What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

Calling any landline was already possible with the gizmo project.

Remember, Skype is evil in many ways. Their protocol is very opaque, making it impossible to reverse engineer, which locks you to their software. Gizmo project probally does something similair with their own VoIP protocol, but at least they also offer a bridge to SIP, Yahoo, MSN and jabber.

I don't know how sound quality differs between gizmo and skype, but if gizmo doesn't do too bad, you should support their business model, and only use skype for skype2skyp communications.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

I stand corrected.

The Gizmo Project pages for the N800 and 770 clearly state that you can call non-voip phones for a trivial fee.

I guess I fall back to my earlier stance -- what will count will be widespread video internet calling. Skype is already way ahead of Gizmo there, which is one reason to prefer it. (Heck, I like Kentucky Fried Chicken, even though their recipe is secret. "Open" is good, but "proprietary" doesn't equate to "evil.")

If Gizmo would get on the ball and release cam calls for us webcam-equipped tablet users, I'd be happy.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

I strongly agree with that. The only benefit to Skype are free (international) calls via skype2skype. The landline access is simply a red herring, thanks to the awesome, and OPEN, Gizmo Project. Video calling would have been the killer app here, and I have strong doubts that will be coming anytime soon. This begs the question, why is the camera so poorly supported? I can't believe there are hardly any apps that use it at all.

The other disappointing aspect of the N800 VoIP hype is that we still can't use a bluetooth headset with the device. I've had this ability for years on my far-less-advanced cellphones. I don't even need A2DP, just a mono audio connection would suffice! :(

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

Maybe I'm missing something about Skype and Gizmo...
I already pay for a cell phone to call people. The people I call regularly are on cell or land lines. The vast majority of people out there don't have video capabilities, so video isn't a perk in calling them. I just don't see the benefit of calling from my 800.
Is there something I am missing?

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

From what I've read though, there was a problem with calls made via Gizmo on the N800 to landlines: Gizmo wouldn't transmit any outgoing audio from the N800 for the first 10 seconds of the call. Testers reported that all too often, by the time Gizmo began passing the outgoing audio along, the receiver of the call had already hung up.

Has this been fixed in the latest release of the Gizmo software? I'm not keen on giving the Gizmo Project money for minutes I'll not really be able to use.

Mind you, I'm not advocating Skype over Gizmo. I prefer open protocols--or at least compatibility with them--to closed ones. I just want to avoid buying minutes that will only let me prank call folks.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

Been using Gizmo to call from N800 in Japan to landlines and cell phones in the US for a month with the latest release (3.1 v76) No problems with outgoing audio, and the price is right (since the number is technically based in Nevada, all calls to folks in the US are ~1.9 cents/minute). Calls to Japan are the most expensive judging by sample rates (~3.3 cents/minute), but it still beats a phone card.

The internet here is rather ubiquitous, but I still wish I could get Bluetooth PAN working...

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

Gizmo uses standard sip. Nothing fancy.

Skype uses a very obfuscated protocol indeed. One of the reason they do that (in addition to lock you, I know) is to make it difficult to block them. That is why you can't use gizmo or sip on any wifi access point which is run by a phone company :eek: (like the paying ones in airports , for example), but skype will work (most of the time). :rolleyes:

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

My opinion as well. If it does not allow video calls, I won't bother installing it.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

Yeah, I was all excited about Gizmo when it came out and then I had to think about why the heck I would pay someone else to make calls when I'm already paying for land line access and cell phone access. Who cares if the calls are cheap if I still have the monthly payments hanging over me. Suffice it to say, I got over that pretty quickly and Gizmo (and skype when it's out) will just be another infrequently used icon in the Contacts menu.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

To me, if you live in the USA there really isn't much advantage to Skype or Gizmo unless you're calling internationally or are very restricted to the number of cell minutes you have.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

I got rid of my landline and cell phone and just use Gizmo exclusively. Rarely have problems with it unless I have a weak wifi signal.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

same here, I will install it just to check it out and then will be out of my n800 after 3 days...
I was happy for the webcam on n800 when it came out, but so far that camera has no use at all. Skype with video support will be great, without video... i will use my cell phone (at least I can send pictures).

