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.