Smart Buying
Phones Get in Your Face
The videophone has made the jump to reality. Two new videophones on the market work like regular telephones, but you'll pay a price to be an early adopter of these devices.
By Jeff Bertolucci, Contributing Writer
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, October 2005
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Another Jetsons gadget, the videophone, has made the jump to reality. True, you can already see the person you call by using Web cameras or devices that send still images over an analog phone line. But two new videophones on the market work like regular telephones. And because the signals are sent over a broadband connection (you and the person you call will both need one), the video is mostly crisp and clear, although fast motion is a bit distorted.
The current competitors are Motorola's Ojo Personal Video Phone and the Packet8 VideoPhone from 8x8, a small, California-based Internet-phone-service provider. Unlike Web cameras, which require a PC for face-to-face conversations, these videophones bypass your computer and plug directly into your broadband router. Unfortunately, the two brands don't work with one another.
High style
If you're more concerned with looks than price, go with the Ojo. This futuristic device rises like a bird of prey above its V-shaped, silver-and-gray base. Its seven-inch-diagonal LCD screen displays sharp color video. Image quality, however, suffers during Internet rush hours -- weekday evenings, for instance -- or when the Ojo is forced to share the broadband pipe with a demanding application, such as when you're sending a huge video file over the Web from your PC. One nice perk: The Ojo's handset doubles as a cordless phone.
Setup is tricky. We connected the Ojo to our router via the supplied network cable, but the videophone didn't work until we changed our network's Internet address to prevent a conflict. (We had to call Motorola for help.)
The Ojo is impressive, but it's also pricey. At $800 apiece, it could cost you and a significant other $1,600 to get started. In addition, you'll have to ante up $15 a month for a service plan, although you'll be able to make video calls to anyone in the world who has an Ojo.
By the time you read this, Motorola will have added the ability to leave video messages. Each Ojo can store 20 minutes of video. To make nonvideo calls, you'll have to use your regular phone service, but you can route the calls through the Ojo phone.
Better value
The Packet8 VideoPhone resembles a conventional desktop business phone, aside from its five-inch LCD screen. Unlike the Ojo, it doesn't come with a cordless handset.
But at $99, the price is right, and the video quality is comparable to the Ojo. We did see a bit more image distortion on the Packet8 VideoPhone from time to time, but not enough to ruin our calls. And setup was a breeze.
One caveat to the unit's bargain price: You must sign a two-year Packet8 service contract at $20 per month, plus a $30 activation fee (which is often waived in promotions). But unlike the Ojo, the Packet8 VideoPhone and its service contract give you full broadband voice phone service with unlimited calls in the U.S. and Canada. However, this applies only to that single VideoPhone -- you can't hook up the rest of your phones to the service. But Packet8 says it will offer a package this fall with the VideoPhone and audio-only service to all your phones for less than $40, so you can drop your regular phone service. Count on better deals as more players enter the market.
--Research: Elizabeth Kountze