Phillips VOIP321 Skype phone - initial review

Due to all the changes mentioned in other blog posts, I needed an easy way to connect to family members in Europe. As a number of them already use Skype, when I saw a deal ($25 incl shipping) for this phone at ThingFling I decided to try it out. I had some initial problems with installation, as this model is a little old and the software did not agree with my newly installed Windows 7 on the desktop. Luckily, I have a second desktop with XP alongside. Once installed and set-up of Skype was completed I found that using the phone is exceedingly easy. In addition to a normal landline capability, it has a Skype button, which retrieves your Skype Friends List and allows you to connect just like with a normal phone. In fact you can also use this phone for Skype-Out calls, i.e. with a normal phone number. You just need to make sure that sufficient credit is available on the account, but at 2c/minute a few dollars goes a long way. Of course, calls to a Skype client on a computer remain free, so I expect to be calling on the regular landline and telling the other party, "please go to the computer and I will call you via Skype there."

I have used the phone to call the UK this weekend, both ways, regular Skype and Skype-Out, and both work easily and with good clarity. It is interesting to see the phone display the Skype contacts list as a phonebook, which makes dialing very, very easy.