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Bluetooth powers new Skype cordless phone - but no headset

If Global Sources is to be believed, Air2U has released a Skype handset which has freed you from the PC - you can carry it around the house.

Exactly how Global Sources got this information is something of a mystery, because the same data isn't yet available from the company's own web site - presumably because the Taiwan company is still recovering from the recent Computex exhibition.

But if the information is accurate and complete, then the new phone has a built-in LCD display for caller ID. "The LCD also displays online status, call list, contact list and Skype credit," says the brief product summary

What it fails to mention is whether the device can control two Bluetooth devices. This could be important, because these days a lot of phone users expect to be able to go hands-free - for example, when using a keyboard, or holding a piece of paper in one hand and a pen in the other, or when minding a baby, or opening up a PC while talking to tech support.

So a Bluetooth headset would be a valuable accessory to this phone - but if one works, nobody has revealed this.

Air2U has also The Bluetooth 2 Class 1 Skype phone has a remote control for shifting from Skype phone to Skype function, and vice versa.

However, the company has considered the problem of selling a Bluetooth cordless phone to someone who has no Bluetooth on their PC, and has announced a plug-in USB transceiver [right] to the latest Bluetooth standards.

That means a top data rate of three megabits per second, says the report, and Bluetooth 2 spec.

In theory, this would let your Skype handset work up to 100 metres away from the base PC. In practice, indoors, you're probably going to find that the thing works well in the room with the PC, and any adjacent room, as long as you don't have reinforced concrete walls or floors in the way.

No guidance yet on pricing.

Tags: Skype handset, Bluetooth, VoIP