I tested several Skype connections using N800 with my brother (using a laptop).
1) The sound quality using the N800 without headphones is almost unusable
2) The sound quality using headphones is offcourse much better, but the sound is pumping which is very annoying at both side of the Skype connection. Maybe the processing power if the N800 is not good enough?
3) Using a laptop at both sides of the Skype connection the sound quality was very good.

the sound is pumping? could you elaborate?

i just did a skype call to my girlfriend in israel and it worked like a charm =]

EDIT: i'm in the US btw

I have a crappy 11mbit wifi router... my brother uses it too for serving etc. At the moment he was behind his pc, i was on the upper floor with 2 stripes of wifi connection, i called my other brother in another country.

First i tested it without headphone, it was doable. After i put in the headphone he could hear me much clearer. Even with my lame connection! Sometimes though he couldn't hear me, but we are speaking about 2 words or so.

Glad to hear that it works great for you with the long distance. The pumping sound is like the effect of a hard working AGC (Automatic Gain Control).
Try to connect me via Skype: My skype name is sm0fob and my name is Kjell Bergqvist.

That's odd to read. In my tests, sound without headphones was crystal clear, with no lag. Maybe your network is at fault?

Sound in external speakers is good here, what I notice though (when testing on echo123) is that the mic sound I get back has a bit of static, compared to my laptop w/mic-headset. Haven't tried the Nokia earbuds/mic though (I can't use earbuds).

I had problems with sound quality also moment ago when I tryed call to my friend who has Skype Linux version. Sound was bad with internal mic and speakers. I could hear him quite ok, but he told me that my speech was quite bad.. Then we tryed N800 earphones with mic.. Sound was lot better.. I was told. I did already think that mic is bad so I did download recorder software for N800.. No.. Mic is ok, it did record my speech just fine.

SoSound is ok, but i've dropped several calls while multitasking-on ebay,
Gizmo chat open, and maybe the app manager. Even once while nothing
else was open.und is ok, but i've dropped several calls while multitasking-on ebay, Gizmo chat open, and maybe the app manager. Even once while nothinh else was open.

Actually (and not to start on off topic flame war) your post is the "odd" crystal clear one.

But thanks for the input

Has anyone else had a crystal clear experience without headphones?

Sometimes I think i'm the only user with a good working n800. The update went fine for me and skype over the speakers is crystal clear.