When I say “try to” use it, it’s not that the phone is hard to use. In fact, relatively speaking, it’s easy to use once it is set up.

The base unit plugs into your regular telephone jack and your router. This gives you the ability to use your regular phone line as well as Skype from the same handset. You can configure which one PSTN phone calls will use by default (and override on a per-call basis, if you’d like). You can browse your Skype buddy list, do buddy list management, and make direct calls to Skype users also. You can even change your Skype status, check inbound/outbound call history, your Skype voicemail, and see your SkypeOut balance!

At home, I have this set up both with my landline and my personal Skype account. Calls to my landline and calls to my Skype account are set up with different rings (yes, you can do that). I have used it both for Skype and for PSTN calls and the sound quality is excellent. The connection between the base and the handset is DECT, making it both secure and WiFi friendly.

Here’s the problem with this handset–I just don’t use them all that much. Nothing against the handset at all, but I either use my mobile phone to make calls or I use Skype with a headset. Yes, the phone has a headset jack and supports speakerphone, so I could use it, but it’s not something I have to work to make use of.

One thing the handset is missing that would make adopting it problematic is the fact it lacks a mute button. It is one feature I make heavy use of on Skype and my mobile phones and not having it makes using this phone difficult.

If you’re looking for a way to make calls on Skype without using a computer and tie into your normal landline, this is a great device. It does exactly what it says on the tin. The pricing, though, presents a challenge: $170 for the base unit and handset, another $100 each extra handset. At half the price, it would almost be a no-brainer.

Comments

• 2 March 2010, RTX Dualphone 3088: The Bloggers’ Have Their Say | Voice on the Web writes: [...] for the static-y background sound quality issue raised by Jason, PhoneBoy says: At home, I have this set up both with my landline and my personal Skype account. Calls to my [...]

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I don’t normally go with speakerphones, mostly because I don’t want to disturb people around me and I don’t want to sound bad to the other person. The Yamaha PSG-01S solves at least one of these problems. If you’re about 12 inches from the microphone or so, you sound as if you’re on a wired headset to the other person! If you’re a little farther away, you still sound like you’re on a speakerphone, but the echo is greatly reduced.

This device is peculiar in that it has an accelerometer in it. If you turn the device on its side, it beeps and the microphone portion of the device mutes. You can then just listen to the folks on Skype (or your favorite music, if you prefer). If you set the device vertical, the top of the device lights up, beeps, and the microphone is active.

As you can see, the device is brick-shaped and roughly the size of a Grande at Starbucks. It’s very lightweight, but solidly built.

There are also buttons on the side of the device. Theoretically they will go “on hook” and “off hook” for Skype, but I did not test this on a Windows machine, where there are drivers you can install that do this. On the Mac, they are inactive. However, the volume button and Rec/Mic button work on the Mac (the latter functions as a mute button).

The audio quality of the device was fantastic. Both sides of the conversation were outstanding audio quality. Considering how much I generally detest the audio on speakerphones, that’s saying something. In music playback mode, the device also sounds superb.

While I’ve said a lot of good things about this device, I personally wouldn’t buy it for two reasons. My own personal usage patterns don’t lend themselves to speakerphones, so it’s not a kind of device I would seek out in the first place. The second, and perhaps more important aspect, is the price. At $219 in the US Skype store, it’s well outside of my price range. However, if you need an excellent quality speakerphone and money is less of an object, I’d say get it.

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Comments

• 24 November 2009, Inbox Liquidation, Part 51 « The PhoneBoy Blog writes: [...] More on the Yamaha USB Speakerphone Gadget I reviewed: Jim Courtney sent me a followup letter about the Yamaha USB Speakerphone that I reviewed a few weeks ago. One of the things he points out is that a lot of people are put off by the price, as I mentioned as a concern in the review. If you can make that jump, however, the “on site” experience of using the gadget is quite good and can prove to be valuable. To that end, In Store Solutions wants to encourage user trial and will extend its return policy such that anyone purchasing during this promotion can return it, shipping prepaid but “no questions asked”, for a full credit until January 31, 2010. This gives purchasers a chance to make their own “on site” decision about its value in the end. Nice promo, guys! [...]

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Now, I only have had the phone for only 12 hours or so, so it’s difficult to have a fully formed opinion about the device. However, I like what I’m seeing so far. Most of what I am focusing on right now is things I do everyday.

I’m actually typing this blog post on an iPhone thanks to the WordPress app that I downloaded from the App Store. Typing in general on this thing will take some getting used to, but thanks to landscape mode and Apple’s intelligent spell checker as you type, it’s better than I thought. I wish every iPhone app supported landscape mode typing.

The App Store is great–to he point of being downright dangerous to your pocketbook. I was able to find a number of cool apps very easily. Tweetie is a great Twitter app, I like the RSSPlayer app. Other suggestions I will try in the coming days.

I’m finding the lack of multitasking on the iPhone to be less of an issue than I thought it would be. Most apps (at least the built-in ones) seem to intelligently pick up right where you left off. One problem I can already see is not being able to multitask in a call–something I do on my Nokia E71 often enough. The important apps multitask–namely the music and sync email.