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

I use GIZMO on 770 with SIP-voipstunt. I can call landline (nearly for free ...) and any SIP-compatible service (<> Skype ...).
A NEW version came 2 days ago for the 770 :).

Skype :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

By using Gizmo and GrandCentral (free local phone number) anyone back home (US) can call me for free when I am traveling in Europe. So far the quality of the calls have been very good.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

Couple of things about Gizmo and Skype...

Unfortunatly the reason SIP is not more popular is because it's is ridden with problems. I've spent months trying out various clients including Gizmo and Wengo on three different routers. Port forwarding, STUN servers, RTP, UDP... are you kidding me! Don't get me started on trying to call someone on another SIP provider. I say SIP was dead before it started.

Skype in all it's evilnes, firewall or no firewall, just works. Period. You don't need to be sysadmin to set it up. Windows, Mac, Linux.

So, again, open protocols are great concept if protocol is good. In SIPs case, protocol is piece of crap, so way support it?

And another thing. If you talk to a lot of people in Europe, chances are they use Skype.

There, I said it.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

It seems I must be lucky then because Gizmo works like a charm for me in Europe without doing anything special.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

I have no doubt it can work, and Gizmo is nice piece of software even on N800, Wengo is even better with video support. But for mass adoption, it's not it! I really hate to be categorical, but until they fix the problems with protocol, SIP is not going anywhere.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

I brought my N800 to a week-long trip to Greece in early May. I have plenty of SkypeOut credit left but Skype had not been released for the N800 so I purchased some Gizmo credit for calling back my folks back in Beijing, China. In the only few chances that I got connected to a public wi-fi hotspot, the PC-to-phone quality of service of Gizmo was so bad that it was painful. With SkypeOut I almost always get good call quality but with Gizmo (at least the few times I tried from Athens, Greece) I could get the phone connected about one out of ten times. All other tries I was just thrown back at the dialer screen, without even hearing the phone ring on the other end. Of the one or two times I was able to connect, the call quality was okay but who can stand trying to call home for a dozen times and being able to hook up twice? Maybe it was bad luck but the day I can get my hands on Skype on the N800 I will throw Gizmo out of the window along with the leftover credit balance. That's just me and your mileage may vary. :)

KS

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

:D First off SIP needs less administration. Its a standard protocol supported by many devices and firewalls. Most public places allow SIP protocol to pass through thier firewalls. if your having issues at home get a real firewall/router. D-Link Gamer /wireless 1Gb router is the best bang for everthing. Passing encrypted packets on time is no easy thing for any router. Dich the junk Linksys/netgear routers and get a dlink. They dont buckle under voip calls. I have had zero issues with gizmoproject and its worth every penny. The only reason i want skype is because it makes the N800 more usefull to some people and that makes people build more application.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

How about WRT54GL with DD-WRT (linux) firmware with SIPatH preinstalled.

And btw, I have Vonage phone service that (alegedly) uses SIP. I had no problem with it so far on any router. Can that be the root of my problems? Aren't you suppose to be able to use multiple clients on the same lan? Is Vonage doing something Gizmo is not? Go figure.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

Gizmo supports MSN-talk. Well i tried it. It's like Keyser.Soze (Usual suspects fan? :)) said: one out of 10 times you try, it connects. Quality was reasonable. When i called my homeline, it was awful. But at least it calls my homeline without problems. Calling a mobile phone is a no-go.

That's why i am waiting for Skype. I just hope it works better.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

I might be changing my tune about Gizmo, thanks to heavyt!

I just signed up for grandcentral free phone number and forwarded it to my N800/Gizmo. It looks like amazing service. How do they offer it for free? The call quality is reasonable. I'm gonna test it in various places around town. There is still problem of public APs' firewalls not being SIP friendly...

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

Set up GrandCentral mobile (web site) on your N800 and you can make free phone calls (while in beta) to land lines from your Gizmo, to anyone who calls you using your grandcentral number or anyone in your grandcentral address book/ grandcentral mobile contacts.

Re: What does having Skype on the N800 mean? Calling anyone on any phone?
 

I suppose that they live on interconnection fees.