3 Skypephone Series
 | |
| Company type | Brand name / Joint venture |
|---|---|
| Industry | Communications |
| Founded | 2007? |
| Headquarters | London? , United Kingdom? |
Key people | N/A |
| Products | Mobile phones |
Number of employees | N/A |
| Parent | H3g, Skype |
| Website | www.3skypephone.com |
The 3 Skypephone series is a range of 3G mobile phones made by Amoi. The phones are sold in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Macau. 3 offers four thousand free Skype outbound voice minutes with the phones. The quota expires in 90 days unless the user purchases another top-up or is on a pay monthly plan. The service is advertised as "unlimited" in the UK; however, it is subject to the same limitation as in other countries.
The Skypephone series of phones support UMTS/W-CDMA 2100 MHz, GSM and GPRS (900/1800 MHz), as well as HDSPA with the 3 Skypephone S2.
The Skypephone series uses the normal 3G or GSM voice network for handling Skype calls, which permits users to make Skype calls within 3's 3G network or when the user is out of range of the 3G network and is roaming on one of 3's partner 2G networks. The 2 Skypephone models are unique in using normal GSM or 3G voice protocols for handling Skype, as all other mobile Skype applications use a GPRS, EDGE or 3G packet data connection to handle Skype. The Skype application used is native to the 3 Skypephone series and is a Brew application , whereas other mobile Skype clients are 3rd-party downloads and are either Symbian or Java ME based. An advantage of using the standardized 3GPP circuit-switched (CS) voice protocols for handling calls is that it does not require a constant GPRS, EDGE, 3G or WiFi data connection, all of which consume significantly more battery life than CS voice. [1]
The 3 Skypephone series use a USB connector for recharging and Phone-to-PC communication - allowing them to recharge when plugged into a computer. Phone-to-PC connections are also possible over Bluetooth.
Usage Terms
Except in 3's domestic market (Hong Kong), free Skype-to-Skype calls and instant messages are only available in the country where the phone was purchased, or while roaming on 3’s sister networks. Only Skypephones bought from 3 Hong Kong can conduct free Skype-to-Skype calls in any of 3's sister networks worldwide.
Skype-to-Skype calls and instant messages are subject to a fair use policy of 4000 minutes of outgoing calls and 10,000 instant messages per month.
Moreover, for 3 Pay As You Go customers, the Skype functionality is subject to activating a minimum top-up (value depending on country) and valid for 90 days from activating their last top-up.
Future of the Series
The future of the series is unclear, as the carriers parent company have launched their own phone manufacturing subsidiary, INQ. However, it was Skype who initiated the series by contacting chipmaker, Qualcomm, who in turn contacted Amoi to make the phone and eventually 3 came into the project[2] Because of this, the Skypephone series, if it were to continue, could possibly be continued on a different network from 3.
However the series could alternatively be continued by INQ, as they are manufacturing phones with the same, integrated BREW Skype application. It seems likely that the series will either be continued and be carried alongside the INQ phones on 3, as well as other networks, or be stopped because of the Skype functionality in the INQ phones.
References
- ^ "The World's best phone?". 2007-11-28.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ http://www.gomonews.com/3-reveals-the-skypephone-to-hacks/ About the launch of the 3 Skypephone project, including information on its initiation.
See also
External links
- Stephen Fry's blog and Guardian article about Skypephone 2
- Victor Keegan at the Guardian on the Skypephone 2
- Three Skypephone Portal in English, Danish, German, Italian and Swedish
- Three Skypephone WAP Portal in English, Danish, German, Italian and Swedish
- Three Skypephone at three.co.uk
- Three Skypephone Review at Gadgetvenue.com
- Skypephone S2 on Skype official website
- Video walkthrough of main features on YouTube
- christianlindholm.com's review
- tonyblews.co.uk's review (part 1) and (part 2)