Pirelli Discus DualPhone DP L10
Discontinued 25th April 2006
So far we've seen very few mobile handsets
that integrate VOIP (Voice Over IP) and GSM communications
in the same handset, the forthcoming Nokia
E-Series spring to mind. Typically, these hybrid
handsets are very high end phones that have had WiFi
and VOIP capabilities added on.
Pirelli are a company best known for
their tyres and that calendar, but they
also have a broadband data division amongst other high-tech
operations. The Pirelli Discus DualPhone DP L10 is the
latest addition to a wide range of specialist and commercial
wireless ethernet products, although it's not exactly
an easy to remember name.
So, instead of adding VOIP to a high
end GSM phone, the DualPhone approach appears to be
to take a VOIP phone and add GSM capabilities. Pirelli
have designed the DP L10 to SIP-based VOIP in a suitable
802.11g WiFi environment, either with Pirelli's own
networking infrastructure or a compatible system from
another vendor. You can even centrally manage of pool
of Pirelli DualPhone handsets with Pirelli's own software.
It sounds complicated, but Pirelli are
aiming the DualPhone DP L10 at consumers as well as
businesses. Presumably it's easier to make it all work
if you also buy the Pirelli routers and access points,
which include everything from wireless ADSL gateways
up to impressive looking multimedia gateways that support
HDTV (see their range here).
We've
seen dedicated VOIP handsets before though, but what
makes the DualPhone DP L10 a little different is that
it's also a tri-band GSM phone. It's a pretty basic
device when it comes to being a mobile phone though
- there's a 128x128 pixel display in 65,000 colours,
a VGA resolution (0.3 megapixel) camera, email client,
web browser and some basic PIM functionality but that's
about it. It's compact for a hybrid GSM/WiFi phone though,
at just 106x46x18mm.
As a phone, the Pirelli Discus DualPhone
DP L10 looks basic compared to the competition, which
consists of a range of high-end smartphones, mostly
from HTC and Nokia. But compared to dedicated VOIP handsets,
the DualPhone DP L10 is much more versatile, so it rather
depends on which angle you're coming from.
Probably the most important consideration
with the DP L10 will be ease of use though, and it's
hard to say at the moment just how easy the DualPhone
will be to set up in a corporate or home environment.
Certainly though, the fact that the handset is designed
from the ground up as a VOIP device, plus the complementary
range of wireless kit that it can be integrated with,
gives us the impression that this might well be a serious
contender in the VOIP market.
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Pirelli
Discus DualPhone DP L10
at a glance
|
Available:
|
Soon
|
Network:
|
GSM
900/1800/1900 + VOIP
|
Data:
|
GPRS
+ WiFi
|
Screen:
|
128x128
pixels, 65K colours
|
Camera:
|
0.3
megapixels
|
Size:
|
Standard
candy bar 106x46x18mm
/ weight not specified
|
Bluetooth:
|
No
|
Infra-red:
|
No
|
Polyphonic:
|
No
|
Java:
|
No
|
Battery
life:
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Not specified
|
|
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