Netgear’s SPH101 Skype phone: voice only, no text
I’ll have plenty more to say about Netgear’s SPH101 WiFi Skype phone in the near future, but wanted to share one tidbit now. I use Skype for most of my Instant Messaging needs and was hoping I could use the SPH101 for that functionality; sure it would be tough with a phone-based alpha-numeric keyboard but I figured for short messages it might work.
Unfortunately not as shown by the pic below. I signed in to our MobileTechRoundup Skype account and tried to send a text message to the Skype phone but got the message below. I’m not criticizing the product for not having the feature (it is a phone, after all), but did want to mention it for any Skypers that might be considering it. I joked with James this morning that maybe we’ll see a Sidekick-like Skype phone with a keyboard; they can call it the Skypekick. 
Thanks to Netgear’s CES Blogger in Residence for sending me the review unit. I’ll have more thoughts and impressions in a full review.
Hey,
I recently bought Netgear SPH200D phone (just released and announced at CES 2007) and it also does not support messaging. However I noticed that is a new person adds you and writes a personal note like “hey it’s Mike, add me”, it shows up on the phone. So my guess is that the phone can support it,& just been limited by Netgear.
I have the SMC Skype WiFi phone (http://www.wifiphone24.com/home.aspx) and it too does not support messaging. I believe the Belkin, NetGear and SMC all come from the same ODM/OEM in Taiwan, so they probably all inherited the same shortcomings. Still, not too shabby for a first gen device.