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
April 8th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
I have had my S2 phone for 16 months,my husband has one too and my daughters friend has just bought one. i use mine as a dongle for my lap top, sending txts receiving them and making skype calls to the hubby. don’t have any problems connecting to the internet and as its used as a dongle it gets charged up at the same time. we did have one problem with my phone a few months ago and the 3 service people did everything they could to help even phoned me a few times afterwards to check i was happy. the only problem i have now is that my hubbys phone’s buttons are going (could be due to the cement) and my middle button is playing up and the volume has now got problems hence the reason for looking on the internet for a solution before going back to the shop…. if it turns out my phone is toast i wouldn’t hesitate to buy another one.
May 22nd, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Hi. I brought a 3 skypephone last year in england, i must say i live in denmark.The 3 store manager assured me that i could use the skpye phone in denmark, but when i got back it did´nt. I can´t send mms´s or set it up for GPRS. So if you asked me, i´d have to say the that the 3 S1 skypephone is a load of crap!! I´ve e-mailed 3(Hutchson) but without any satisfation.
September 28th, 2010 at 8:45 am
I bought the skypephone on contract about 18 months ago. it started playing up after about 12 months.
First the middle button started to play up then it actually fell off, then the number four button broke which made it incredibly difficult to text, then the screen covering the buttons fell off exposing all the buttons which then meant all the buttons started to fall off as they were not protected.
I am now left with a buttonless phone.
Also you do have to charge the phone every night especially if youo use the internet.
Good points are the internet is great, allows you to connect instantly to facebook, messenger etc. Google maps does in fact work on this phone and again it’s great.
Bad points battery life is incredibly low, as has previously said it switches itself off quite a few times I have found although this could be to do with the signal in the area rather than the phone itself. And if you want a long lasting phone DO NOT BUY THIS!!! Longevity is extremely poor but you get what you pay for I suppose.
Overall 6/10.