Skype

Anybody use Skype with Pocket PC? The wife and I are looking at it as a way to make those long sappy I-miss-you calls while one of us is an ocean away.

Come to think, any experience with Skype...not just Pocket PC. I think my i-Mate PDA2K has the horsepower to run it. I think.

All the best, James

I love Skype .. useit all the time ... i think you will find Eric is a supporter of Skype too ... it's basic free stuff is really usefully .. and if you choose to pay to call real phones it is just as good .. less delay than cell phones IMO

G

Thanks, Giles! Do you use a desktop, laptop, or handheld? Checking on the PITA factor, using it on my Pocket PC would be perfect (since it's allready my cell phone)

All the best, James

I have used it on a as modern as it gets desktop .. and a old slow very screwed laptop ... never on a handheld .. but if you have a old wifi handheld you'd like to give to me .. i will surely try it out

I am waiting for handhelds to have some sort of storage space like 80gb or so .. before i buy one.

I like the wifi acess ... but i need it to be more functional.

G

I've just bought a Skype handset to use with my Sony VAIO laptop. A couple of SkypeOut calls that have been made to my landline from overseas have been excellent. It seems a no-brainer.

On the PC, Skype allows you to forward messages to a real phone if you aren't around. I use this on my Skype account. But I also don't allow people I don't know on my Skype list.

The problem with Skype is that people treat it like IM. If someone is online and sitting in front of their computer (like I often am), it MUST be ok to ring them -- even if it's 2am... right? Wrong.

I think that Skype needs tiered permissions linked with status. For close friends and family, I want to be reachable via skype all the time. But for others, I want to control my hours and privacy.

Anyway, that's why I don't allow everyone on my Skype list. No offense, or anything.

The problem with Skype is that people treat it like IM.  If someone is online and sitting in front of their computer (like I often am), it MUST be ok to ring them -- even if it's 2am... right?  Wrong.

 

I think that Skype needs tiered permissions linked with status.  For close friends and family, I want to be reachable via skype all the time.  But for others, I want to control my hours and privacy.

 

Anyway, that's why I don't allow everyone on my Skype list.  No offense, or anything.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I quite agree, and that is the reason I uninstalled it... that said, My GF calls Spain almost daily using SkypeOut, and I got a call from Korea this AM from a vendor using SkypeOut.

Quality and cost are first rate, but the IM features are maddening.

OK, so I've installed it on the Pocket PC and home desktop. Very clean installs.

What about this incredibally annoying echo? What I'm refering to is, I get to hear my own voice as I speak...just a little bit delayed. It's not like a regular phone or cell phone, where you don't hear yourself. I'm using a headset, so it's not feedback.

I played around with config.xml, and it helped some (maybe). At first I thought Pocket PC was immune, but it's there, too, just lots fainter.

Is it just me? Or does everyone get this transmission echo thing. Wondering if a USB headset would help.

All the best, James

Its probably from the person you're talking to - do they use a freestanding michrophone or a headset?

Thought I'd update this, in case someone else had a few questions...

Just got done with using Skype pretty much daily, calling home from KL and Singapore. Used:

>Pocket PC with a wi-fi connection

>Mid-range laptop

>Hulking dual-processor workstation

Latest version for Pocket PC, v 2.0~, and v2.0~ for Windows. Headsets except for Pocket PC. All was being sent to our home office, which has a high speed (1.5) SDSL connection.

In between the Dell Latitude 620 and the 2-month old workstation, there was no difference in performance, sound or video. So my take is, that unless you're using a P2 processor or suitabally ancient, there should be little performance difference (if any).

I used two different connections, one hotel had a T1, the other was ISDN (both shared). There was definitely a difference. The T1 has clean and stutter-free, even with video. With ISDN, I was forced to turn off the outbound video to maintain good sound for my wife, and that would even hicup both ways once in a while.

Still, despite the hicups, as long as we were computer-to-computer, the connection was great! Almost no lag, great sound. With the T1 connection at the JW Marriott in KL, the video was good, too. The sound was better than my cell phone when calling home.

Using Skype Out was good, but not great. Obviously the computer that makes the connection for you at the other end is virtualized, because there is a big drop for the worse in sound quality. Not quite as good as my cell phone, either over T1 or ISDN.

My Pocket PC/cell phone, a Qtek S200 (HTC Prophet) just barely has enough horsepower to run the program. It worked, but with lots of stutters and dropouts. This was over Wi-Fi (g) to the T1 connection. I'm sure this was because the S200 has a 200mHz OMAP processor and is kind of weak. My wife has my old PDA2K, and when she called me (me laptop, she PDA2K) ift sounded like the Skype Out connection. So the PDA2K's Intel 400mHz processor is enough for the job.

Conclusion: As long as you have a reasonable computer, the big limitation is bandwidth. ISDN speed is barely enough for good quality.

If you discount the setup time for the laptop, Skype was great for us. We'll be using it from now on; computer-to-computer it outperformed cell phones and land line, at a price that can't be beat! And as soon as the next generation HTC phone is released with a speedy processor, I won't even need to deal with the setup time.

All the best, James

Thanks James - very useful.