| | |  | Electronics | Home » » Philips VOIP841 PC-Free DECT 6.0 Wireless IP Phone | | | | | | | Description: | | VOIP841 series is the first DECT cordless phone with Skype that works without a PC, offering consumers total flexibility and independence from the PC. A full-color graphic display and outstanding sound clarity bring the emotion back to calls. Use your VOIP phone to call via Skype wherever you are. With Skype you can enjoy making free calls all over the world to any other Skype users. Skype, SkypeOut are trademarks of Skype Limited. As your dual phone is connected to both the standard PSTN line AND to the Internet line, you can establish or receive landline and Internet calls on the same handset. Handsfree mode uses a built-in loud speaker to amplify the voice of the caller, allowing you to speak and listen during a call without holding the phone to your ear. This is especially useful if you want to share the call with others or take notes during a call. | | | Features: | |
• Stand-alone cordless phone lets you make Skype phone calls without a computer
• Can also be used as a traditional phone with a landline for extra convenience
• Full-color display and 4-way directional pad makes navigation simple
• Handset can store up to 500 Skype phonebook entries
• Phone has up to 12 hours of talk time and 120 hours of standby on single charge
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 10.8 inches | | Product Width:
| 6.8 inches | | Product Height:
| 3.6 inches | | Product Weight:
| 4.0 pounds | | Package Length:
| 10.7 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.8 inches | | Package Height:
| 3.8 inches | | Package Weight:
| 2.6 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 313 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 Fantastic and easy to use.Dec 12, 2008
I bought this phone for my 72 year old mother. She loves it. It was easy to install and it is easy to use.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Highly recommend it!Nov 26, 2008
I've purchased this product since April 2008 and I love it, makes my life easier and cheaper.
Sometimes you have to reset (unplug the base from the outlet or take the batteries off from the phone) the telephone due to problems with the internet provider (system down) but In overall works great, I haven't had any problem. I highly recommend it!
Skype software is installed, you just have to plug it in, upgrades automatically.
I live outside the US and works perfectly for (Central, South America) and as I previously indicated my major problem has been my internet provider not the phone.
Wonderchild of technology...Nov 20, 2008
For those who are a little tech-crazy this product gives a real high.
I never have had any problem with this phone since i bought it 6 months before. I am using this phone as my home (landline) phone. My parents from India call through Skype internet client to this phone. This itself justifies the little higher investment.
It is unfortunate that the product is no more in the market. I was thinking of buying one for our parents at India.
But, at present price of more than $200, it is not worth... instead i could go for ASUS Eee PC which will give me a full functional laptop which i can keep always on, with a little more i'll get a ASUS AiGuru SV1 (skype video phone)
Great phone if you're not physically disabledNov 15, 2008
Nice phone with great sound quality but I do not recommend it to anyone with a physical disability. When a call comes in, you have just over 10 seconds to answer or it goes to voice mail. This cannot be changed. I haven't successfully answered a single call in the month I've had it. I am really surprised that Philips did not have the disabled in mind on a modern product.
 Best Available OptionNov 07, 2008
After all the research I did on Skype options, the Philips 841 was the best I found. I'm very grateful for the product, and it fills a valuable need in order to bring Skype to the mainstream.
However, there are some definite issues with this phone that you should know about if you are considering purchase. (I would only give the product a 5 star rating if it were flawless, and 4 stars if it only had minor annoyances. But, I've given it three stars because the overall rating - from so many users - seems high and it has some "features" which inhibit it's usefulness.)
Let me first state I'm on the most recent available firmware at this time (v.1.0.4.80). AND, I SOLELY use Skype for my telephone service, so I use this product a LOT (probably far more than most reviewers).
1. The phone (the base, not the handset) needs to be rebooted. If you plug in the unit and expect it to operate smoothly, you'll find that it starts behaving quite badly over time. You need to reboot the home unit occassionally (every couple weeks) and definitely after a power outage in order for the unit to continue to work in any sane manner.
If you don't do the above, you'll find it will not ring on incoming calls at times - sometimes it just starts saying you have voicemail, when it has been on for hours and never rang. If you don't do the reboot, it can hang up on you when you go to answer a call (then when you reboot the unit to fix this, you lose the number of the person who called). I've had it cut out (like a cell phone) then get fixed by rebooting. I've had the handset "connect" to the base, but never ring the caller - fixed by rebooting. Behavior gets stranger the longer you let the device go without rebooting.
2. If you are on a call, and another comes in, you get the option to answer (and will place the current call on hold) or reject. (I've never successfully had the answer/hold and then return to the call work.) If you reject, then the second call goes to voicemail. Every time I've done this, then the phone starts beeping at me - and it keeps beeping through the entire conversation I am on (until I actually reboot the unit - I've tried hanging up the call, then calling back, the phone starts beeping in my ear again when the call connects). The beep is disruptive (longer than just while the sound is there), and really messes up your ability to carry on the conversation, not to mention how annoying it is.
3. The menu system is really deep, lots of button pushes to get where you are going. No default settings are available (like always check Skype VM) so you have to choose every time. (Would be nice if the settings were available on the web interface for config options. It would also be nice if some features were programmable as hot keys.) BE SURE, to review all settings when you are configuring the system - for instance Auto Updates are turned on by default (you may want to know when your updates happen).
4. The web interface on the unit is simplistic, and doesn't provide a lot in the way of customization beyond the basics. This could be greatly expanded.
5. If you assign an administrative password to the unit (beyond the default) it will forget it every once in a while. Haven't determined what causes this, but it's not tied to reboots or power outages (have mine on a UPS).
6. There is no Skype "status" for phone only, so this confuses people running the Skype application. I have submitted a request to Skype for this, because I think it would be useful information to post. (Someone Skyping you without voice...who knows what happens when you try to answer that call.)
7. The unit will handle (theoretically) both Skype and a traditional phone line at the same time. Well, at least the menu options are there. I've never tested this, since I use Skype exclusively - so wouldn't count on it. But, if it does work, certainly a nice feature for the regular POTS line user/occassional Skype caller.
Overall I think it's better than having to have your PC on all the time (in order to receive calls), and since I got it at serious discount ($100) on Amazon (a couple years ago) I feel okay with the purchase. But, the current price showing ($450) seems way too high for a not-ready-for-prime-time product. At that price it eliminates the cost savings of being on Skype (and using SkypeIn/SkypeOut).
I would expect a PERFECT product if I was paying that much.
With eBay having purchased Skype, perhaps better products are on the way.
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