Asus videophone for Skype hits the UK

The first dedicated Skype videophone, the Asus EEE Videophone, is now available to buy in the UK.

The battery-powered device was announced by Asus at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year and will cost around 220.

Manrique Brenes, Skype's director of business development and product management for consumer electronics, said: "The Eee Videophone is Skype's first foray with a partner into the videophone category."

"The videophone offers the benefits of video calling to a much wider audience, allowing friends and families to share their worlds face-to-face without being tied to a computer."

The product is supported by Wi-Fi or Ethernet broadband and features a seven inch LCD screen, built in microphone and speaker and a 0.3 megapixel webcam. For more private calls there is also a headset available.

The videophone can be pre-ordered from either Amazon or the Skype shop from today.

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.