| Binatone S1085 USB Internet Telephone - Black | 
| Brand: Binatone Telecom plc
Category: CE
Buy New: £9.99
New (2) from £9.99
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 13623
Media: Electronics
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 5.3 x 3.1
MPN: 00B5003G
Model: 00B5003G
EAN: 5012786150034
ASIN: B000XUM4M4
Release Date: October 25, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Black/silver. Caller ID. 10 monophonic ringtones. Ringer volume control on handset. Call timer. Display - 1 line LCD alphanumberic + 2 line icons. Skype compatible. Key tones. Hold facility. Minimum PC requirements: Pentium III 400 Mhz. Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP. 128Mb RAM. 60Mb free HDD space. USB 1.1 or 2.0 port.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Best ever USB internet phone I tested September 4, 2008
C. Figueira (Wilts, UK)
Bought this unit for a family member but wanted to test it before giving it away.
Unit comes in a small box with some Instructions (not that one expects to use these.... really?) and a CD (also not expected to use it, but...read on)
Connected it to one old laptop which is used for this kind of tasks (always on, during the day at least) which has Skype installed.
Installation is as easy as plugging it into a free USB port. If you plan to use a USB hub bear in mind that you will need a powered one!!!
WindowsXP recognizes the phone as a Audio USB Device (what ever that means). After a minute or so it's all done.
Started Skype and on the unit's LCD I could only see CHECK PC. Nothing else would happen on this phone. I manually on Skype started a call and yes, it worked without any problems. I could hear clearly and was also heard clearly, much better than any other Audio device I tried with Skype before. Really like a good landline phone!
But still I wanted to use the phone buttons to navigate and see more on the LCD than just CHECK PC.
okay, I had to use the instructions... Well, there is a little applications on the CD (the only one BTW) which is some kind of parring procedure for the phone and Skype on the PC. after installing this little program, which starts when the PC starts, gives control of the Skype program to the phone. Voila! I could see my contacts list on the handset and make calls without touching the PC. Not that it makes any difference using the PC directly or the buttons on the handset since you need to be close to the PC anyway, but if you have it with your screen saver on and use the phone buttons you won't wake the monitor.
You won't be disappointed!
 Ideal cheap phone April 11, 2008
T. Clarke (UK)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Just so you all know, we're not really big Skype users. My dad was introduced to the concept via a friend who lives in America, and in his typical old age, didn't have a clue what I was on about! I told him you could set up a seperate phone for under 15 quid, and have free internet phone calls with his friend.
So I had a little scoot around for something mid-range - nothing special, nothing cheap and nasty. Found this Binatone phone at Argos for 11 pounds and it's perfect for him and my mum. Small box with just the driver disc and instructions, took about 30 seconds tops to install. All you do then is tell Skype to allow the phone to be used, and thats it.
Buld wise it is of course pretty lame. Upon holding it, it feels like something you'd give to a child, and the base unit (just a plastic shell) is too light, but the old guy's have put it up against the wall so fair do's.
If you're not familiar with the operation of such phones, basically this is like a second land line. It has just one wire - a USB cable, that plaugs into your PC. Its Plug n Play which means you can take it in and out whenever you like, very practical if you have USB ports on the front of your PC.
Ringtones are abismal, but luckily theirs one descent one that doesn't sound too much of a shrill (sound like the early Nokia phone ringtones!). It's not too loud... but then again, if you're going to use Skype, its likely you're going to know when that person wants to call you - especially if they live across the world!
Lastly, on a good note, the phone comes with absolutely no junk software, meaning once you've installed the driver, the only remnant of the phone being connected is a little icon in the System Tray. A desktop icon also tells you're connected or not. And that's it!
So overall, this is no silly Prada phone or indeed just a good house phone - it's just a simple little handset at a very good price, and I reccomend it to anyone who wants simplicity in it's truest form.
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www.pcprotech.co.uk | |
