As of the time of writing, Gizmo Project is now open to short usernames starting with 4 characters. I recieved this email today, and immediatley signed in to the mobile client to secure a decent short name. "Tony" was gone, but "tall" was available - so I grabbed it! Feel free to add me to your Gizmo contacts for IM or voice calling.

I must admit, the Gizmo app for Pocket PC is awful (though the service itself is great). Its a Midlet, and it misbehaves on my HTC (OKTA) Touch, and is a general pain, and the calling is a callback service. Problems I experienced included:

* Multiple attempts to connect to the internet (despite a valid cellular connection already being present, connected, and okayed for use by the midlet)

* Intermittent freezing of the app, with a blank screen

* One soft reset required

But I got there in the end.

Gizmo team - we would love a native WM5/6 client, with a one line today screen plugin.

I only downloaded it because that is a requirement for signing up for a short name, which can then be used via the standard Gizmo Project desktop client, or any SIP compliant VoIP system, like X-Lite softphone, Asterisk, Trixbox, or many IP PBX's.

Good luck securing your preferred short name!

Gizmo is a VoIP client not totally unlike Skype, where you sign up, download the client, and start making free calls to other Gizmo users. You can also call (and recieve calls from) other SIP telephone numbers, normal landlines, cellphones and 1-800 lines etc. Call credit is required for some chargeable calls. Gizmo has some really cool features - I suggest you check out their service, and one of the biggies of course, is open standards and interoperability with other non-Gizmo VoIP systems.

As a loyal Gizmo user we wanted to alert you that we have recently released new mobile software called Gizmo5 which will accept short usernames. Previously only 8 character or longer names were available, but now names as short as 4 letters or numbers are possible. Because this is a new feature, we wanted to let you know so you can get that favorite short identifier that you may use elsewhere.

You are receiving this email in advance of a public release to increase the odds that our most active users will get the names they desire.

Important Details: Shorter Gizmo names can only be setup through our newest software, Gizmo5, the new mobile version of Gizmo. But once you've signed up using Gizmo5, you can use your new Gizmo username on any SIPphone product (Gizmo Project, My.SIPphone.com, Gizmo5). Here's how...

Step 1: Go to www.gizmo5.com using your mobile phone

Step 2: Download the Gizmo5 software to your phone

Step 3: Sign up for a new Gizmo account and choose your new shorter name

Step 4: Don't forget to tell your friends about your new name!

To transfer your Call Out credit, please visit http://gizmoproject.com/ticket and follow the instructions. Thanks for using Gizmo. We appreciate your business.