Vincent Oberle’s blog
Headsets are good
JAJAH is running a campaign targeted at Skype’s users, campaign which focuses on how you don’t need a headset with JAJAH. Of course these days a headset is not at all required anymore for making Skype calls. Jim Courtney lists some of the options for using Skype without headset, the first one being simply to use a recent version of Skype. Thanks to our recent improvements in echo cancellation, I have regularly calls without headset using the microphone of my webcam (using the webcam microphone helps I think, as it is situated further from the speaker than the laptop integrated microphone, making the job of the echo cancellation software easier).
But the headset is not a bad thing at all, on the contrary. I think the headset is in fact a great feature of Skype, as it allows individual private calls without tying one of your hand against your ear. Often these headsets have several meters long cables and one can even walk around.
Today Skype standalone devices use the classical phone form factor (the handset). An interesting Skype device would be a cordless headset. Such a device should be composed of a comfortable headset connected via DECT to a base station. The screen and keypad would be on the base station (like a corded phone). We use DECT and not Bluetooth because we want the simplicity, great range and good battery life of DECT. The headset should go on both ears, as it is much more comfortable than the one-ear Bluetooth headsets sold for mobile phones. It is for home use, so size is not an issue.
Having the screen and keypad on the base station is a minor inconvenient: In general a cordless phone is anyway on the base station when not in use, to charge the batteries. Which means when you receive a call or want to make a call, you have to go to the base station anyway.
