Linksys iPhone CIT300 Dual-Mode Skype Phone

Reviews: Electronics

Digital Cameras | PDAs | Communications

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Mark Korff
Kurtis
Linksys
Jan. 21, 2007

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First Impressions

The iPhone CIT300 consists of three basic components. First of all there's the cordless handset itself, the charger, and last but not least, the USB base station. The handset comes with rechargeable batteries included, so before first use you'll want to leave it plugged into the charger for about 14 hours according to the Linksys recommendation. The charger has its own power supply and is completely independent of the USB base station which is nice since it can be placed anywhere in your home and doesn't need to be directly next to your computer.

The USB base station has its own power supply as well, however it does need to be connected to your PC in order to make use of the Skype functionality, and your PC will also need to be powered on in order to make Skype calls. The base station is fairly simple and only requires one free USB connection, and of course the previously mentioned power supply to be plugged in before it is fully operational. If a landline is going to be used with the CIT300 as well, then the phone line will also need to be plugged into the back of the base station. The last item of interest with the USB base station is the "page" button on the front of it. Pressing this button will play a loud melody on the handset to aid in retrieval if it gets misplaced or falls behind a couch cushion or something–standard fare for a cordless phone.

The handset has a rather simple design similar to the cell phones that most of us are very familiar with by now. It is slightly larger than most current cell phones, but since you won't be carrying the CIT300 around with you when you're out of the house, this is actually quite nice since it's easier to hold on to than the average cell phone. The color screen on the unit is not very large compared to many of today's camera phones, but in terms of functionality this is not much of a problem since the text is still easy to read, and we're definitely not concerned about taking pictures with this phone.

The buttons on the CIT300 are all backlit and light up as soon as the unit is removed from the charging cradle, or whenever a button is pressed. As I mentioned previously, the buttons are all fairly standard with the exception of the button labeled "Skype," which is used to quickly access your list of Skype contacts, and can then be pressed a second time in order to place a call to that specific contact. There is also a covered connector on the side of the phone which can be used in conjunction with a headset if so desired.

Since the CIT300 needs to interface with your computer in order to be fully functional, the last step that needs to take place is to install the Linksys software and Skype. Linksys includes a version of Skype on the installation disk along with the necessary CIT300 drivers, but it's probably a better idea just to download the latest version of Skype directly from their website. The driver installation is very straightforward and shouldn't pose any problems for most users. If you're not already a Skype user, you'll need to create a Skype account (which is free), and install the software from their site. Once all of that is done, you should be ready to enjoy what the CIT300 has to offer.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Impressions
Page 3: Testing
Page 4: Conclusion

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1 User Comment

1 - Posted by Kurtis on January 24, 2007 - 4:44 pm

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