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RogerS is offline RogerS
2007-06-28 , 14:55
Posts: 772 | Thanked: 183 times | Joined on Jul 2005 @ Montclair, NJ (NYC suburbs)
#1
For me, the promised addition of Skype to the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet has meant the ability to connect to millions of Skype users for free voip calls -- a network far larger than Gizmo and Google Talk offer -- and, of course, video internet calls.

Maybe I've been missing the boat on this.

A forum post here at ITT alerted us to a post at jkontherun with a photo of Skype running on the N800 and a few pieces of information: July. No video yet.

No cam calls? What's the point? I thought.

And then I wondered why the photo showed a "Buy Skype credit" link in the app. You only use that when you pay for Skype calls, which is only when you're calling someone who doesn't have Skype.

Yikes!

Will I be able to call anyone on any landline or cellphone whatsoever from my Internet Tablet? Looks like it to me.

That, I think, is maybe going to ease my unhappiness at having to wait for Skype cam calls. More than a lot, I should say.
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jbaas is offline jbaas
2007-06-28 , 15:39
Posts: 2 | Thanked: 0 times | Joined on Jun 2007
#2
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.
 
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RogerS is offline RogerS
2007-06-28 , 15:57
Posts: 772 | Thanked: 183 times | Joined on Jul 2005 @ Montclair, NJ (NYC suburbs)
#3
Originally Posted by jbaas View Post
Calling any landline was already possible with the gizmo project.
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.
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crackhead is offline crackhead
2007-06-28 , 16:05
Posts: 50 | Thanked: 2 times | Joined on Jan 2007
#4
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!
 
grizwald is offline grizwald
2007-06-28 , 16:09
Posts: 25 | Thanked: 2 times | Joined on Jun 2007
#5
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?
 
sjgadsby is offline sjgadsby
2007-06-28 , 16:12
Posts: 5,335 | Thanked: 8,187 times | Joined on Mar 2007 @ Pennsylvania, USA
#6
Originally Posted by jbaas View Post
Calling any landline was already possible with the gizmo project.
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.
 

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gleitz is offline gleitz
2007-06-28 , 17:27
Posts: 11 | Thanked: 2 times | Joined on May 2007 @ Boston, MA
#7
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...
 
Jerome is offline Jerome
2007-06-28 , 18:38
Posts: 477 | Thanked: 118 times | Joined on Dec 2005 @ Munich, Germany
#8
Originally Posted by jbaas View Post
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
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 (like the paying ones in airports , for example), but skype will work (most of the time).
 
Jerome is offline Jerome
2007-06-28 , 18:41
Posts: 477 | Thanked: 118 times | Joined on Dec 2005 @ Munich, Germany
#9
Originally Posted by RogerS View Post
No cam calls? What's the point? I thought.
My opinion as well. If it does not allow video calls, I won't bother installing it.
 
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sondjata is offline sondjata
2007-06-28 , 19:00
Posts: 1,076 | Thanked: 176 times | Joined on Mar 2007
#10
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.
 
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