The hardware is slick, no doubt. I like the Oleophobic screen, which makes it much easier to clean off. I like that there is a small switch to change the phone to silent mode. The camera is being tested, as is battery life. I took a sample picture using the iPhone 3GS camera and attached it to the end of the post. The WordPress app did resize it, I’ll have to post it to Flickr later on.

One thing that is working better than expected is the Stereo Bluetooth. Unlike my Nokia E71 where dropouts were common, it seems to work flawlessly with the iPhone 3GS. WiFi also seems to work better, but more testing is clearly needed. Certainly Apple’s networking stack is far less retarded than it is on Nokia handsets.

In short, I am liking it so far. I’m relearning how to do everything and I am finding it relatively easy to figure it all out. I can see why people love their iPhones.

Comments

• 8 July 2009, James writes: Hey, just so you know, while you're on a call you can, in a sense, 'multi-task'. If you hit the home button you can launch and use any apps while still on the call (if you have 3G or WiFi that is).
• 8 July 2009, Paul M. Watson writes: You can multi-task in a call. You can launch apps., look up contacts, surf the web etc. while a call is on. It puts a glowing green bar at the top of the screen when a call is active. Tapping it returns to the call app. UI.
• 8 July 2009, David McDonald writes: Glad to hear you are enjoying your new iPhone. You can actually make a voice call and run other apps, I've often done this to check on a calendar entry while talking to someone on the phone. In that case the iPhone displays a green bar at the top of screen to show you still have an active call. I'm currently on the iPhone 3G, but will upgrade to 3GS as soon as O2 allow me to. Cheers.
• 8 July 2009, Mauricio Reyes writes: I guess it's now iPhoneboy ;-) You will find that you can multi-task with Apple's own apps. While on a phone call, you can jump to another app (even send an email) while the call is in progress, phone app runs in the background. The whole background process issue was Apple restricting what 3rd party app people could do, thereby protecting battery performance, security, general aloofness etc...
• 8 July 2009, Lucie Osh writes: Have an upgraded iPod Touch - love it. I bought it last year primarily for music, to replace an iPod Nano, but have used it for so much more. The app store is wonderful and it does take self-control to avoid running up a big bill. The other reason I'm commenting is that your cat looks almost exactly like my cat, body type and all. Mine is named Cleo and she's nine years old. Her favorite activity, aside from eating, is chasing paper wads. She runs over to the printer whenever I turn it on, hoping I'll make a paper wad for her.
• 8 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: Duh, I didn't try the obvious: hit the home button in the call! Ok, that's cool, thanks, everyone! Lucie: Toby (my cat) used to like paper wads as well (he liked playing cards, too) but he's about twice as old as Cleo and has grown lazy.
• 8 July 2009, Stuart writes: Always interesting to see a new users perspective. Congrats on your choice / desire to try something new. Recommendations for you. Try the WSJ, USAToday, NYT apps. You may like Twitterfon or TweetDeck. Kindle is worth trying. There's some games too which are just amazing - if you have the time. However the portfolio of apps I use everyday remains relatively small.
• 10 July 2009, tco writes: the wordpress app is pretty slick....will the blog be renamed iPhoneboy?
• 13 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: I doubt I'll rename the blog iPhoneBoy :)

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The first thing I noticed when I opened my package was how small the box is compared to even the N96 I received not too long ago. It’s about half the size. Inside the box, pretty much everything inside that wasn’t shrinkwrapped was cardboard instead of plastic, making the packaging a lot more recyclable. Very green, even if the inside of my box is mostly black

Inside the box, I got the phone, battery, 2.5mm stereo headphones–more on that in a minute–power adapter, micro USB cable, manual, CD. Pretty much everything I expect to come with the phone, though the matching wrist strap and carry case were nice bonuses.

I had seen and even handled some pre-release versions of this handset, but they are never as good as the production units. This one felt wonderful. Solid construction, not too big. The keys are crammed together, but it’s pretty easy to push the right ones.

Power On

Powering on the phone for the first time, I was greeted with the usual questions for a Nokia: region, date, and time. It’d be nice if it could read it from the SIM card and set the time according to the GSM network, but it wasn’t any worse than other Nokia devices I’ve used.

New Active Standby

The Active Standby screen looked a bit different. There were links for setting up email and Internet calling (VoIP), a new indicator for text messages, one for voicemail (allowing me to set up which voicemail # to use), and a new icon I haven’t seen before, which you can see in the upper right corner of this screenshot:

This is the vaunted “profile switch” icon. Click it, and your theme and Active Standby screen change. The above screenshot was my “work” profile, here is my “home” profile:

Note you can display different email inboxes on the two different Active Standby screens, however I have it disabled on both my profiles. You can disable (or enable) the display of many things on the two profiles. You can also have different applications available in the different profiles, but I chose to have the same in both.

When you navigate to the envelope on the bottom, which indicates the number of unread texts I’ve got, you get a curious little menu:

Email

Email works as it does on every other Nokia S60 device, though the process for setting up your account has improved quite a bit. Enter your email address and password, and it magically figures out what the rest of the important settings should be. It won’t work in all cases, but for the major services, it should work.

