28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
Good but would be excellent if
This is definitely a huge leap forward from the voice only based standalone skype phones (Linksys and Philips), however, I would definitely give this device 5 stars if:
1. It would have a video out on the back, it already has mic in and headphones input but if you have a bigger monitor you want to connect the output to during conversation to get a bigger picture,...
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Great idea crushed by software and support - Not for the Senior Citizen
I bought the AiGuru for my Dad who is 88 and has tough time manipulating a mouse. RIght now he has a Macbook running skype with Auto Answer with Video and its been perfect except for the mouse which he finds difficult to use. SO I thought this would be an replacement for this setup.
Is it?
NO WAY!
This review is from: ASUS Skype Videophone Touch SV1TW (Silver Grey) (Electronics)
This is definitely a huge leap forward from the voice only based standalone skype phones (Linksys and Philips), however, I would definitely give this device 5 stars if:
1. It would have a video out on the back, it already has mic in and headphones input but if you have a bigger monitor you want to connect the output to during conversation to get a bigger picture, there is no way to do this
2. Add bluetooth! So that it's easy to pair a bluetooth headset to this unit
3. What's up with the battery that lasts 20 minutes? I mean common ASAS, you guys built me the 1005HE that holds for like 9.5 hours what is this 20 minute battery?
4. Put at least 1.3 megapixel camera
Other than above 4 items the phone is great, it's robust and well made, the top tilts to accommodate people of different height or seating position. Sound quality is definitely better than in my asus EEE PC. Easy to connect to wireless network. Like I said, great start but can be better.
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This review is from: ASUS Skype Videophone Touch SV1TW (Silver Grey) (Electronics)
I bought the AiGuru for my Dad who is 88 and has tough time manipulating a mouse. RIght now he has a Macbook running skype with Auto Answer with Video and its been perfect except for the mouse which he finds difficult to use. SO I thought this would be an replacement for this setup.
Is it?
NO WAY!
What is it with Asian Tech companies that they cannot execute a great idea. Oh yes - lets wait for Apple to come along and destroy our model - meanwhile, we will just send half-baked, poorly thought out, horrible looking products and hope it stick to the ceiling! Having travelled, lived in Asia - I find that the Asian companies design for the younger hipper generation - completely ignoring the older (more wealthy) customer base. Feature after feature is thrown in - with scant regard for ergonomics. The iPhone has proved it and the AiGuru proves it also - albeit in a negative fashion.
So what is right about the AiGuru:
1. Price
2. Single Function
3. Small enough to be considered portable.
4. Good Video Quality
What is wrong about it?
1. Everything else.
2. Touchscreen is not designed for Non-computer users. If a user needs to press multiple buttons to get anywhere on the menu, why not just get a Netbook for about the same cost?
3. Skype setup is frustrating and not designed for this kind of product. We could blame Skype for not listening to the older user base who want a simplified product - but Asus could have done better.
4. Setup from start is flawed - it couldnt connect to my wireless OR wired network until I rebooted and reset twice!
5. Whats the deal with the battery - its barely enough to be useful in a power failure situation - not for extended use.
6. No Auto Answer WITH Video - again ignores the senior citizen.
7. No remote management capability - I do that with Logmein on the Macbook.
8. Terrible online support and website - support for all products are mixed up - the forums barely have 20 topics and hardly any user interaction. Asus refuses to participate in the forums - so its basically a censored rant area.
Bottom Line: Get a Netbook or wait for the Apple Tablet.
PS - I am not returning mine because I think it will make a passable conference room device for my office.
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This review is from: ASUS Skype Videophone Touch SV1TW (Silver Grey) (Electronics)
This is an impressive product in terms of the performance: excellent video, excellent audio with no echo what so ever. However, there is an annoying functional problem if you have a skype call-in number.
When someone called me to my skype-in number, if I picked it up by other devices using the same account (e.g. PC, Linksys skype phone, Sony MYLO), this Asus kept rining for several minutes before it finally realized that there is no one on the other side. I hope that ASUS can update the software to fix this issue before I lost my patience.
Another potential issue is about the ASUS quality control: I ordered 2 and one of them has the bad display. The image looks like watching the negative-film. Color is wrong and the screen is dim. I returned it for the exchange.
Update on 6/11/2010
After 6 months of the happy time, this unit fails to boot. It displays "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER."
It is very hard to have this unit get serviced due to the annoying on-line service inquiry procedure that Asus provided. I cannot get the correct model on the service inquiry page no matter what I was trying.
Asus is an admirable company in terms of the product innovation, however, both the quality integrity and the customer support features are disappointing.
Update on 8/16/2010
After went through the almost impossible customer service through the phone calls and finally gave up, I turned to the on-line service again and finally found this self-service link (amz: this is not a commercial link but a customer helper, pls don't delete it and thanks): [...]
