Click to View

There is no shortage of adaptations of Skype's popular VoIP software and service with devices that incorporate other phone modes, both wired and wireless. But last week's announcement, by Nokia Corporation of a download that will install Gizmo VoIP—a plug-in adaptation of SIPphone Inc.'s Gizmo Project softphone—on its N80 Internet Edition smartphone is the first we've heard of SIP-based Internet calling being available on a mobile phone.

The Wi-Fi-enabled N80ie is optimized for VoIP using standards-based SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) signaling. The Gizmo VoIP plug-in is the first IP telephony module to be integrated into the Nokia platform– though it will not necessarily be the last.

"Our collaboration with SIPphone makes Internet calling easy, plus our open VoIP platform allows for any SIP-based VoIP provider to incorporate their services in our device architecture, giving consumers the best of the Internet world," said, Nokia Vice President, Multimedia, Ralph Eric Kunz.

The Gizmo VoIP service is really part of SIPphone's larger Gizmo Project service (see our review), which offers free calls between members worldwide and free calls to landlines in North America, as well as low-cost calling to landines and cell phones elsewhere.

"Collaborating with Nokia has allowed our development teams to create a compelling VoIP experience on the N80 Internet Edition and instantly enable millions of mobile consumers around the world to save money," said Michael Robertson, Chairman and CEO of SIPphone.

For users of PC-based Gizmo clients, the Nokia N80 integration provides a mobile option that cuts them loose from the PC and lets them talk to their Gizmo contacts for free—anywhere there's a Wi-Fi connection. In addition to saving costly cellular airtime minutes, users of Gizmo VoIP will enjoy full use of Gizmo system features like free voicemail as e-mail and Call Out connections to the PSTN.

Although the N80ie, announced in August of this year, has hitherto been available only from the manufacturer, we spotted it for sale online (with cellular activation) at at least one outlet.

More on N80ie
Nokia's N80 smartphone is a member of the multimedia NSeries. The Internet Edition includes a major software upgrade that aims to bring together a number of Internet services previously not found bundled on one its devices.

Otherwise, the quad-band GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz) with EDGE and WCDMA (UTMS) 3G slider delivers the same hardware specs as the earlier edition. It has a high resolution 2.1-inch, 352 x 416 pixel 262,144 color display and incorporate a MPEG4 AVC decoding support for video streaming. There's 40 MB of memory and a miniSD card additional storage.

The Nokia N80 models boast a digital music player as well as stereo FM radio. And users can transfer data via USB 2.0 by dragging and dropping from a compatible PC onto the device.

The devices measure 3.7 x 2 x 10.2 inches (95 x 50 x 260 millimeters) and weighs 4.7 ounces (134 grams). Like the previous version, the Nokia N80ie (and all recent Nokia smartphones for that matter) is built on the Symbian OS, version 9, and the Nokia S60 3rd Edition smartphone platform. It is likely that the N80ie still supports the UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) protocol to more easily connect to compatible TVs, audio systems and PCs.

On top of the original N80's software bundle, the Internet Edition delivers a host of additional Web-centric applications stored in a folder marked Internet.

In addition to enabling SIP based VoIP calling, the Wi-Fi handset includes a wizard to ease connecting to a WLAN. In addition, the N80 is one of the handsets Nokia has been using to demo and test UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) services. UMA is an emerging dual-mode style fixed-mobile convergence standard that allows GSM carriers to seamlessly handoff calls and data connections between cellular and Wi-Fi networks.

There's also Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Go, an application that bundles together a number of services, including e-mail, search, photos, and address book and calendar. With it, for example, you can upload images taken with the N80's 3-megapixel carl zeiss-run camera to the popular photo-sharing site Flickr.

A new Download! App allows users to see what latest applications are available for their smartphone, as well as keep other selected applications current, according to Nokia. While the updated web browser features Min Map, which greatly enhances browsing the internet by promising to make pages look close to how PC web browsers display them.

The Nokia N80ie will come in two colors: patina bronze and pearl black.