When we took a look at four VoIP-enabled handsets a few months back, for our Movable Skype roundup, we were left feeling a bit underwhelmed. The RTX America Dual-Phone and Radian SkyTone Cordless USB Phone RST501 both showed promise, but both the Belkin and Netgear WiFi phones had us strongly advising folks to wait until future releases before plunking down their hard-earned cash.
The handsets offered poor battery life and showed the traditional drawbacks of first-to-market devices, like high prices tags, and user-interface issues. We really wanted to recommend some device to help people harness the ever-growing popularity of VoIP, but were forced to advise holding off. Fortunately, this next round of handsets is starting to deliver on some of the promise VoIP-enabled phones hold.
The three handsets in this roundup illustrate distinctly different ideas of what VOIP phones ought to be, but all have at least some degree of success. Depending on what youre looking for, theres a pretty good chance that one of the handsets below will do the trick.
Youll find summaries below of the most recent Web-phone reviews. Click the links to read the full text of the articles. And of course, be sure to stay tuned for our continued coverage of the latest devices, including a review of Netgears SPH200D, due later this week.