Photos: Qool Labs SkyQube brings Skype to your mobile
This unassuming green box lets you receive all your UK calls to your landline, mobile or Skype numbers anywhere in the world for the price of a SkypeOut call
This box saves you a fortune in mobile roaming charges when you're overseas by routing your calls over the Skype network.
The SkyQube Squared (play video) from Qool Labs is a VoIP gateway that enables you to forward calls and messages made to your mobile phone or landline via SkypeOut to another number anywhere in the world.
The idea is that the box lives at home, next to your PC. You take the SIM card out of your mobile phone and slot it into the SkyQube. Once there, any calls made to your phone are sent over the SkypeOut network to a phone wherever you choose. You could send them to a landline abroad, for example, or buy a pay-as-you-go SIM in the country you're travelling in to receive calls.
You only pay for the SkypeOut charges, making it very cheap to receive calls from friends and family wherever you are. It also means you don't need to give them a different mobile number -- all they need to do is call your normal landline, mobile or Skype number. Whatever you choose, you'll be saving a tonne of money in roaming fees.
It also forwards on your mobile's text messages and lets you reply to them, and saves voicemail when you can't receive a call, compressing it into a WMA file and emailing it to you.
Another version, simply called the SkyQube, has the same features but without the SIM card. This lets you re-route calls to your landline phone over SkypeOut.
Both versions work in conjunction with the SkyQube software you can download for free here. Even without the box, the software lets you record calls, receive voicemail and send SMS via SkypeOut, amongst other things.
The SkyQube and SkyQube Squared are currently not available in the UK, but given how cool these products are Crave thinks they will hit UK shores very soon. Click through our photos for more details.
On the back there are ports to connect it to your PC and telephone line.
In order to make it work, you need to connect SkyQube Squared to your PC and leave your PC on.
This is the SIM card slot on the SkyQube Squared. It lets you redirect your mobile phone's incoming calls to any number you want around the world.
This is a screenshot of the software that you need to install on your PC. As you can see, it looks similar to Skype's interface.