN Talk and MSN Messenger on any 802.11b/g Wi-Fi access point, runs an OS based on the Windows CE kernel, is chargeable from a USB port, and has 60 hrs standby time. The MPN site also lists an optional module to have that, and also GSM cellphone functionality, all in one device. No sign of it for sale yet, but if some company can bring out a product along these lines, it will sell in a big way I’m sure. There’s apparently another picture of it here.
