Follow the links below to read my review of philips voip 841 voip cordless phone:

http://solokay.blogspot.com/2007/02/philip...less-phone.html

If you have used this phone before you can share your experience with others here.

Did I miss something? All I saw was one brief paragraph.

Just a summary of the important things that you should know. Dont want to bother readers with so much technical details they can get elsewhere.

My own test result on Philips VOIP 841 compared to the Skype phone RTX3088.......

Contacts (Phonebook)
On the Philips VOIP 841 handset, it is not possible to edit a SkypeOut numbers (Or the numbers: Home, Office and Mobile on SkypeTM contacts) before calling the number though the landline. That’s really annoying because all the numbers (Home, Office and Mobile) on SkypeTM contacts has a country code in front of the number. So I cannot dial the number though my landline in some countries. Example: I don’t have to dial “+44” (Country code in United Kingdom) on the landline in United Kingdom to call another party in United Kingdom. I only have to use the country code on SkypeOut calls because Skype doesn’t know from which country I’m connected to the Internet.
On the RTX3088 I just scroll to the contact and select menu “Edit for call” and then delete the country code in front of the number before calling on Landline. In this way, it is also possible to put a service code in front of the number before calling though the landline.

It takes some time before the list of all contacts is displayed when accessing the list of Contacts. The following times is measured when accessing a list with 107 contacts (12 contact in state “on-line”, 74 contacts in state “off-line” and 21 SkypeOut contacts)

- Philips VOIP 841: 1,9 sec
- RTX3088. 2,8 sec

Display
The display is flashing when I scroll though the menu structure on Philips VOIP 841. The RTX3088 is not flashing and the display is quite steady and sharp.

Searching
I can make a “Search” on Philips VOIP 841 or RTX3088 and thereby find a certain Skype user. I can do that by using menu named “Search” and then type in a name or e-mail to find a certain Skype user. But the Philips handset display “Searching” for a very long time before the search results are displayed if the searching returns a huge number of Skype contacts.
That’s not the case on RTX3088 handset. The RTX3088 displayed the search results as the results comes in, so I can start looking at the search results before the searching is finished. Another nice feature on RTX3088 is, that the handset display the message “Please refine your search criteria” if more than 200 entries is found… that’s nice, because on Philips VOIP 841 I have to scroll though 1000 entries.

Seen a couple of times:
I tried to search on Skype names starting with the letter “a” on Philips VOIP 841 and afterwards the handset was constantly displaying “searching”. I cannot cancel the operation by press “Cancel” or “Stop”. I have to remove the batteries to fix the problem.

Missing IP:
No information on idle display about missing “IP address” on the Philips VOIP 841 handset when someone switched OFF the router. My 5 years old son often switch off the 230V power outlet, and it took me a long time before I found out why my Philips VOIP 841 wasn’t online any more. The
RTX3088 display “Network connection lost” and I then know where to start looking to fix the problem.


Voicemails:
I can playback received voicemails when someone leaves a message on my Skype voicemail. But the message is played back in the earpiece on Philips VOIP 841. It took me a long time before I realised that the voicemail was played back in the earpiece, because I expected the voicemail to be played back in the hands free speaker.
On the RTX 3080 the user can select to play back the voicemail in the hands free speaker or in the earpiece, that’s not possible on the Philips phone.


Conference call between Landline and Skype line
On the Philips VOIP 841 handset, it’s is not possible to put a Skype call on hold and then make an outgoing landline call. But I can answer a call from the landline during and ongoing Skype call. I cannot establish a conference call between a Skype call and a landline call on the Philips VOIP 841 handset.

On RTX3088 in can put a Skype call on hold and then make a Landline call. I can also establish a conference call between the landline and the Skype line, and that’s really nice. I use it when I call some family members far away by using Skype. I then put the Skype call on hold and call my grandmother and afterwards I establish a conference call. So my grandmother can actually take part in the Skype call even though she don’t have a Skype phone or Internet connection at all.


Skype Conference
It is possible to take part in an incoming Skype conference call on both systems, but it is not possible to see a list of the “Participants” on the Philips VOIP 841. It is possible to see a list of all “Participants” on the RTX3088…that’s good, because it is always nice to know who you are speaking to.


