3: Three times as much Skype for free

September 19, 2008

3 Mobile have increased the free Skype calls on PAYG Skypephones as I discovered yesterday with my latest top up. Previously a £10 top up would get you a months free usage of Skype, but that has been increased to 90 days so I’m good to go until the middle of December.

I use the Skypephone as a secondary handset as I still have a Vodafone contract, but it’s invaluable for Skype calls/chats when out and about and a very cost effective way to access the Internet. Increasing the Skype cover to 90 days for each top up is a smart move and can only make the phone more attractive.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under News | 3 Comments 

Skypephone S2 now available

August 19, 2008

The Skypephone S2 is now available for purchase from the 3 Store. It’s sleeker, shinier and all round better with a bigger screen and higher resolution camera. It also has the all important modem drivers built in to turn the Skypephone into a 3G broadband modem for your laptop.

Pricing is £69.99 on PAYG or free on a contract and a minimum spend of £10 a month gets you access to Skype for free.

For all those mourning the loss of SMS Twitter messages you’ll be pleased to know you get up to 10,000 free Skype chats and using a service such as twitterforskype or Twitt’d will hook you back up to Twitter. The Skype chats and any Skype calls you make are free.

I’m still waiting for the new Skypephone to arrive, but if you’ve already got one let us know what you think of it compared to the original.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under News | 2 Comments 

Skypephone S2 from 3 will have email capabilities

July 21, 2008

Today 3 mobile let me see one of new Skypephone S2 and it has some fantastic new features that make it even more desirable than the first.

Built into the phone are a host of new upgrades. The main physical changes from the original Skypephone are the larger screen which is upgraded to 2.2 inch QVGA (upgraded from 2 inch QCIF) and the 3.2 megapixel camera (upgraded from 2MP), there’s also the welcome addition of Bluetooth.

It’s the applications that make the difference though - the new Skypephone S2 has RSS feed capability and a facebook application built in but the killer new app will be email.

3 are introducing email on their entire range of handsets from highest spec gizmo down to the most bog standard mobile. Cost will be from just £2.50 per month and it’ll work with any POP3 or IMAP email account (even Hotmail or Gmail). Email on the Skypephone S2 won’t be available on launch date, but is expected to be available within a few weeks of the first phones shipping.

Now email on the Skypephone will make it a true business tool for eBay sellers. Not only can you keep in contact with customers with Skype chats and Skype calls, but you’ll even be able to respond to email from your mobile handset.

Of course you won’t *have* to use a Skypephone to access email, 3 have a whole range of handsets right up to the Nokia E71 and even a Blackberry due out in the next few weeks. The Skypephone however is the only handset in the world that has Skype as a built in as an “always on” embedded tool rather than as an add on application. That means it doesn’t eat into your data allowance and 3 allow a generous 4,000 Skype minutes and 10,000 Skype chat messages a month for free on the Skypephone.

The Skypephone S2 has 3G mobile broadband capabilities with HSDPA speeds of up to 3.6Mbps and comes with the drivers built into the phone so you won’t need an installation disk. It can be used either with a USB cable to your laptop or via Bluetooth.

The cost is expected to be £69.99 on PAYG, and free for contract customers. Delivery of the first handsets is expected to the the 18th August. I can’t wait to get my hands on one that I can keep - email to my mobile at a reasonable cost will save me carrying a laptop around.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under News | 32 Comments 

Preview of the new Skypephone 2 from 3 mobile

July 9, 2008

For everyone that loved the Skypephone there’s some great news - there’s a new updated model in development and it should be even better than the first. As rumours began spreading mobile operator 3 confirmed them saying “We are working on a new 3 Skypephone to follow on from the success of the first version.”

They’re short on detail but have confirmed that it’ll be again be a 3G model with an upgraded 3.2 megapixel camera instead of the old 2 megapixel. Sadly the camera is still on the rear of the phone meaning no video conferencing capability. RSS looks like a great feature that may be available on the new Skypephone, the screen shows an RSS symbol so it may be possible to get your favourite feeds (like TameBay) direct to your handset.

The part number will be WMA8709 and the phone when released will be the IMP2. The manufacturer of the original Skypephone, AMOI will again build the new one.

It appears that the new Skypephone has been approved by the FCC and some are speculating this indicates a quad band Skypephone meaning it could be used in the US.

I’m looking forward to the release of the new phone, I’ll be first in line to grab one when it becomes available.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under News | 10 Comments