Mobile Digest

ZyXEL launches V660 VoIP-enabled smartphone

ZyXEL has unveiled the V660 - a converged quad-band smartphone that offers VoIP calling over your Wi-Fi network, along with all the mobile functionality you'd expect.

It's powered by Microsoft Windows Mobile Edition 5.0, so expect all the mobile Office functionality (Excel, Word, Powerpoint, pocket MSN and Outlook), along with Push email. And there's a 1.9-inch screen, 2 megapixel camera, video and MP3 player, 64MB of on-board memory, microSD slot for added storage and Skype software pre-installed for those internet calls.

“The growing army of mobile workers is placing businesses under increasing pressure to provide a single device to replace the many that currently occupy our bags and pockets,” said Rob Mackinnon, VoIP product manager ZyXEL. “Whilst most technical innovation creates as many problems as it solves, the V660 combines a myriad of devices and ensures that SMBs and consumers alike always have instant access to the world’s sources of information and entertainment.”

Availability will be announced in the latter half of 2007.

ZyXEL website

Jajah launches Mobile Suite VoIP service - up to 86% saving on international calls from your mobile

Jajah, already known for their home phone VoIP service,  has today launched a new VoIP service for all mobile handsets - the Jajah Mobile Suite - which promises savings of up to 86% on international calls and again, without the need to be connected to a PC.

As an example of the savings, the company says a 10 minute call from London to New York with the Jajah Mobile Suite will cost £1.10, compared to £12.90 with Vodafone, £1.50 with Orange, £7.00 with T-Mobile and £9.90 with O2. You can get the deal by downloading a plug-in from the Jajah website or by sending an SMS. The plug-in will allow the service to operate on any mobile phone, regardless of geography, service or manufacturer.

Overall savings are obviously dictated by how much you're currently paying for calls, but are greater if both you and the person you're calling have the plug-in installed. And the cost of each call is clearly displayed before the call is made, so you can make sure you are making a saving. 

Find out more at the Jajah website

Friday interview: Rok's Bruce Renny talks mobile VoIP

It's part two of Tech Digest's interview with Bruce Renny from ROK. Following Wednesday's focus on FreeBeTV, the company's new mobile TV service, today it's time to talk about Viper, which ROK launched a couple of weeks ago touting it as a "free mobile VoIP" service.

However, it's since come in for some criticism online, for not being the over-the-air VoIP solution that you might expect, but instead letting you make calls from your mobile phone via Bluetooth to an internet-connected computer.

"All the system turns out to be is software that makes certain mobile phones glorified Bluetooth headsets for a PC-based VoIP network. So yeah, it’s mobile, as long as you’re within Bluetooth range of a PC that’s within range of a broadband connection," said MobHappy, while The Inquirer pointed out that the service doesn't yet support that many Bluetooth phones. Still, Renny is bullish about the potential of Viper, and its implications for the mobile industry.

First, the basics. You can download the Viper application from ROK's website, and to use it you need a Bluetooth-enabled phone and PC. It's true that currently, it only works with six Nokia handsets - the 6630, 6680, 6681, 6682, N70 and N90 - although Renny says this will be expanded to 100 handsets by Christmas. So what's the big idea?

"We're all conscious of the phenomenon of Skype, which has signed up 100 million people worldwide with barely any advertising," he says. "It's a phenomenon, but it's clunky. Skype requires you to be wired to your PC. Our idea is to make mobile VoIP available via Bluetooth. Your Bluetooth handset directs your mobile call to your PC, routes that to whoever you're calling, and it pops out of their PC via Bluetooth."

The application is free to download, and Viper-to-Viper calls are free. Renny pitches one use as business travellers when abroad, using the service via their laptops to avoid roaming charges. Surely they'll just take a Skype headset and use that with their laptop? But ROK's view is that the freedom to roam around their hotel room, as well as not having to pack an extra device, will persuade users.

Another downside of the service as it launched is the inability to call non-Viper users. "Down the road, we'll be introducing that," says Renny. "A Viper-to-non-Viper call will cost a fraction of the operators' call charges. Something like 2p a minute. But we're hoping like Skype, people will pro-actively viral this to their friends, families and business contacts."

Since Viper launched two weeks ago, Renny says the application has been downloaded over 6,000 times, with 1,500 active users already, and 90,000 visitors to the website (many of whom presumably discovered their phone wasn't yet supported). It's fair to say that right now, Viper is an early-adopter thing, although ROK wants this to change.

"The trick is to make it user-friendly," says Renny. "We don't expect everyone to have a PhD in computer electronics. If a 45-year-old housewife can use it without any particular instructions, then it is consumer-friendly. Our UI is improving all the time, and we're asking for feedback. We don't know all the answers, and we're honest about that. So all the technical feedback, good bad or indifferent, is giving us a broader perspective on what we need to do."

