Gizmo Project announces the public beta of its free consumer VoIP software, heralded as “the first viable Skype alternative.” Free downloads are available for both Windows and Mac users on its website. The software has won early praise from press and bloggers alike for its clean user interface, simplicity, and use of open standards and directory.

Each Gizmo user enjoys worldwide, unlimited free member-to-member calling, the ability to add U.S. or U.K. phone numbers to their account, and the ability to call the regular phone system for rates as low as 1.8 cents/min for U.S. phones, 10% less than Skype’s U.S. rate.

In addition to these essential features, Gizmo Project adds a number of new innovations, including:

– Call Mapping that shows the two points of the call on a world map
– Call Hold with user selectable music
– Call Blocking with user selectable message from polite, to firm, to “just rude”
– Free Voicemail to email with user selectable message
– Call Recording, which one blogger called “the killer app for podcasting”
– Interactive Voice Applications, provided by Tellme (www.tellme.com), allow users to get real-time news, stock quotes, and weather…even play a game of blackjack
– Call Subject tells the person you are calling the purpose of your call before they answer, just like email
– Realtime Call Quality Indicator works like the bars on your mobile phone, showing network issues that can affect call quality
– Realtime Presence like instant messengers shows your friends when you are logged in or on the phone

“Skype is a closed, proprietary network. This is bad for everyone but Skype. Open, standards-based networks prevent the balkanization that plagues the instant messaging world, with its five different and incompatible networks. Gizmo Project’s commitment to open standards insures interoperability with any other open, SIP standards-based voice network,” says SIPphone’s founder, Michael Robertson. SIPphone is the voice over IP startup behind the Gizmo Project.

Gizmo Project is the first standards-based software to excel at usability, call quality, hardware compatibility and features. Point-and-click calling, powerful firewall traversal and proxy support means Gizmo Project works in nearly any network environment. However, because Gizmo does not operate on a pure P2P model its members’ computer resources and bandwidth are never tapped to route calls, as they are with Skype. Exceptional call quality is achieved over broadband and low bandwidth environments by supporting a wide range of audio compression technologies including Global IP Sound, which is also used by Skype. Beta testers routinely report, “Gizmo Project calls sound even better than Skype.”

Gizmo Project is available immediately for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X users. A Linux version is in alpha release now, and will be released for public beta in August. The simultaneous Mac and Windows release has kept vocal Mac users happy. Chris Holland of theAppleBlog.com writes, “(Gizmo Project’s) Mac OS X software is very good…convenience, flexibility, this thing has it all!”

Gizmo Project has also received praise from technology journalists and bloggers around the world. Erick Schonfeld of Business 2.0, who had an opportunity to use an early beta of the software, wrote, “I like (Gizmo Project) better than Skype.” Dan Schafer, respected tech blogger of Eclecticity.com, says, “I find Skype pretty usable, but the user interface on Gizmo is way better…I could see replacing a lot of my expensive cell phone usage (with Gizmo).”

The Gizmo Project began as an internal proof-of-concept by the engineering staff of SIPphone. The product was so well received by team members and partners that it was released to the public under its internal name “Gizmo Project.” July 2005 is the first public release of the product, which has been widely praised by journalists, consumers and tech bloggers around the world for its reliability, call quality, features, and intuitive user interface.

For screenshots, please go here. I’m about to give it a try and see how it compares with Skype.

Recent Entries

• Scientists warn that Skype is an ideal vehicle for hackers
• Netgear WiFi phone - for Skype!
• Windows Live Messenger Phone
• Uniden and 8×8 Introduce New Generation of Co-Branded VoIP Products
• Jawbone information
• ZyXEL VoIP WiFi phone
• VoIP Security
• Sennheiser Introduces Two VoIP Headsets
• Verizon VoiceWing
• Skype headphones and microphones

This entry was posted on Friday, July 15th, 2005 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Gizmo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.