Essentials

Skype is a little piece of software lets you call anyone else on Skype, anywhere in the world, free. It started out as a way of making phone calls from your computer to other people on Skype. Now it's available on 3 Skypephone at the touch of a button. *

The 3 Skypephone mobile is an exclusive handset for 3 globally, designed to be a small, compact handset with Skype functionality built in – the first of its kind in the world.

A quick tour of your screen, your keypad and the main functions

The Start Screen

This is what you'll see when you first turn on your 3 Skypephone:

The start or idle screen

The Status bar

At the top of the screen is your status bar, with icons that tell you (from left to right) the strength of your mobile signal and how much charge your battery has.

Other icons can also come up, depending on how you set up your mobile, such as what profile you're using, if you have an alarm set and if there's an event in your calendar today.

The bottom of the screen

This is where menu options appear depending on which part of the phone you're in. Select them by pressing the soft keys (featuring a dash) immediately below them. On the start screen, they'll show 'Launcher' on the left and `Planet 3', which is packed with music, TV, sport, gossip, games and much more, on the right.

The Skype key and shortcut rocker

The big button in the middle of the keypad is the Skype key. This is what you press to talk or instant message free with any of your mates contacts who also use Skype. It also functions as the OK key. *

The metal square around the Skye key is a 'rocker', which you can press up, down and to the sides.

• Press up to open your Calendar.
• Press down to go to your Contacts list.
• Press right to view your Messages.
• Press left to take you to your Profiles menu.

The soft keys

At the top of the keypad on either side, are the two soft keys. These control the options that appear at the bottom of your screen.

The other keys are as all other standard handsets.

The Menu function

The Menu function lets you change most of the things that affect the way your mobile works, apart from Skype.

To get to the Menu function, hit the `Menu' key. You'll now see a list of nine icons - Web, Call log, Games and Apps, Multimedia, Messages, My stuff, Tools, Contacts and Settings.

To select a menu icon, scroll up or down with the rocker keys to highlight it then hit the Skype key. If there's anything you can't change from the menu, check your mobile's manual for more details.