So then, about these criticisms that the service isn't truly 'mobile' VoIP, because it relies on the Bluetooth connectivity to a PC? Surely the way this is heading is towards mobile VoIP applications which either use phones' Wi-Fi connectivity to connect wirelessly to a home network or hotspot, or which even use the mobile network itself?

"Without a doubt this is leading to over-the-air," says Renny. "ROK Skunkworks, as I like to call our in-house development people, are working hard on it. There's various blocks though. Quite often a Wi-Fi zone is owned by a particular brand, so you often have to pay to access it. But it is inevitable that to a greater or lesser extent, we will see mobile VoIP where you just dial, and it goes straight from your handset via Wi-Fi to the internet."

Can ROK launch this kind of technology soon enough though? After all, everyone's waiting to see whether Skype comes out with a mass-market mobile client that a decent proportion of those 100 million subscribers can use, while there are other VoIP companies targeting mobile with Wi-Fi clients. Part of the reason ROK has launched Viper so early, with limited handset support, seems to be to head off this competition.

"There's a land grab now, generating customer loyalty and stickiness," he says. "If it works, why change? You can't get any cheaper than free. Also, we did a comparison with existing mobile VoIP services, and there always seems to be a string attached. You've got to buy another service, or preinstall some money to open an account online, or send a premium-rate text in order to open the application. You wouldn't accept a free ice cream if you had to pay £1 for the cone, so why should that be true of mobile VoIP?"

ROK plans to make its money from the Viper-to-non-Viper calls, when that feature is launched, taking a slice of the 2p a minute calling charges. So what about the mobile operators? If they were blind to the threat of mobile VoIP in the past, surely they're catching on now? Renny says he divides operators into three camps.

The first he labels the "arrogant" operators, who plan to launch their own broadband-mobile convergance VoIP services, and assume that their subscribers will use those. The second he labels the "myopic" operators, who still don't see VoIP as a threat, so are sticking their heads in the sand and hoping the issue goes away.

"And then the third camp are the ones who are pro-actively addressing this," he says. "If the networks don't sell these Wi-Fi-enabled phones in their stores, you can bet the public will buy them online. You can't put the genie back in the bottle on that one. Wi-Fi handsets are here and growing fast."

It remains to be seen what this third group of operators will do exactly. But what's ROK's next move, following FreeBeTV and Viper? Here's a prediction: the company will launch some kind of instant messaging client for phones. Listen to Renny's not-so-guarded hints.

"Through our research and focus groups, we see that kids think text is too slow, and want an alternative like instant messaging," he says. "A technology will be launched imminently, whether by ROK or somebody else, which will allow IM on the mobile for free. And ROK loves to offer stuff for free... It's very difficult to compete against, no matter how big you are. If someone is prepared to give ice cream away, the established ice cream vendors will suffer."

Read Part 1 of Tech Digest's Bruce Renny interview

Vodafone say video calling is a flop

Vodafone are admitting that video calling has not been a success with its customers, despite it being one of the main selling points for 3G phones. Voice and text still remains the predominant use of phones for communicating, and any video-ing going on is probably destined for the likes of YouTube.

Rumours have been circulating that Vodafone has lost interest in 3G, and that all the cash that went into securing licences and infrastructure was a waste. They seem unhappy to subsidise 3G handsets any more, because customers aren't spending enough money on the extra services.

Mind you, they have also said that more than half of their 3G customers have taken a mobile TV package, often the premium one. It's all a tad confusing knowing who to believe, because a more independent survey found that 3 in 4 of all mobile users weren't interested in Mobile TV at all.

Mobile operator 3 would disagree, claiming that its mobile TV and music services were wildly popular. So, are people turning to 3 instead of V, or is there some marketing hype going on here? What, hype? Never.

It makes me wonder how many people are actually on 3G technology anyway, letalone using its features, if all people really want to do is send text messages...

(sings: And I'm gonna be under the tree, I wonder why no-one's using 3G...)

BCM WLAN800I VoIP Wi-Fi phone - without the need for a PC

Another interesting gadget to emerge from this year's Computex is the catchily-named WLAN800I phone from BCM, a multi-format VoIP Wi-Fi phone that allows you to use the likes of Skype, MSN Talk and MSN Messenger without the need to turn on a PC.

To use the WLAN800I, you just need an 802.11b/g wireless access point. It supports three-way calling, as well as the ability to connect via MSN Messenger to someone that has a web camera. However, there isn't one on the phone, so they can't see you. You can store 10 wireless profiles for quick access when you swap between access points and there's support for WEP and WPA encryption as well as DHCP and static IP addresses.

