USB Video Phone. A phone with a USB hub and webcamera built in. Works fine for me.

I just got a funny USB Video Phone from Marco at www.amperordirect.com. Thank you. Nice and useful voip phone gadget. For the record : the delivery was smooth, fast, properly organised ! Which is also important when you order something online and I never had to ask where my box was since they I was given a courier tracking code. The whole handling process was done online and with the least bunch of questions asked. I call that the good way to apply E-commerce. Remember this business-relation started with a blog and chatting. Note that If you type in the coupon code "JANTIE" -- without the " " -- during the checkout process at AmperorDirect.com, you will earn a 10% discount off your entire order."

The phone itself works with Skype (running on a pc). Let’s take a quick side-trip. Yesterday I saw a SIP-phone device that does voice/video, but I immediately thought that it would need powerful sip-server to provide a fast video-stream allowing the video traffic and all that. Besides it would need a powerful SIP server that will cost money and have limitation on load balancing, while Skype is based on free p2p and it uses the available bandwidth of the your own (and others) Internet-connection… That is the little price you have to pay for basic video-conferencing. I think many smaller companies will not think twice to choose Skype. Sharing is good. So let’s continue to do so.

 

And this is exactly the power of Skype. You just plug-in your USB-cable of the device. Get Skype for free you start video-chatting. No costs involved. No servers needed… Now with this type of phone this videochatting became even more simple. You could put this in the living room with a longer usb-cable attached to a PC running Skype… A pitty it is not USB-wireless. Would even be better.. but probably not possible due to bandwidth limitations. Anways Normal people are now able to make a call to a Skype user (via speed-dial number that you must setup in the skype.exe) and call Skype-out numbers. The only difference : you can see their face now. Note that Skype is not embedded in this phone. We are nowhere yet on that level, or at least I have not seen anything that does that on the level of Skype. Meaning embedded skype video-phone application. Who knows what is brewing in the secret Estonian Skype labs …

Look and Feel : well it’s black. The carton wrapping-box and manual are good. cdrom is a bit basic, but on the whole it is a finished product. Made in China.

Usage : really simple. when you lift up the horn it works. You can start doing Skype – Out calls to normal phones. Good to put on your office desk. Looks impressive ! I kind of like it.

Sound quality : I called some of my friends. They told me that the quality is bit less, compared to my Logitech headset but still very good. No complaints on echoing voice. Nice.

Application : I will put this one next to the couch in my office and connect it to a free pc, so if somebody wants to make a Skype-call. Well go ahead. No need to touch my computer or plugin all kinds of stuff.

Experimentation : the phone is hub you could actually plugin any USB-device on the backside. I have done that. . What is kind of funny is that you connect an extra USB-phone this… You could start daisy chaining. Works perfect. I attached my USB-stick to it, my MP3 player. Perfect.  I can say to some body: plug your usb-stick into the phone. It’s kind of strange concept. But it is simply a usb hub. Also I could connect my USB-wireless plug to it for my USB-wireless phone. Hm many options here… for combined selling. A fixed USB phone with a camera and a USB-wireless or even bluetooth headset. Of course the both devices don’t work together. unless you configure it that way in Skype by play with the sound channels. Many options here. Something for Skypegeeks to investigate. Knock yourself out !

Pros :

• simple to install, just plug in the usb-cable, install software. done. nothing much to say about this.
• has a clock / date display too. I always wanted a fixed phone with that feature
• good back-lit blue display. soo nice when it’s dark
• easy buttons to navigate on the skype menu
• i could put this one somewhere with a 7 meter long usb-cable and let other
• comes with a good web-cam that is plugged into the back. you can use other usb-web-cams too.
• no external power needed. it all works on usb-power of the pc

Cons :

• does not store any Skype information. It is just a hub with a video-camera connected to it.
• software called skypemate is not really very advanced, but then again is that necessary ?
• calling to skype ID’s works only via speed-dial from the phone. so you must first assign a skype ID
• it does not do PSTN calling, so you cannot connect to a normal phoneline.
• it’s a USB cable phone.
• does not have a jack for an external headset (but maybe I could connect a external usb-headset and change the skype sound settings for audio  out/in… ).

Features :

• • Start or stop video by phone keypads
• high quality speaker-phone, ideal for conference calls
• large LCD with blue color backlight
• Phone rings for incoming calls, ring style selectable
• Dial Skype contacts and Skype-out number by phone keypads
• Echo cancellation, noise reduction, full duplex communication
• Camera  : Definition: 300K pixels / 320x240 high resolution CMOS sensor / Supports up to 30fps VGA video display / Adjust brightness automatically

Hardware

• No external power required
• USB power LED indicator
• Driver and sound card built-in
• Interface : 1 USB interface to PC / 1 USB interface to camera

Review of the USB Video Phone for Skype by www.amperordirect.com

Note that If you type in the coupon code "JANTIE" -- without the " " -- during the checkout process at AmperorDirect.com, you will earn a 10% discount off your entire order."

Comments

[vinod]

Dear Sales,

We are looking for the above mentioned USB Product, do u have any dealer in india so before invest we can test the product

Vinod Kumar
Manager Configuration
smartlinx Pvt Ltd
Hyderabad