If you want corporate email, and your company as an ActiveSync (Microsoft Exchange) server, you are going to need to download Mail for Exchange. It is easy to find in Download! > Applications. The setup on this application has improved substantially over the years, though it does ues the standard Nokia S60 mail client, for better or worse.

Nseries Features on the E71

What I especially appreciate about the E71 is that many of the features I’ve long enjoyed in the Nseries devices are finally included on an Eseries device. For example, Podcasting is included. The music player understands podcasts and properly resumes when you’ve stopped a podcast in the middle of playing. The camera application looks exactly like it does on my Nseries devices. Even Share Online 3.0 is included!

I was also surprised to find the phone has an FM radio. Like the Nseries devices, it requires wired headphones to be plugged in for the antenna. It works the same way. Internet Radio isn’t included, but is easy to download in the Download! app under Applications. With it, one can listen to any number of Internet-streaming radio stations.

One other nice feature: A2DP. It’s supported and works with any A2DP-compliant set.

The Power of Access Point Groups

One other important feature that the phone has, but requires the (free) download of Birdstep SmartConnect from the Download! app: the ability to use Access Point groups. What this allows you to do is combine both 3G/EDGE and WiFi access points into a single “group.” This group can be specified wherever any access point can be specified. The app will try, in order, each access point listed, using the best one.

If for some reason, when you access the “group” access point, you get an error about not being licensed, follow the steps in this thread on Nokia Support Discussions.

One other thing of note with SmartConnect: it appears as a GPRS access point instead of as a WiFi access point, which is how Psiloc Connect operates. The upshot of this is that it will allow apps that insist on sticking with a 3G/EDGE access point like Jaiku can actually be used over WiFi! In the case of Jaiku specifically, you must do the initial configuration with the proper 3G/EDGE access point, then switch over to the virtual access point. Works lovely!

The Battery

This dainty little package includes a massive 1500 mAh battery, meaning even with 3G enabled, the phone might actually last the day. Battery life depends on a number of factors, including usage patterns and your location relative to the network, so I can’t guarantee that it will last the day for you. More testing is needed for sure.

I find that SmartConnect improves my battery life since I spent a lot of time in WiFi range. WiFi takes a bit less battery than 3G does and I have less concerns about the backhaul situation on my home WiFi

The Bad and Ugly

All is not perfect in the E71. The camera, while a respectable 3.2 megapixels, is not the sharpest tool in the shed. I’ve been spoiled by the N95 and N96, which both have much better cameras. While the extra “features” in the camera app will help somewhat, I’m better off carrying the N95 8GB or N96 with me for any semi-serious photo opportunities.

The headset jack is Nokia’s non-standard 2.5mm jack and it’s on the right side. While a wired headset is included in the package, it makes finding replacements a bit harder. Personally, I’ve opted out of using a wired headset and went straight for Stereo Bluetooth. It’s nice to see they corrected the headset jack in the cheaper cousin, the E63.

Speaking of Bluetooth, I see various and sundry issues with A2DP. The headset I use from Insignia seems to get confused between “headset” and “headphones” mode when left for an extended period of time. I have to shut the bluetooth off on the phone, wait a few seconds, then enable it again. It seems to recover after that.

The GPS in the phone doesn’t seem to work as well as the N96 or even the N95 8GB does, both of which seem to work indoors to a certain extent. The E71 doesn’t appear to work in my house well enough to get a lock.

While the keyboard is small and usable, the “chr” key gets used a lot more on the E71. This is because a lot of punctuation that existed on the E61i and E61 are no longer available on the main keyboard. The main things I am missing are the parenthesis, but there are many other keys as well. Take a look at the E61i keyboard versus the E71 keyboard:

The main reason you’d want the parethesis: smileys. They’re a little harder to do on the E71.

The Verdict

For the moment, the E71 is my primary phone. It’s nice to have a QWERTY device that’s not too big and brings along a lot of Nseries features for the ride. However, the lack of a decent camera means I’m often carrying a second device with me.

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Image via Wikipedia

When I went to a trade show in March, I was at the San Jose Civic Auditorium attending a party. I came across this phone booth (pictured left) with something important missing–a phone!

Why is this useful? If you’ve ever attended a concert at the San Jose Civic, you know it’s loud! If you want to make a phone call, you might use your mobile phone, but you need something like a phone booth to dull the noise.

In a place like London, phone booths have a very distinctive look. However, like everywhere else, they are going away thanks to the proliferation of mobile phones. Those phone booths that still exist probably aren’t getting used all that much. However, it’s nice to have just a booth for privacy or asthetic reasons. You may even want a completely functional phone booth “just in case.”

British Telecom is allowing local councils the ability to pay an annual maintenance fee of £500 (or about US $888) for the privilege of having a fully functional telephone booth, roughly half if they only want the structure. Of course, some phone booths are considered landmarks and can’t be removed without approval from the local authorities.

I think it’s a good idea to keep a couple of phone booths around. Not everyone has mobile phones and they don’t always work as you expect. It’s a public safety thing and would be rounding error in a city budget.

Cellular News via MobHappy

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