Wi-Fi Phones Reviewed

prostoalex writes "With municipal Wi-Fi taking off and startups distributing free wireless routers for those willing to share their Internet connections, Wi-Fi phones or hybrid phones with both cellular and Wi-Fi access, are attracting interest. Dr. Dobb's Journal runs a review of 6 wireless phone devices available on the market today. The cheapest ones start around $80, but lock you into T-Mobile branded hotspots. The more expensive ones, Sony Mylo in particular, offer support for 3rd party clients, such as Skype, GTalk and Yahoo! Messenger."

VOIP is forcing competition

[troll -1]

traditional cell carriers are launching dual-mode phones and services that run over the cellular networks, but switch to cheaper (for carriers), faster (for customers) Wi-Fi networks when one is available.

It would be nice if carriers just sold mobile IP addresses and let consumers choose their own devices, services, etc.. Many of us would think it odd if we bought our computer from our ISP and it didn't work with other ISPs, yet this is the norm for cell phone companies. Your ISP mostly doesn't know/care whether you use your network for data or voice, but with cell phone companies every protocol, text messaging, email, voice, Internet, etc. is a separately billable service. From a administrative point of view this is just dumb.

Perhaps, finally, cell phone companies are leaving the old 20th century telco-mindset behind and becoming part of the Internet.

Re:Joke

[LBt1st]

Also no mention of battery life, range, ease of connecting etc.. this is hardly a review. More like a PSA or something, "Hello, VoIP exists!". The "review" even says that the Skype phone has gotten good reviews. That's like a definition using the word in it's definition! Not to mention I've read nothing but bad things about this phone. Such as the battery life being nil. From my research, the bottom line is this: These are first-gen phones and they simply are not ready yet. I use Skype, and the service has been above and beyond my expectations (for personal use. Still wouldn't use it for business). I'd recommend shying away from these phones in favor of a PDA or other Windows Mobile device (if that's your existing wifi enabled cell phone then even better). PDA's and such are tried and tested hardware. They also provide other great features. If your going to shell out a few hundred on a device you might as well get a fully featured device (Dell's Axim PDA's are great for example) or a smartphone with wifi.