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.
32 Responses
Your artical has omission…
It says ‘welcome addition of Bluetooth’
This is wrong the original 3skype mobile had Bluetooth
So it is not a new additional feature.
Skype phone 2 is way too expensive, buy the original
Thanks adam
Not an expert on mobiles but wondering why all the excitement regards email feature, my old sony ericsson p910i is over three years old and handles email out of the box just fine.
Ed – I guess it doesn’t have Skype-always-on though? It’s having everything (or would be, if I were in the right country for it :lol:).
I am in the wrong Country too
you would get more life out of a squashed haggis ,than the 3 network up here
We are now connect skype phone in my native town .
We need skype phone latest model.and price
😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆
Norf!!!! lmao
We need skype phone latest model.and price
I send you 10 for £750 – you pay me by Western Onion 🙄
You guys make it very difficult for me to delete spam… 😀
#1 Cheers Adam – you’re absolutely correct!
I’ve managed to get bluetooth internet working on the original Skypephone. You have to set it to dial the number *99# 😀
I’m wondering why 3 never trumpeted that feature – I remember the day I had to pay stupid money for a USB cable as I’d left mine at home and I wouldn’t have needed to if I’d known it worked to my laptop via bluetooth!
Chris
I’m starting to think that 3 have given you a free phone as it’s starting to look like product placement as you keep on banging on about it.
Let’s face it the 3 phone is pants, WHY there is no coverage outside of major cites!
As long as ebay owns skype and paypal, I will NOT be using them!
ebay is THE MOST dishonest company I’ve ever had the misfortune of dealing with and I have NO INTENTIONS of EVER putting one more cent in their greedy pockets!
I wish these reporters would actually try INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING and look into the misdeeds of ebay, rather than wasting time reiterate the same drivel ebay is paying bloggers like Richards Brewer Hayes to spew.
Read ebay’s own discussions “Seller Central”, “Feedback” and “Paypal” to get the REAL FACTS about what ebay is doing to it’s core!
#11 Sadly I keep paying for it every month, but to be honest quite apart from Skype it also gives dirt cheap mobile internet access for a fiver a month add on and that with Skype are the two reasons I keep the handset going.
I think the stats are something like 98% coverage of the population which is no where near 98% coverage of the UK 🙁
Other than that my main mobile is an ancient Nokia on Vodafone which I might upgrade one day soon – I’ve got my eye on the new Sony Xperia which is due out next month and looks like a cracking choice.
cobblers!
no way does 98% of the population live within the m25 circle 😆
The original doesn’t just have Bluetooth, it has A2DP – Bluetooth stereo! That’s something far more expensive handsets often don’t have, even ones that are designed with music and video playback in mind (ie both iPhones!)
errrr, what’s POP2 email?!
seems cheeky for 3 to charge £2.50 for email ‘service’ – whatever that is. i’m hoping that there will be a decent email client this time, like on the SE k660i … i.e. one that supports IMAP idle (for push) and SSL (so services like gmail will work). not much to ask really …
Well spotted have corrected to POP3
The email service isn’t paying for email per se – it’s paying for Internet Access and some clever gubbins on 3’s network to serve the emails so that you can read them on the handset.
So what is the differences+ and – between new skypephone and blakcberry ??
The Skypephone is a pretty well featured but bog standard handset with the killer feature of Skype for free not counting towards your bandwidth limit for 3G. When it has email added it will be a webmail type application but with POP3 and IMAP access.
The blackberry is much more suited to a corporate environment with an exchange server to “push” email out without having to do a send/receive.
Both are good, but price for price the Skypephone wins IMO
Wow! Neville Hobson has let the cat out of the bag that 3 are going to release the “Skypephone 3” before Christmas. It’ll be a “business smartphone” type device.
I can’t wait to see what it’s got over and above the Skypephone 2, I think I’ll be procuring at least two new Skypehones this year!
oi chris
treatment may be available
In response to posts of 3s coverage (e.g. posts 11 and 13) – I’m going to have to defend 3 there. I made a leap of faith in jumping from Orange (after 13 years) to 3 about 18 months ago. I think the criticism of 3s coverage is a legacy of when they started up (which was then fair cop) but people don’t realise that there network coverage has grown since. The reality is that I have a work phone with Orange and a personal phone with 3. I travel all over with work and suffer only very occasional ‘down spots’ with both carriers at roughly equal intervals.
The current contract deals on three are mind blowing (1100 mix and match minutes or texts for 20 a month!). Their customer support is no better or worse than Orange. I’d have no hesitiation in encouraging anyone else to make the leap…
This may help regarding coverage … 😉
https://www.three.co.uk/personal/coverage_/broadbandCoverageChecker.do
i want to get the new skype phone to use with my partner who is now in india, would i need to buy a phone for him from here or from india? and how bad is the coverage in this country, i know 3G’s have no coverage in most places but is it really that bad? i’ve only ever owned nokia’s!
is it worth using the phone internationally via skype and if so how would i go about it as its not out in india yet.
Sadly although the Skypephone is great in the UK it’s not available for India at all. Your best bet is for him to use Skype on a computer if he has access to one and for him to call you on your Skypephone or Skype on your computer
Any new Nokia on 3 will have Skype built in, there is no need to buy a ‘skypephone’.
If your BF can not get a phone with skype in India you will still be able to all him if he has skype on a computer.
the skype phone is a con, just pay the same for a nokia.
#22
“I travel all over with work and suffer only very occasional ‘down spots’ with both carriers at roughly equal intervals.”
That isn’t suprising, since 3 use Orange as their provider when you drop out of a 3G signal area.
I suffer a permanant down spot, unless I travel 🙄
#26 Sure you can get Skype on a Nokia but you’ll pay for it. It’ll come out of your 3G data bandwidth allowance and if you’re a heavy user and go over the limit you’ll pay for it.
The Skypephone gives you 4,000 minutes and 10,000 chat messages on Skype a month for free. You can’t get that on a Nokia.
There are some other benefits such as the fact that Skype is an always on application on the Skypephone whereas on the Nokia it’s just an application that you have to start. Really depends what you want which is best.
its an always off application on a skype phone , around these parts
😀 😀 😀
what is even more irritating ,
our whole village is free wifi broadband enabled,
I could sit in the middle of the street with my laptop and use skype for nowt
though a skype phone would just sit there and look at me stupid
#29 Any Nokia on 3 prepay has free skype