Hi guys + gals (are there any females in this forum?),

First off, I'm very well aware that the N810 was not designed as a phone.

One of my many uses for the unit, however would be voice communication. In other words, it will become a mobile handset for my in-home VoIP, and semi-mobile phone when I'm on the road (cafe's, offices, friends, hotels, etc).

After noticing the mic placement in the middle of the left side of the device, I'm wondering if the device can be held to the side of head like a regular phone (with proper volume adjustments), for very quick, private, and headset-less conversations. I noticed that thoughtfix was able to do this with his N770 successfully.

Can anybody confirm (or refute) the potential of the N810 as mobile hold-to-ear VoIP handset?

For those that are curious, here's some information regarding SIP based VoIP (Voice over IP, or internet telephony).

The reason I choose SIP (Gizmo Project, etc) is price and convenience. In Canada, a company called Acanac offers Unlimited SIP-to-phone calling in North America for $10/mnt, including a regular telephone number (so that regular phones can call you). I believe it's $9/mnt for people in the states. Additional numbers can be bought for as little as $5/mnt with unlimited incoming via various companies (didww), and even north american toll free numbers can be purchased for $1.49/mnt + $0.04/minute (link2voip.com); ideal for small businesses trying to keep costs low and flexibility high.

Although I've never used Acanac personally, I've used Gizmo, didww, and link2voip and can confirm that the quality is amazing. It easily rivals regular telephone (in some case exceeds it), as long as you don't have too much network traffic . I've tested voice latency between conversations with my conservative connection and found it to be very low (~0.2 seconds); not at all noticeable when talking.

Another benefit is that SIP-to-SIP calls are free anywhere in the world. SIP is an open protocol and the voice compression codecs are standardized. There are more than 2000 worldwide SIP based VoIP providers and a growing number SIP users. So the price for SIP based VoIP is only going to fall.

Lastly, you can currently receive calls from regular landlines to your Gizmo (or other) client without paying a cent. Simply
1) find a local access number,
2) dial it
3) dial your sip number at the prompt (ex. 1-747-123-4567).
Presto, free phone-to-SIP.

If you have questions, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to answer!


}:^)~
YARR!

Capt'n Corrupt