telecom's new OJO video phone question

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stacey1122

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#10716 6-Dec-2006 13:08

i have a question regarding the new 'ojo video phone" telecom has located here:

http://www.telecom.co.nz/content/0,8748,205500-201471,00.html?link=hpr

my question is, i want to call a friend using this video phone who lives in the uk. now do I have to buy a second ojo video phone from telecom and send it to the uk so my friend I will call can see me? or does my friend who I want to call, who lives in the uk, have to buy their own ojo video phone from inside the uk? if so, can someone tell me where in the uk my friend can buy an ojo video phone that will work with the telecom ojo video phone? the reason i am asking is because power plugs etc are different in the uk.

and can you just plug the ojo video phone straight into a filter that is connected to the phone line? because on their website it says something about needing a modem or router?

p.s
there is no information on the telecom site to answer my question.

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#54799 6-Dec-2006 14:11

I dont think it matters where your friend buys an Ojo.

To confirm call 08004ANOJO.

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juha

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#54811 6-Dec-2006 15:39

Well, the PDF of the User Guide (badly formatted for the web) here: http://www.telecom.co.nz/binarys/ojo_user_guide.pdf states quite clearly that the other party needs an Ojo phone as well - and presumably has to subscribe to the US$15 a month service too. The phone seems to be available from Motorola in the UK at some point:

http://www.focusmag.co.uk/theGuide.asp?id=13573

... but it's not clear if it's been launched yet.

Juha

tonyhughes

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#54816 6-Dec-2006 16:50

$749 for a phone and $20NZD a month for videoconferencing that only works with somebody else owning the exact same brand of phone AND paying the monthly fee as well...

So the minimum for this equation is $1400 up front and $40 a month ($480.00 p/year), or a grand total of $1880 over 1 year (equivilent of over $150 a month).

Give me a "pro" DSL plan, or a cable connection, and a nice webcam on fullscreen anyday over Ojo.

Does anyone else see value in the Ojo service? Because I just plain dont. (And id hate to be the odd one out... so let me know).

From the Telecom site:

Advanced MPEG-4 coding as standard (H.264), which enables transmission of 30 frames per second of video, with synchronised audio. Which basically means it's just about as good as the broadcast quality of your television

Is that the selling point? Because video calling has been around for 30 years now, and I really dont think the above features quality, are worth the actual costs.

sbiddle

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#54818 6-Dec-2006 16:57

It's doomed from the start. The only question is whether it will get more customers than Telecom's voice activated dialling before it's dumped.

grant_k

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#54821 6-Dec-2006 17:11

tonyhughes: So the minimum for this equation is $1400 up front and $40 a month ($480.00 p/year), or a grand total of $1880 over 1 year (equivilent of over $150 a month).

Does anyone else see value in the Ojo service? Because I just plain dont. (And id hate to be the odd one out... so let me know).

Nah, definitely not good value for money at all. In fact not really even a starter in this segment of the market in 2006.

Why would someone shell out $1880 for a year's service when they could buy a couple of $50 web cams and use Skype?

If this product was available at least 5 years ago at a reasonable price maybe it would have gained some traction but it's far too late and WAY too expensive to be viable now.

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#54847 6-Dec-2006 21:29

My 2c:

Perhaps some people who'd rather have a device that handles their voice/video chatting without any setting up/extra hardware might benefit from this more.

Its like a buying a desktop package - yes it can be cheaper to buy the parts by themselves however some people don't want to spend their time learning about how to top them together/setting them up. They'd rather just get one box, dial the person and start chatting, sure they'd pay a bit more but yes.

Sure the video service leaves much to be desired however I believe thats the general idea.

Now for myself: if I wanted to do video chatting - I'd probably do it myself. However if we all did what I did - we'd all be using scooters.

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BestTimesNow

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#54938 7-Dec-2006 15:34

Your friend should be able to buy an Ojo in England.

BT will distribute the Ojo’s to it’s wholesale customers, who will offer them for sale or could bundle them with VoIP and/or broadband packages for a much lower cost. Here is the news from June, in the link below. BT has not rolled out the Ojo yet, as part of their Club Complete package to wholesalers.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/23/bt_ojo/

This is one of BT’s resellers who has the Ojo, but there should be many more after the launch.

http://www.int2one.co.uk/int2one/residentialindex.html

For a limited time, the Ojo Service fee has been reduced to $9.95 per month. This offer is limited to new subscriptions activated from now through January 31, 2007. This monthly service fee of $9.95 will be guaranteed throughout 2007.

http://www.ojoservices.com/activate/holiday.asp

You will need a broadband connection and router to share your broadband line with your computer. The Ojo works with 110-240V, 50/60Hz. input.

