Functions, Pricing & Availability

The WIP330's colorful graphic user interface is a welcome departure from the monochrome alphanumeric displays on the current crop of VoWLAN phones. Figure 7 shows the phone's "Standby" menu screen that includes phone status, wireless signal strength, battery, time and date and the handset's phone number.

Figure 7: Standby screen

A push on the navigation pad brings up the Settings screen (Figure 8), which is used to set up the phone. There does not appear to be a web-browser interface to the phone, but it can be upgraded and configured via HTTP download.

Figure 8: Settings screen

I was surprised to find that the WIP330 included a web browser function (Figure 9). The User Guide, however, doesn't indicate whether the browser supports Javascript, Flash, etc., so its usefulness may be limited.

Figure 9: Web Site (browser) function
(click image to enlarge)

The phone's other functions are typical for what you've come to expect for a portable phone including a selection of screen "wallpaper", ring tones, phonebook, and call log. I saw no indication that you could download your own ring tones or wallpaper, but there appears to be a built-in buzzer for a vibrate mode.

The WIP330 does not appear in any on-line shopping databases and with the holiday shopping season underway, I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb to guess that it won't be available until the new year. Pricing is anyone's guess, but with its unique feature set, it could command a premium price around $200 to $250. But competition from UTStarcom's F3000 WiFi SIP phone that was spied at Fall VON 2005 could provide some competitive pressure. It will also be interesting to see who the first VoIP provider will be to bundle this phone with its service.

Tags: Linksys, VoIP Phone, WiFi, WIP330,

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