Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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59 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good phone, great service, but a few quirks, February 5, 2008
I have owned this phone for about 3 weeks now, and my review is based on my experience with it in that time.
First off, the setup was a snap. It took less than five minutes to get the phone up and running (and perhaps another 20 to complete the optional firmware update). Setup consists of connecting the base station to your internet router and to an electrical outlet, then configuring the hand unit for your Skype account. Additional tinkering was necessary to customize the features to my liking, but I found the interface fairly user friendly and this process was also easy.
While user friendly, the interface is definitely the weakest aspect of the phone. It is slow and a bit clunky. There are noticeable pauses while switching between screens and especially when scrolling through contacts. The refresh rate on the color LCD screen is slow enough that when it scrolls a long contact name across the screen, the letters become significantly blurred and almost impossible to read. Additionally, it requires several clicks to view missed calls and access voicemails (e.g. Menu -> History -> Voicemail -> Options -> Play).
The most annoying behavior occurs during a phone call. First and foremost, the phone stops displaying the battery indicator during calls, so you have no idea how much talk time you have left. Second, the backlight on the screen turns off after a minute or so to conserve power, but there is no way to turn it back on without pressing a button on the phone, and there are no buttons which don't automatically perform some function (place the call on hold, hang up, etc...). This would be a bigger annoyance if the phone were actually displaying useful information during the call.
Despite these shortcomings, the phone does work well. Sound quality is acceptable. Battery life is also decent, perhaps 2-3 hours of talk time, 1-2 days standby. I love that you can easily swap out the standard AAA batteries, unlike most cordless phones which can only charge on their base station. The AAA batteries do charge inside the phone while it's connected to the charging station (NiMH rechargeables only).
Ergonomically, the phone is fairly comfortable for extended use. It fits well to my face, though the edges at the top are slightly sharp and can get uncomfortable after a while as they dig into my ear. Volume is sufficient and can be controlled using the up and down arrows on the key pad. The speakerphone is not quite loud enough sometimes, but generally gets the job done.
Integration with the Skype service is nearly perfect, and you really can't beat the cost of their Skype Pro service (even with SkypeIn, it's 90% cheaper than comparable service through my local phone company). In comparison to Vonage and other VoIP services I have used, the reliability, call quality and easy of use is far superior with this phone and Skype (not to mention a fraction of the cost).
All-in-all this is a good phone with a few annoying design flaws. The overriding selling point is certainly its compatibility with the wonderful Skype network. I would recommend it at least until a more streamlined version is released.
Update - 4/4/2008:
After a few months of usage, I'm still very happy with this phone. I haven't discovered any new problems beyond the ones I originally outlined in my review. Having had time to get used to all the interface quirks, I'd say that my only standing complaint is the sound quality. It's just not as clear as Skype through a computer, or even my cell phone. It seems like they could fix this with a better quality speaker.
Reliability has been extremely good in comparison to Vonage and even our land-based carrier. I haven't yet experienced a service outage or dropped call that wasn't the result of my cable internet going down, nor have I experienced any of the lock-ups that another reviewer mentioned.
Overall, I'm still very pleased with the phone. I will leave it at 4 stars due to the quirky interface and sub-par sound quality.
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
GE Skype Cordless Phone, November 14, 2007
I bought this phone along with the Linksys CIT 400.
Pros for this phone:
The phone works when used as a standard phone to Skype out.
It has better fidelity for the person at the other end of the line than the Linksys.
The speaker phone is louder than the linksys.
Cons
Poor design and ergonomics. Program takes a perceptible irritating pause between each keystroke to recognize keystrokes and respond. Phone makes really ugly low key buzzing/moaning sound each time key is pressed. I'm sure this is supposed to be helpful, but would go nicely on the shelf with a bunch of the home appliances in the movie Brazil.
Occasionally the phone will lockup and not respond to key presses. Fix is to remove and replace battery.
There is no volume control for this phone.
Volume is adequate when used as a handset, and just barely adequate when used as a speaker phone.
Volume is NOT adequate when external headset is used. Speaker phone fidelity is not good, sound seems to be distorted when compared to standard Uniden cordless.
IMHO the phone and its internet interface is ugly, with a light and very cheap feel. The Linksys is much better in this regard.
AAA NIMH batteries. AA would give longer battery life.
Other than above, phone works as advertised.
I wound up returning the GE because its design and UI was really slow and clunky.
However, I feel both it and the Linksys could use serious improvement. Both do not fare well against the standard Uniden (non Skype) cordless phones, especially re lack of volume control, fidelity for the person on the other end of the line, speaker phone and headset volume and key visibility in the dark.
However, there does not seem to be much out there yet -- GE, Phillips and Linksys seem to be it for stand alone Skype internet phones... so choice is limited. If this catches on, there should be more choice from mainstream cordless phone manufacturers.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Service S***s, August 28, 2008
I would initially have given this telephone a 4-5 star rating, because at first it seemed pretty good. The interface worked, and it was really nice to have a phone that could call in and out on skype and our landline without leaving a computer on. I also bought 2 additional handsets and was ready to ditch our old phones. Good thing we didn't!
A little over 1 month into our use of the phone, it went on the fritz. The base station refused to communicate with the handsets, despite resetting, both hard and soft, and various efforts to manipulate the phone. I finally called Support, which is hard to reach, and they laboriously walked me through everything I'd already tried before finally conceded defeat. I had to send it in.
It is now over 2 months since I sent it in and we have seen neither hide nor hair of the thing. I finally got really impatient 2 weeks ago and called to see what had happened. Apparently, they had some migration of their service department, and weren't ready to take care of things. The representative didn't want to tell me how much longer I would have to wait, but then sort of agreed that it would likely go out in a week or two. I can now tell you that it has been over 2 weeks and we still haven't got it. Meanwhile, we have 3 handsets here we can't use. At this point, I'm ready to send it all back to the company and demand a refund, so I can get the Phillips version. At least they've been using that in Europe for a while and hopefully have the bugs out.
My biggest concern about the phone, while it was still otherwise working well, was the flimsy feel to the phone. It's largely composed of plastic and is very light. All in all, feels like a toy phone and it's probably not surprising it broke.
Addendum: It's now 3 months since we sent in our phone and we still have no firm date on when, if ever, we will get the base unit back. This is the worst service I have ever experienced for an electronics product from a company of this size.
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