I’ve had my Ojo for a little over 1 year now. I really like it and I gave one to my sister who lives in Chicago. It really works with perfect lip synchronization. I had 3 different web cams and the quality was like this Skype video below. Most web cam set ups will have a slower frame rate, blurred picture and out of sync sound. It was like being drunk out of your mind using the web cams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc1xHdtcIS8

I understand the skepticism of the posters on this board. I laughed at the concept of satellite radio when I first heard about, now my family has 5 subscriptions to XM Satellite Radio. There’s now about 13,000,000 people that pay for satellite radio in the US.

The Ojo will be similar, in that, the free Skype service will be fine for some people, but many people will pay for a better service such as the Ojo, just like terrestrial radio is fine for some people but many people will pay for satellite radio.

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Jama

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#54939 7-Dec-2006 15:57

Surely a good idea for the 'hearing challenged' with sign language.

BestTimesNow

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#54942 7-Dec-2006 16:33

Yes, Snap Video Relay Services will be offering the Ojo for free to the hearing impaired, in the US. Some red tape is holding up their official launch. Here is he link:

http://www.snapvrs.com/

riahon

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#54950 7-Dec-2006 18:03

I have been fielding questions from Deaf friends about this service as it would be ideal - BUT most Deaf people are in the lower socio-economic group (long story, blame Milan 1880) so its current pricing makes it unattainable.
I am sure there will be a market for these phones - the mind boggles when I hear of houses being bought and sold in the millions of dollars so someone out there would have spare money to spend on these gadgets.

BestTimesNow

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#54969 8-Dec-2006 01:52

The Ojo videophone and the monthly service charge will be free to qualified deaf people in the US. The service is paid for with our tax dollars. The deaf person can also dial 711 to call a video interpreter, who makes a voice call to whoever the deaf person needs to “speak” to. This interpreter service is also free to the deaf person.

http://caninterpreting.ubaccess.com/index.htm

Here’s info about ADA in the US

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/videorelay.html

neilinnz

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#55469 14-Dec-2006 14:46

My 2c.

For $1880 you can buy a brand new Apple iMac and get change. For that you'll get a machine that will allow full 17inch flat screen iChats with other Mac users (before anyone mentions Windows, there'll be far more Macs out their than ojo phones). Or you can use Skype either with full screen video chats with any Windows or Mac computer in the world. All calls free, no monthly fees. I use both all the time from NZ to the UK, iChat is just like the other person being here, no delay, no headsets, full screen video, you just talk openly to the screen. Skype isn't as good especially if you're on Go Large, but on any of the Pro plans it works well.
And for $1880 you can probably get 2 Windows laptops and webcams (why you'd want to is another question)
I feel sorry for the people Telecom suck in with these kind of products, for what it does it's very expensive and you have to pay an extra monthly fee on top of your Telecom line monthly fee, on top of your Telecom broadband monthy fee.

I'll be surprised if they sell more than 5 of these!

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#55479 14-Dec-2006 16:38

I think people forget there are more mobile phones and landlines in the world than computers. Granted, to use the Ojo you must have a broadband connection, and most would believe a broadband connection means at least a computer at home, but this is another story...

Some people like the simplicity. Plug the device and use it like a phone. No fumbling with computer stuff, program who won't run or talk to my friend's program on the other side of the world, etc...

neilinnz

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#55482 14-Dec-2006 16:59

There's certainly more computers than Ojos in the world though. Everyone you may want to video call in the world might not want to buy an Ojo, but most households with broadband do have computers.
Setting up Skype these days is very very easy, and it does just work, we have our computer illiterate parents using it and they love it. I'm not against the simplicity of the Ojo, just the fact there are just as good if not better free alternatives which can be used to call far more people. What would be great is if you could just buy a Skype video phone and plug that into your broadband connection. That's not far off, there are already Skype audio phones coming onto the market, maybe video ones already exist?
Skype on a computer might sound scarey but it's not, and once you've used it once it is as easy as using a phone. iChat on Mac on the other hand can take a bit of setting up due to the modems Xtra send out for free but once set up it's worth it.

Maybe one day in the future the Ojo and Skype and iChat and MSN Messanger and Yahoo Messanger and AOL Messanger and SightSpeed and blah blah blah will all be able to call each other....... wishful thinking! For the time being though Skype looks to be the leader with millions of users, that's millions of user you could video call without them having to pay for anything.

richms

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#55489 14-Dec-2006 18:53

If these were able to videocall to mobiles, then I can see that there may be a point getting one over a PC or whatever.

If the thing could stream TV or something, it may be usefull

But it cant, so its useless IMO

Richard rich.ms

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