Time for a post answering a question I had come through in my email today. In their own words, “Is the S2 Skype Phone by 3 actually any good?”
Well, it’s an intriguing question, because this isn’t a mobile phone you can compare to, say, the Nokia N96. It’s not designed to be the ultimate multimedia powerhouse, or be a portable cinema.
What the Three Skypephone S2 is designed to do, though, is give you masses upon masses of communication options, and if you judge on its own terms, then it comes out as a superb mobile phone. First up is the killer feature, and the bit that should be obvious from the name: the Three Skypephone S2 has got Skype in it, straight out the box. Not only does this give you free calls to all of your Skype contacts, but it also gives you free SkypeOut minutes to call overseas numbers.
What, you may ask, does that amount to?
Basically, with the Three Skypephone S2, unlike just about all other mobile phones on the market, you’d get, effectively, free international calls straight out the box!
That’s rather good, that!
As with the first Skypephone, the Three Skypephone S2 also gives you instant access to Facebook, MSN Messenger and email. But it does more than that… you see, this beastie is almost unique amongst mobile phones, in that you can plug it in to your PC or your laptop, and use the Three Skypephone S2 as a USB modem.
In other words, it’s like getting mobile broadband AND a mobile phone in one device. And it’s got a 3 megapixel camera, a superb music player, HSDPA and a brilliantly intuitive interface.
So, if you hadn’t guessed the verdict: the Three Skypephone S2 is utterly, utterly brilliant! Grab yourself one today!
October 7th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I got two and have had nothing but trouble, don’t waste your money
October 17th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
please explain what kind of trouble you have had with this phone. it’s not fair to leave a comment like this. it’s not constructive.
November 8th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Have had this phone since September and agree with the review its a great phone only issue is the battery due to the connection to skype it only lasts around 24 hours. otherwise a great low cost mobile.
December 20th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
The phone heats up a lot when using Skype.
The battery runs down very fast even if not talking on Skype (e.g. 1.5 days with only one 30 minute conversation on Skype during that time).
There is no spanish dictionary included.
You cannot keep Skype chat text input off T9, it always reverts back. This annoys me.
All in all:
Concept: 9/10
Value: 7/10
Durability: 4/10
Ease of use: 5/10
December 27th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
agree with comments on battery, it is very poor.
To use Skype it is great,
to use as a mobile phone it is great (call or text).
Facebook works
to get email – impossible (3g keep tell me it is coming yet they charge me)
does not work on google maps as promised by the salesman
the ear piece for hands free does not work
Internet is intermittent.
Overall I am very disappointed as I specifically wanted a phone with Skype & Email, with email being the key. I will be looking for a new phone & provider when my 6 months is up!
May 13th, 2009 at 8:55 am
I have this phone and have to agree on quite a few points heree, firstly the bad stuff – It does heat up quite a bit when using the phone, but nowhere near enough to burn you lol. The battery will barely last a full day, you will need to charge every night. My samsung with 1 bar left of battery will last longer than this thing fully charged. it also just turns itself on and off sometimes, but only sometimes.
The good stuff – It is a good all round phone, 3.2 mp camera, mp3, blue tooth, micro sd, etc…
the skype works great! every thing on here is well advertsed. the price plans are cheap, the internet works fine, gmail has a problem with the app on here, but you can get around that by downloading an older version of it (straight from the phone, I download lots of stuff on it,mp3’s, apps, etc, it works fine) And it is cheap.
I would recommend it for a great cheap phone, but dont get suprised by the hiccups.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Good robust phone, i have been using mine for about a year and not trashed itunlike most other phones i have had!
The bad points as mentioned above are poor battery life and the very occassional switching itself off? (very unpredictable the switching off, no warning, you just go to check it and it is off – loads of power left but off! – maybe once a a month)
Skype works great as does messenger – much better than my previous Nokia N80.
Overall I’d say this phone is good and very good value.
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:43 pm
i have had this phone for a month now and all i get is trouble,
it turns off by its self
it wont start up
battery life is rubbish
slow internet connection
Skype is slow and the music player always stops
one last thing is that i couldn’t get insurance and i am really annoyed