Call waiting
I got a hear damage yesterday because the Philips VOIP 841 handset just started ringing when I had an ongoing call. So the Philips handset started alerting when I had the handset near my ear. Maybe I should ask Philips to pay compensation for my ear damage. Here is what happened, and this is a warning to all user of Philips VOIP 841:
I had an ongoing “Skype to Skype call” with my friend “A” when a second Skype user (my friend “B”) called me. The Philips handset displayed “Call waiting” and I answered the call waiting from “B” and “A” was then put on hold, and that’s okay. The Skype user “B” say goodbye during the conversation and “B” then terminates the call. The Philips handset then started ringing immediately without any warning, because the call on hold (user A) was still active. I didn’t have time enough to remove the handset from my ear. I really got a bad feeling in my ear afterwards.
I tried the same on RTX3080, and on this handset I got a busy tone in the earpiece for about 5-10 sec. when user “B” terminates the call, and I therefore removed the handset from my ear to take a look on the display. After 5-10 sec. the RTX3088 starts ringing because user “A” is still active, and I pick-up the call with my friend again. So no hear damage on RTX3088 because I got this busy tone and naturally removed the handset from my ear.

Incoming Skype calls:
It is not possible to distinguish between an incoming SkypeTM call or SkypeIn call on the Philips VOIP 841 handset. The Philips handset display “Skype” in both cases. The RTX3088 respectively display “Skype call” or “SkypeIn call”.


Incoming Landline calls and SkypeIn calls
The associated name from the contact list (Phonebook) is not displayed on the Philips VOIP 841 handset when I receive an incoming Landline call or SkypeIn call. Example: I got the SkypeOut contact “John” (phone number “+44 555 3333”) in my contact list, but the associated name “John” isn’t displayed when +44 555 3333 calls me on the landline or via SkypeIn.
The name is always displayed on RTX3088 if a match is in the contact list. That’s a nice feature, because I cannot remember the phone numbers on all my friends, so the information “+44 555 3333” on the display doesn’t tell me anything. But on the RTX3088 handset I know who the caller is, because the associated name “John” is displayed.


Features during ongoing call:
My friend called me and asked me about a phone number to my brother. I have the phone number in my contacts (phonebook) on my Philips VOIP 841, but I wasn’t able to look-up the number during the call. On Philips VOIP 841 I have to: terminate the call, look in my contacts, write the number on a paper, call my friend again to tell him the number.
On RTX3080 you just put the ongoing call on hold and then take a look in the contacts and find the number. In this way it is also easy to put a call on hold on RTX3088 and then initiate a second call from the list of Contacts. Afterward it is possible to establish a conference call. That’s not possible on Philips VOIP 841.


Parallel Phone connected to landline
The most annoying thing on Philips VOIP 841 is, that I got missed call information on the display if I answer and incoming landline call on a parallel connected wired phone. But the call is not a missed call, because I have actually answered the call on another phone in the house. I thing most people have more than one phone connected to the landline now a days.
I don’t have this problem on the RTX3088. The RTX3088 seems to detect that the call is answered by another phone, and that’s really nice.


Menu Information
The message “Unavailable” is often displayed when I select the menu “Information” on the Philips VOIP 841 handset. Afterwards I cannot access any Skype features/menus. I have to restart the Philips base station to solve the problem. I haven’t seen such problem when using the RTX3088



Missed call list:
The missed call list on Philips VOIP 841 is very illogical, because I got multiple entries in the missed call list if the same caller calls me several times when I am not at home. So one caller can actually push other missed call entries out of the list, because the principle “First in, first out” is used in the missed call list.
Missed calls from the same caller is only saved once on the RTX3088, and a “counter” then shows how many times the caller actually has called you. A new call from the same caller is only saved as a new entry when the previously missed call has been viewed. That is a much better way of making use of the memory in the missed call list, and it is much more user friendly.


Time zone
The displayed clock and time zone in the far end (other PC Skype users) isn’t adjusted according to the select time zone on the Philips VOIP 841.
This problem is not seen on RTX3088. The far end can see my time zone when the time zone has been set on RTX3088. So all Skype PC-user who have me as a contact can actually see my time zone (and thereby see the correct time in my country) to prevent that no one calls my in the night. Otherwise Skype user would think that the clock in my country is 8 o’clock in the afternoon, but actually the time is 2 o’clock in the night.

Yes, and the Philips requires you to be an engineer to update the Philips Voip841 with new firmware :-)

Philips Voip 841:
You must use a computer to upgrad your phone. Please read how to do here: http://kortlink.dk/philips/3yfn

RTX3088:
Can be don without a computer. It is easily done directly from the handset. Please read how to do her: http://dualphone.net/How_to_update_software_-862.aspx

Hi FreeDoping,

Thanks for your detailed explanation! I take advantage of your experience: Exists some way to register originating messages of landline?

Best regards.

Hi,
Could anyone please comment on the quality of SkypeOut calls with these either the Philips 841 or Dualphone 3088?
Regards.

wauv FreeDoping - a great review of the two phones. Based on your experiences, there is no doubt in my mind - I must pick up the RTX, and not the Philips.
Do you work for RTX? ;-)
Well, thanks for taking the time to share your experience.
/Simon