I hope this can be a little help to someone who has the same problem. The response can be very slow though.
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This review is from: ASUS Skype Videophone Touch SV1TW (Silver Grey) (Electronics)
I'm deployed, and bought two of these for family members that didn't have webcams. Now they don't even have to turn on their computers for me to call them. It's made my time here easier to bear. Thank you.
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This review is from: ASUS Skype Videophone Touch SV1TW (Silver Grey) (Electronics)
We got this for my daughter GrandParent, so he can do video calls with us and my niece.
I tested at home, before send it to him, and was super easy to install and use.
His computer knowledge is zero, he do not own a computer, this was the main reason we got this device for him.
The Touch Screen make it easy to use, and he has been enjoying now video chats with his granddaughter and grandson that make him very happy.
This is a product for a person that do not have a computer or is afraid to computers, but if his Video Phone goes bad, I will buy another one the same day!
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This review is from: ASUS Skype Videophone Touch SV1TW (Silver Grey) (Electronics)
We have 2 (one each at home and office), plus gave ones to our parents.
Overall, video and voice quality is very good, and ease of use by someone who's not technical is excellent.
Here's the bad news:
- Asus is still in the 80's when it comes to technical support. I had several email conversations with someone who barely spoke English and they offered no answers other than "return the unit." (Asus: I have copies of all these emails.)
- The support issues regarded using this unit with WiFi and WEP keys (or any protected/passworded WiFi). The units do not -- repeat, DO NOT -- maintain the WEP key. This is inexcusable.
That said:
- If you use a wired network connection or a WiFi that doesn't have a WEP key, it works just fine.
- Amazon's return policy will refund you with ease if you're at all unhappy with the unit.
I would strongly urge buying these as a means of helping build strong family ties. Just make sure you have someone around who knows Skype to set it up for non-technical family members, and use with networks that don't require a WEP key.
Enjoy!
R
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This review is from: ASUS Skype Videophone Touch SV1TW (Silver Grey) (Electronics)
My cousin who works for ASUS gave everyone in my family this Skype videophone for Christmas. I was skeptical at first, thinking that I could do the same thing with my computer. So I was tempted to return or resell it. But a funny thing happened... My boys (ages 7, 4 and 2) who do not enjoy talking on the regular phone became so interested having video calls to their grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. The machine is so simple and intuitive to operate that my 7- and 4-year-old sons would see which relatives are online and initiate the video calls with them. This would never happen with the regular phone. As much as my sons use this phone, I would not want to surrender the use of my computer for their Skype video sessions. All this to say that we absolutely love this phone and are now recommending it to everyone we know.
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This review is from: ASUS Skype Videophone Touch SV1TW (Silver Grey) (Electronics)
I purchased one of these for home. It worked so well that I purchased another for my shop. Simple to install. I have had no probems with either WiFi or Skype calls. The sound is excellent as is the video.
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This review is from: ASUS Skype Videophone Touch SV1TW (Silver Grey) (Electronics)
I've heard some mixed reviews about this phone, especially on Amazon. There seems to have been some bad experiences with this device. I wasn't expecting much, but was proven quite wrong.
This device is a lot thinner than I originally thought, it's not bulky and could easily fit in a desk corner or on a bookshelf. Good size.
The interface is easy to use and very clean. For touchscreen lovers, the touchscreen does an OK job and is fairly response - it's not great, though. For everyone else who wants some easier and simpler navigation, I recommend the buttons (this is what I use). There aren't too many buttons, but there are just enough to easily navigate to your contacts, make calls and change settings (volume, start/end call, main menu, back, and the up/down/left/right/select button hub).
The device has a host of languages available, which is nice if you want to contact out of country relatives.
The video quality is alright. It's not impressive, but really - it doesn't have to be. Video over the internet, especially instant streaming like video calls, will never achieve good quality with residential internet speeds. The video is a little blurry/pixelated, but it doesn't hinder the chatting experience. The mic works fine, no complaints there. In a nutshell, the video quality is the same as you would get with a decent USB webcam (what I use on my desktop), but the resolution is sacrificed when you start streaming over the web.
Seems to me that many people have complained about the WiFi being dropped. I have WiFi at my house, but I connected the video phone via ethernet, and it does a great job. I guess for this device - stay away from the WiFi?
This is a great device, I really like it, and for $150 (as of 12/22), it's a fairly decent price. It's great for grandparents or out of state/country/city relatives and friends you want to keep in touch with often. I recommend it. Overall 7.5/10.
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The unit works great, but there is problem with the installed Skype software. If you have Skype name obtained thru [...] and want to use that Skype name-ID for ASUS Videophone SV1T, it does not recognize these names on search function thru the Phone Skype software. There needs to be accurate interfacing between the Skype software on the Videophone with the Skype database on [...]. I hope ASUS and Skype will sort out this communication-Interfacing issue.
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