| IPEVO S0-20 WiFi Phone for Skype | 
| Brand: Ipevo
List Price: $139.00
Buy New: $124.99
as of 11/21/2009 18:27 CST details
You Save: $14.01 (10%)
New (11) Used (2) from $120.00
Seller: ONLY NOVELTIES
Rating:  62 reviews
Color: Grey
Media: Electronics
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0
Dimensions (in): 4.1 x 0.7 x 1.7
MPN: CSPN-01IP
Model: CSPN-01IP
UPC: 846084003571
EAN: 4712098416156
ASIN: B002V45UEE
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Operate via a Wi-Fi wireless Internet connection. This gives you the freedom to make Skype calls when you connect to a secure or open Wi-Fi network | | • | No computer required. It is a much simpler and comfortable way to make and receive Skype calls. | | • | From locating contacts, making calls to reviewing call history, all the great features of Skype are right at your fingertips | | • | Support all standard wireless network encryption protocols, including WPA, WPA2 and WEP (equivalent to wired LAN security levels). |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Wi-Fi Phone for Skype operates via a Wi-Fi wireless Internet connection. This gives you the freedom to make Skype calls anywhere in the world, when you connect to a secure or open Wi-Fi network (that does not require browser-based login or authentication).
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 62
 My saving solution November 20, 2009
sommerfugl
I have been using the phone for like a week now. I love it!!! I have been using skype and skype-in for over 3 years now and with a calling plan for like a year. I live in Europe and my family in the states. I decided to look into alternatives to have skype available w/o any computer. I did a lot of research and this wifi phone, among all, had the best reviews overall so I decided to give it a shot. So far so good, I love the sound quality and so does my mom and everybody else. Sometimes people had issues hearing me,specially when I called from the skype in my cellphone, even though I could hear them so clearly.
Now they can call me and I dont need a computer on in order to receive calls and make calls, plus sound quality is awesome. The phone looks and feels just like a cellphone, so we always have it laying around and at night we put it in its cradle to charge.
We don't have a landline at home, so skype has replace the local calling too but the thing is that we didnt always have the computer on and starting it just to use skype was a pain so our cellphone bill was pretty high. Now we have the phone available 24/7. It has been a major change for us.
 Worked for 2 days, then poof! November 19, 2009
N. Kononen
The phone was easy to setup and great to use, call quality was good.... then it went haywire two days later. It would randomly dial numbers when sitting on the base, it wass a game trying to dial a number (when i press the 7 key, 980 pop up, when I press 9, 898 pop up, and finally when I press 9, 77877 pop up) Tried resetting firmware, did not fix issue. It seems to not be a hardware issue, as I will turn it off and on and buttons will work fine for 30 minutes. Ipevo customer service is a joke, Ive sent 5 emails in 3 months with no response. Not a happy customer
 Good for basic Skype calls November 11, 2009
M. Merissa
I own both this phone and Netgear SPH200W. It's easy to set up and use. The Skype interface is exactly the same to Netgear SPH200W. The difference are this phone don't have speakerphone and vibration mode like Netgear's version.
At a glance, this phone looks well-design. But when you have it on your hand, you notice the materials have cheap -but still decent- feel to it. It's kind of plastic-y. I don't have any problem with the material for the whole candybar phone but the keypads have been giving me seriously frustrating headache. When the keys are pressed, they'll make sound and you can see the numbers appear on the screen, but for some reason the input doesn't always go through. For example, I have Skype subscription and use it to check my work voicemail once in awhile.. whenever I try to input my PIN, the machine won't pick up my input. I mean, the phone somehow won't send my PIN input during the call. Voicemail doesn't detect there's any PIN being inputted. Not only for checking voicemail, but using this phone to make toll-free-number calls where you have to input some numbers for verification are also almost never successful for me. I have found that when I position the phone at a certain weird angle while pressing the keypad during the PIN verification part, it can SOMETIMES work.
