Panasonic KXWP1050ES Skype Travel DECT - Silver

I have had this for a few months now, deliberately holding off from reviewing so I could evaluate it thoroughly. First impressions were very very good but the reality is my Netbook (Asus Eee PC 1000) gives me much better quality overall. In most circumstances I can hear fine (this always seems to be the case with every device I use on Skype to be fair to the phone) but the person at the other end can, for the most part, struggle to understand what I am saying. There are a lot of dropouts, echo and various other distortions on their end it seems. It is not up to the task basically. Others have covered the other aspects of the phone so I will not repeat their findings. It's a nice design and convenient (short battery life though of less than a day.......and yes I did charge and discharge and charge and discharge and charge flawlessly for the first few occasions) but in the long run it's flawed. It could be ultimately my connection or Skype itself, but I have tried it with both it's own router and my Netgear one and it doesn't seem to make much difference. It connects easily to wifi connections though and on the whole seems a well thought through and honest product. If the issues with call quality could be sorted out it would be an absolutely amazing product. There is a possibility I guess if I surfed all the forums or became a Skype knowledge geek that I could sort it out but that would negate any inherent convenience and cost effectiveness on the phones part. If you have or manage to get a good connection this phone may just change your life. Other than that I would not recommend it. Indeed now it's a glorified bell to tell me when I have a call so that I can get to my Eee PC and speak with relative confidence.

Here's a late update!!!!! I've found that the phone (or is it just Skype) works fine if nothing else is on the line. So as long as nothing else is hogging the wifi then the phone seems to work 100%. I have now routinely got used to switching everything off before a call and since then no one has ever said they can't hear me. In light of this I amend the product to four stars. Battery life sucks but you can get cheap replacements (think it's an NP40, bout £3 on EBay!!). One thing it has started doing though is crashing which is a bit crap. It needs to be rebooted sometimes or it will reboot itself. Not ideal but as long as it doesn't get any worse it is livable with.

Selling this phone people think you have to use it with its included world router - you dont. It will pick up any network and if its open to you then you can use it - the 1050 is a superb phone and has little competition at this quality end of the market

I have had this item now for about one month. Mixed feelings. First impression out of the box - gorgeous leather travel box with everything compactly packed. I agree with another reviewer - You will never re-pack it in the tight space after unpacking and using all items. Held the phone for first time - thought it came out of a Xmas cracker but at least no stupid joke with it. It is so light and plastic BUT, after a week or so it grows on you and you realise how this is a benefit when travelling. Best bit - turned on the phone after groaning at the thought of setting up all the leather bound contents but guess what; never needed it at home. I put the phone in its cradle (really cheap plastic)plugged in the USB from computer (in my case monitor) to unit and charged. Couldn't wait so turned on and my God, after usual logging in, password etc it just connected and up came Skype. Change time and date and that was that. I turned off my computer to test the claim that "no computer needed" state was required and it worked perfectly. Made a call or two and walked around the office/house(I work from home) and made test call or two - coud not complain. A couple of glitches on the duplex chat with a friend but all in all I became mightily impressed and thought that this would be great for travelling where, I presume, one needs the aforementioned "kit" (as yet not unpacked). However, if you find a ready available wi-fi connection anywhere it seems you only need the phone, cradle and USB. I haven't after a month even used the rest of the "travel kit". I guess this will be useful in a hotel where you want wireless around the room without computer on and the supplied mini router can then plug into the hotel wlan port (usually on or near the room desk). If your'e a student staying in a hostel or just a 1 star hotel with no wi-fi then unlikely. Tip: Having said that, I have a 3 network 3G router with a USB stick (brilliant) and you could get 3G connection (works fine)and not need a wi-fi service provided by hotel et al.
Now the bad bit but for reasons not necessarily linked to the phone - per se. I have not been able to use the phone at all over last 5 days. I could be heard but could not hear anything from other end. Without boring you I found it was my home router, NOT the phone. I reset it and it worked again. However for some inexplicable reason (suggestions please!) it is now working well for calls out, the phone rings calling in on both or either computer and phone BUT the caller gets a permanently engaged tone and I have had this all week. "Skype" issue I would say but of course I blame the phone as that is what I am holding and listening to - beep, beep, beep, beep engaged! All system off, reset router, reinstalled phone from factory - all fine as said before but - ENGAGED! really annoying. So, as my header states; jury out as I cannot as yet blame the phone as when it did work 100% you could see how, with a Skype IN number (highly recommend) you could, in effect, travel the world for rest of your life with this light handset and a USB cable and always have your nearest, dearest and the bank manager (less said about banks the better for now) call you as if it was your main home/office line. So there you have it and hence, because of the engaged problem (now) I am giving 3 stars. More use and without that issue and I probably would give it 5 stars. Best bit too is that this is the best "full featured, colour display and all the kit phone you can get for a "Skype communicator" priced a up to £200+. I got mine for £115 so should turn out to be a good investment - one day!
Finally my only niggle is that it will not sync with Outlook. However, if you make a duplicate in Skype of all your Outlook contacts so they become non Skype contacts they will be listed and sync with the phone. Just means your conatct list (on computer) will have a repeat name (Skype and Outlook) for all your contacts. Hope this is helpful.