Yes to VoIP calls on your PSP - 60% of you would

Latest Pocket-lint.co.uk Poll results hot off the press

2 June 2007 15:46 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Following BT's announcement that it is to develop a software-based application that will allow people to use their PSPs as VoIP handsets, in the latest Pocket-lint.co.uk reader Poll we asked you, "Would you use your PSP as a VoIP phone?" and 60% of you have backed up BT's decision with a "yes".

This new partnership will let PSP owners make VoIP voice (with a microphone) and video (with a camera add-on) calls via a Wi-Fi network, utilising the PSP's already built-in Wi-Fi adapter. The service will use BT's 21CN network.

At first the service will only work in the UK, via home networks or Wi-Fi hotspots, allowing users to call other PSP owners and some phones on BT's VoIP network.

Eventually the service will be compatible with landlines, mobiles and PCs. Over the course of the 4-year deal BT has signed with Sony, there are plans to distribute the software to telecoms companies in 100 other countries (excluding the States).

The Sony PSP has shifted over 24 million units worldwide - with 8 million of those in the European market - so there is plenty of potential take-up out there for this new scheme.

Sony isn't the first handheld gaming device to offer phone-like features - there is a headset available for Nintendo's DS that offers in game chatting - but it has not been released in the UK.

We don't think anyone's going to be ditching their mobiles in favour of this planned service, but it could be seen as a nice add-on to an already feature-rich portable gaming device - and that's certainly what 60% of you seem to think.

40% of Pocket-lint.co.uk readers perhaps agree with the detractors for this plan. Criticism for the proposals has come in the form of practical types (perhaps remembering N-Gage side-talking users getting gently mocked) pointing out that the PSP, although undeniably a lovely beast in many ways, does not compare favourably to other mobile VoIP solutions.