I never have the echo problem, sound quality are almost always good although calls will definitely drop every 20 minutes. There's a lag problem whenever a call is placed, when the green call key is pressed, I'll have to wait a few seconds (like 10 seconds) before it starts to dial. Battery life is pretty good, calls can usually last to at least 2 hours, and yes there's a heating problem if you use it for a long period of time. I always place the phone back to the charger stand so I don't have any problem with the battery, but did find a problem using the earphone like suggested by the other reviewer. For the first few times, using earphones worked fine. But after some time, this phone just stopped transferring the call to the earphone.
Overall, for basic usage of Skype this phone is a great deal compared to Netgear that's twice the price. But if you plan on using this phone for a little more complex calls (like the examples I mentioned above - placing a phone call that requires inputting PIN number etc), forget it.
 great little phone November 2, 2009
P. Attanasio (FPO, AA USA)
This phone works pretty good. But with most electronics these days the buttons are kind of small for fat fingers.
Best STAND-ALONE Skype phone, period. November 1, 2009
Ryuji Suzuki (Cambridge, MA USA)
This IPEVO S0-20 wireless phone is the best Skype standalone phone you can use without a computer. If you don't mind having to use a computer, IPEVEO USB handsets (model names: Free.2 or Free.1) offers the very best voice quality, and integrate with some programs that run on your computer; iTunes automatically pauses music during Skype calls, and you can dial Skype from within your address book. Check out IPEVO FREE.2 USB Handset for SKYPE with LCD Screen (and check out my review http://www.amazon.com/IPEVO-FREE-2-Handset-SKYPE-Screen/product-reviews/B000SSG364/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending#R1AFZPC0LYT9MZ) and
IPEVO FREE.1 USB Handset for SKYPE, which is the same as above but without the LCD on the handset.
S0-20 is a very small, well made Skype phone that connects to the internet via Wi-Fi and has Skype software built-in. The phone looks and feels like a cell phone from 10 years ago, but the voice quality is about comparable to landline phone or best possible cellular phone today. However, if you are having a Skype-to-Skype calls, not Skype-to-phone calls, you will probably appreciate extra voice quality of IPEVO Free.2 USB handset.
(Standalone Skype phones currently use an older voice coding technology, while Skype software on computers use the latest SILK codec technology, which offers clearer voice quality. The codec is a part of the Skype engine that Skype company provides to the device manufacturers.)
One option many people contemplate trying before SO-20 is to use Skype software on iPhone or iPod Touch. Although I used a very good microphone for iPod Touch, the voice quality of iPod based Skype is noticeably inferior to S0-20. The iPod Skype sounds very choppy, like early days of cell phone used inside buildings. This is again, the difference in the voice codec and compression strategy. iPod based Skype software tries to compress the voice further to minimize the Wifi communication traffic to conserve the battery usage. Overall, SO-20 is a clear winner here, as it offers better voice quality and it is also much easier to use.
As others noted, SO-20 works with unprotected Wifi access points and those protected by password only. It does not work with the type of access points that require you to sign in on a browser (e.g., many wireless AP at coffee houses and hotels), or those that require proprietary software such as Boingo. This is the limiting factor of this phone's usability outside your office or home. Don't expect to use it as if it were a cell phone despite many free wifi spots around these days in some cities. Ideally, IPEVO should incorporate Boingo software in this phone, so you can use it in coffee shops, hotels and airports.
Now, let's look at some aspects that I wish SO-20 to improve in the next generation model.
I wish SO-20 had a keyboard lock and a vibrator, so that I can keep it in my pocket while I'm working in my studio, kitchen, etc. As I noted above, this phone is not something useful to keep in pocket when leaving house or work, so I don't mind the phone to be a bit larger. I'd rather have it in a Blackberry-like body with full keyboard, so that I could have a Skype chat as well. Also, built-in Opera browser and Boingo software would be awesome. Then, why not speaker phone? Ideally, I want a PDA centered around Skype.
The SO-20 phone uses 2.5mm 4-connection (3 rings and the tip) plug for a headset. I wish they used a 3-connection plug (more common for telephone headsets) or 3.5mm 4-connection plug (used among Blackberries and iPhones).
Disclosure of interest: I received an evaluation model of IPEVO S0-20 from IPEVO. However, prior to using S0-20, I bought Free.2 with my money and loved it as you can tell with my other review, if that counts.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 62
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