It's also a media player and has 32MB of flash memory, plus 64MB of SDRAM. There's also a vibration mode, true tones ring tones, a 250 contacts phone book, call history for your last 20 dialled numbers and an embedded web browser. Battery life is around 60 hours on standby, with up to three hours' talk time.

The WLAN800 is expected to be available from BCM in the middle of July, but as yet, there's no news of a UK distributor.

Via The Register

More VoIP:
Sony's hybrid mouse and VoIP phone
Jajah - a simple way to use VoIP

Rabbit Point offers free international mobile calls

It is what us mobile obsessed types dream of – a phone that allows you to make and receive international calls but doesn’t come with the after shock of those horrendous network call charges. Which is why we have been keeping close tabs on the UK firm Rabbit Point. It has developed a mobile phone and supporting technology that works via the web - yes it is a variant on VoIP – which offers free international calls to its subscribers.

Basically to make those cheap calls you need a wireless connection. You can use the phone from your own network, or take advantage of a free hot spot, or even a hot zone like those in Brighton or  London’s Canary Wharf  . You can’t use it in say a T-Mobile Starbucks hot spot as there is no way of logging in.

The company claims that it is compatible with 3000 sites across the UK and 700 across Europe. Rabbit Point is apparently rolling out its own hot sports which it calls Cell points. Once you have made a connection free calls to other Rabbit Point users are free and 1.5p per minute to landlines.

In case you were wondering it is different from the UMA technology pioneered by Nokia and others as those harness existing mobile phone networks to make calls.

The inevitable catch though is you need a Rabbit Point phone. It looks ok and is manufactured by UTStarcom, but it is no match for more fashionable/gadget-filled stuff from Nokia etc. Apparently a 3G/Wi-fi combi phone that works with the system is on the horizon too. You also pay £9.99 per month line rental.

It all sounds very interesting, but is the quality any good, and what battery life doe the phone have? Yep the jury is out until I have played with the phones.

Barabu introduces free mobile to mobile calls

Free mobile calls? Yes, that's right, Barablu has launched the world’s first free mobile-to-mobile calling between users using existing computer networks. Barablu's package runs on VoIP over Wireless LAN, and is available to anybody with a compatible GSM mobile phone (Wi-Fi enabled), which currently includes Nokia's 9500 and the i-mate SP5 SP5m. 

It's certainly one up on Skype - and that seems to be the point, as the company is desperate to gain ground on the VoIP giant. As well as the mobile calls deal, Barablu are also offering a free chat service and a free PC-to-mobile instant messaging service. 

If you want to take advantage of the free mobile calls, you need to download a dialler from the Barablu website to your mobile, then register a username and password. You can then contact other people for free via PC or mobile, but only if they use the Barablu network too. Remember, calls outside their network are charged.

Over to you Skype.

Find out more

More VoIP:
Sony's hybrid mouse and VoIP phone
Netgear's Skype phone

3GSM 2006: hands on with the Nokia 6136

Nokia's first phone to feature UMA support, which means it can seamlessly move between 3G and Wi-Fi connections without dropping a call, is a bit of a curious one. You would have thought that Nokia would have pulled out all the stops and offered a high-end Series 60 phone for us techies. But nope the 6136 is a lower-end Series 40 model aimed at more causal users.

The underlying technology is great, especially given the announcement by Rabbit yesterday that it is to offer a two cents call via Wi-Fi to anywhere in the world.

There are also whispers of Nokia deal with Skype which will probably go down like a lead balloon with the networks. The phone itself is a bit of an oddity though. It is a ok clamshell with a quality OLED screen on its facia. Flip it open and there are huge buttons which should make texting and sending emails at a brisk pace fairly simple. Everything else is fairly basic stuff with the handset offering the usual mid-range phone niceties, but nothing to excite the techies. I really can't see why Nokia's first UMA phone wasn’t a top-end model. After all a decent smartphone that can easily toggle between 3G and Wi-Fi would be s superb addition to its product range, Maybe Nokia is protecting its own interests and ensuring its keeps space free for its 770 web tablet and Communicators. But then maybe it is saving a UMA big gun for the upcoming CeBIT exhibition.

3GSM 2006: Fujitsu Siemens launches Pocket LOOX T series

It's a hard life for a businessman on the move, having to drag around all the technology for work and play, which is probably why integrated solutions are growing ever more popular. Another challenger to the Blackberry's dominance of the market has been launched at the 3GSM in the form of the Fujitsu Siemens Pocket LOOX T Series.

The T series models, which feature a QWERTY keyboard and a clear TFT display, operate as fully-featured mobile phones. But in addition, with Microsoft Windows Mobile™ 5.0 software and UMTS functionality, you can access 'Push' email plus your appointment calendar and other familiar Microsoft Office applications on the go. And if you have some leisure time, there's an SD I/O / MMC slot to store your favourite MP3s and a 2MP auto-focus camera on the T830 model (pictured) to snap passing traffic.

