Last Gadget Standing Finalist

By my count, there are three hyphens in the name of this product. That's crazy. Here's what else is crazy: The D-Link V-Click is designed to make regular GSM calls (à la Cingular and T-Mobile) as well as VoIP calls over any Wi-Fi network.

VoIP has recently been integrated into many cell phone lines, but it's comparably new to cellular phones. And while many smart phones have Wi-Fi radios, few have VoIP so integrated into the handset the way the V-Click does.

I'll start with the good: As promised, the phone handles both types of calls with relative ease. Making a cell phone call is painless (as it should be), and setting up the phone for VoIP isn't terribly difficult. The design is a familiar candy bar, with surprisingly few frills. The centerpiece is a small button on the side: Just click it to turn the Wi-Fi radio on and off, which gives you access to the VoIP system.

Configuring the phone to access a Wi-Fi router is a little tricky (and D-Link didn't send me a manual to make things easier), but eventually you'll stumble upon the place where you input settings for a the wireless network (like WEP passwords). Once you set up your SIP VoIP account (D-Link had a freebie account pre-installed), you get a new option whenever you dial a phone number: GSM or VoIP. Just click an extra button and your call is underway. In my tests, it was nearly impossible to tell the difference between cellular and Wi-Fi calls. The overall quality of the VoIP service on the V-Click is extremely impressive.

There are a few additional extras here: You can use the V-Click as a regular web browser (Opera is included), send e-mail, play games, or watch streaming video (though I couldn't figure out how to change the "channel" off of a French newsfeed).

There are also a few big negatives here: The phone is dog slow to respond to commands, often taking up to 10 seconds to register a button press when you launch an application or even try to initiate a phone call. There's no camera, no memory card slot, no 3G support, 802.11b instead of g (or better). Budget seekers won't be thrilled, either. In the absence of carrier discounts (this is an unlocked phone you can use with any GSM network), it's a cool $600 at retail. That's a really hard sell.

Interesting stuff, though, and it's a good early effort for a rising segment of the market. Someday, VoIP capabilities will probably be as common as cameras on phones, so, if you can, definitely give D-Link's entry a spin.