By David Ponce
We won’t get cocky, and lecture you about the importance of VoIP, Skype and its potential impact on the telecommunications industry; these are things you should already know. We believe that any product which makes it easier to switch to VoIP is God’s little way of saying “See there, I don’t hate you that much.” And while there are tons of products out there that interface with the popular software, and we couldn’t dream of listing them all, the Vo300 USB Internet Speakerphone, from Kensington does so somewhat elegantly, and at a relatively moderate price.
As a speakerphone should, the Vo300 allows for hands-free calling through Skype, though the fact that it’s connected via USB means there’s more than simple audio interfacing: through an LCD screen on the device, it’s possible to scan your contacts, view your call status and call history as well. And should you want to make a particular call private, you can also connect a headset. There’s also echo-cancellation and one-button access to Skype Voicemail.
It’s $90, which is perhaps only $20 more than we’d like to have to pay for something like this.