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Wi-Fi Phones Reviewed
prostoalex writes "With municipal Wi-Fi taking off and startups distributing free wireless routers for those willing to share their Internet connections, Wi-Fi phones or hybrid phones with both cellular and Wi-Fi access, are attracting interest. Dr. Dobb's Journal runs a review of 6 wireless phone devices available on the market today. The cheapest ones start around $80, but lock you into T-Mobile branded hotspots. The more expensive ones, Sony Mylo in particular, offer support for 3rd party clients, such as Skype, GTalk and Yahoo! Messenger."
First off, the article is flat wrong, I can use my Nokia 6136 on ANY WiFI I want. I am not limited to just t-mobile hotspots. I roam all over the country and latch on to different WiFi networks without a problem. The SSID "linksys" is my friend. I get unlimited WiFi calls and it seamlessly switches to GSM when I leave the WiFi area. One thing nice is, if I start a call on WiFi and roam to GSM, it's still billed as a WiFi call.
I own a Sharp Zaurus and a Palm Treo 650 along with a WiFi card for both. I never use WiFi. Here's why.
There are several scenarios where you think it'll be useful to have WiFi on your phone, either for e-mail, browsing or VoIP.
At Home or Work
Once the novelty wears off, you will realize that the computer in the corner is much better suited for internet and e-mail usage. If you want to curl up on the couch or wander the house doing chores while talking to your Mom via VoIP, add a $20 bluetooth dongle onto your computer, router or NSLU2 and use that instead; you'll double your battery life.
At a Friend's House
Most friends have computers they'll let you borrow. Extensive surfing or VoIP'ing is antisocial, you won't be taking advantage of that as much as you think you will.
Out on the street
By the time you find a free, open WiFi hotspot, your battery will be dead. GPRS is so much more reliable that once you hook it up, you'll just end up using that instead.
On vacation
I spent two months in Europe and blogged every day for the entire trip using my Treo 650 and a bluetooth keyboard. I brought along the WiFi adaptor and never used it because it was such a pain to find and connect to a hot spot. Instead, I transferred articles from the Treo to computers in Internet Cafe's via the SD card and a USB adaptor. At a coffeeshop to work outside the office
A laptop is so much more usable that you'll end up lugging the heavy thing to the coffeeshop rather than taking along just your phone.
Summary
WiFi is nice to have, but it shouldn't significantly affect purchase decisions. Don't ignore beautiful phones like the Neo1973 or Treos just because they don't have WiFi.
Imagine that most people turn on a wifi (Like the free Fon mentioned)
Now, just enable these to connect and route traffic automatically
Now,
1. Everybody can now have a wifi phone with free
2. Nobody will need an ISP
3. Nobody will need a phone company
4. Nobody can shut you off
5. Everyone can have a fast connection
6. You do not have to sign a service agreement
7. what else?
don't cut it off www.mgmbill.org
Yeah, the best one I've found is the E61 from Nokia. It's a regular GSM/UMTS phone which also has WiFi and a full blown SIP client on board. And you can find it on Craigslist for ~$350.
Much better then any of the crappy Taiwanese "VoIP" phones, or anything that does Skype only.
The SIP client is fully integrated with the contacts, just overall very well done by Nokia. Plus they release firmware updates on a regular basis, which can be done from a Windows PC.
The phone detects WiFi coverage, e.g. home or work, and automatically registers the SIP client.
Since it's SIP, you can use any one of the hundreds of ITSPs (Internet Telephony Service Provider) out there to make cheap international calls, if that is what you want.