The T series handhelds have integrated 802.11b/g wireless LAN with VoIP capability and like the N series, all models feature an integrated GPS receiver so you don't get lost.

Available from July, the T series should retail for around €700 (around £480).

More handhelds:
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Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket LOOX N series

Sony's hybrid mouse and VoIP phone

With all the clutter currently sat on my desk, I look forward to the day when Sony's hybrid mouse and VoIp phone hits the UK market!

The Sony Mouse Talk wasn't unveiled at the CES, but separately by Sony Japan. It looks and operates like a normal mouse, but it also doubles as a VoIP phone. When you want to talk, open it up, and use it with your VoIP software of choice. The scroll wheel even doubles up as a volume control. The Mouse Talk connects via USB 2.0 and is compatible with Windows 2000 and XP only

The Mouse Talk will be available in Japan from 18th February for 8000 Yen (which I reckon to be just under £40) in five colors - white, red, green, black and blue. I'll be keeping fingers and toes crossed for a UK release.

More VoIP:
The coolest VoIP gadget of CES 2006
USRobotics' Skype speakerphone

CES 2006: Netgear launches Skype Phone

Skype and VoIP in general have been big themes this year and there’s a lot of ‘Skype Phones’ kicking about. Technically I suppose this offering from Netgear, purveyor of a huge amount of networking products, has a little more right to that title than most others given that it is not dependent on a PC to work and is in fact a stand-alone phone. All you need to use it is a wireless internet connection and a Skype account, then you enter your details into your handset and make free calls. It also looks pretty smart although you would probably get it confused with your mobile pretty quickly. All SkypeOut functionality works fine too. No word on pricing or availability just yet.

Read

More VoIP at CES
Skype partners up for new products
The coolest VoIP gadget of the show

CES 2006: USRobotics' Skype speakerphone

2006 should be a big year for Skype, based on how many new products have already been launched around it. Another one to enter the fray at the CES is the USR9610 speakerphone from USRobotics.

The big selling point, apart from free Skype calls, is that this phone is hands free. With full-duplex operation, this USB speakerphone features echo-cancellation, volume controls and a mute button. And it's small - so you can take it with you if you want to make free calls away from the office.

It will retail in the US later this month for $49.99. No details of a UK date as yet.

More Skype:
New Skype products at the CES
Skype phone for Mac owners

CES 2006: Skype partners up for new products

Skype is looking to consolidate its position in the VoIP market with a number of deals with electronics industry companies, in the hope of making internet calling even easier for consumers.

Alongside Creative, the company has launched the Creative Skype Internet PhonePLUS – a standalone phone that enables anyone to make free Skype calls over the internet, even without a PC connection. With D-Link, there is the Skype USB Phone Adapter, a Skype phone adapter that enables Skype on a traditional phone.

There is also the Ipevo Fly-1 Cordless Handset and Xing Speakerphone, a PC/Mac compatible cordless Skype USB handset and Xing Skype USB speakerphone, the Kodak Photo Voice, a beta version of the first Skype certified online photo sharing service, a Panasonic a cordless telephone product that allows users to make and receive Skype calls and traditional calls using the same device and a VTech USB7100 Phone - an expandable phone with up to four handsets.

Whether these new products can widen use and understanding of Skype amongst the general public remains to be seen.

Via Pocket-Lint

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CES 2006: The coolest VoIP gadget of the show

eBay may have shelled out a an awful lot of money for Skype, but if CES is anything to go by it was cash very well invested. VoIP is everywhere, and Skype is making deals with everyone. One really cool new gadget which may helps to edge VoIP even closer to the mainstream is the VoSKY Call Center from Actiontec. Its big advantage over traditional Skype systems is that you don’t have to be anywhere near a PC to use it. In fact you can use it to make free Skype calls remotely from any phone even your mobile.

The system revolves around a small device the Call Center which you connect to your PC and your phone jack. You can then use any phone anywhere (you don’t need Wi-Fi) to access the Call Center and make free Skype calls. It also has a facility that will forward Skype calls to any number so in theory you could receive Skype calls on your mobile. It sounds like a real innovation to us and we are further cheered by a cheapo price of just $69.95. Given that Actiontec has a reasonable presence in the UK here’s hoping we get it soon.

Skype phone due later this year

Although competitor Vonage has already stated that it's working on a wi-fi phone, as reported earlier, Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom has reconfirmed that we can expect to see a wi-fi Skype mobile and see it later this year. The phone will provide Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP. Tranlsation: cheap internet calls) available without having to tether yourself to your machine. Good news for us, bad news for almost every mobile phone network.

via Wireless Net Design