VoIP Phone Reviews

"One SIP client that we have kept our eye on for a while now is Media5-Fone from Media5 Corporation, a provider of “Secure, Survivable MMoIP Branch Office Solutions for Service Providers”. The company has released a series of updates to the Media5-Fone over the past couple of months, turning it from a basic calling application to a full-featured soft phone. Apple recently approved version 2.4.1.9 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and here are a few of our initial thoughts."

"First unveiled late last year at the BroadSoft Connections executive conference, the 6739i is Aastra’s most advanced enterprise class IP desk phone to date. It has drawn many comparisons to other premium solutions from top competing brands like the Polycom 670 and the Snom 870. We will eventually get to testing and reviewing all of them; the 6739i just happens to be the first one up. "

"Built only a week ago, Bria iPhone Edition version 1.0.3008, has a lot of competition in the mobile VoIP app market. There are probably no less than a dozen similar apps, each of them months ahead in terms of the number of updates and upgrades. The good news is that Counterpath included pretty much everything we wanted in their first version. While other publishers started their apps with the very basics (making and receiving calls) and added additional features slowly over the weeks and months, Counterpath crammed almost everything we could possibly want in their first version..."

"iSIP 4.4 is a completely different mobile VoIP app than the one we tested back in 2009. The look is still mostly the same (iSIP isn’t nearly as pretty as Acrobits), but a lot has changed under the hood. For one, the application now works over 3G, which is a must-have feature in our opinion. A mobile VoIP application that relies on Wi-fi is pretty pointless if you ask me. iSIP also supports call transfer and golly gee willikers, Batman!—it actually works pretty well. Other features worth noting are support for call recording, push notifications, multiple active SIP accounts and wideband audio..."

"The Acrobits Softphone is a mobile SIP application for the iPhone platform. It is one of the higher rated applications we’ve encountered in the App Store (4 out of 5 stars last time we checked), which is a good sign. We’ve been looking around for a great desk-phone-replacing mobile application for a while now; one that has all the normal calling features you’d expect from a business phone, and allows you to be reached on your mobile device when someone dials your extension. As we implied in our last mobile app review, being able to say goodbye to our desk phone (at least for a while) has always been an unfulfilled dream of ours..."

"The Gigaset S675 is a relatively affordable DECT or Digitally Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications VoIP solution from Siemens. For around $130, the package comes with the base station, a rather boring looking black box with a glowing blue button, and one S67H handset. Savvy shoppers can find additional S67H handsets for around $70 (hint: Amazon), but you’ll be happy to know that a wide range of Gigaset handsets can be registered to the S675 base station..."

"There’s lots of buzz about SIPDroid, a “SIP client for Android” which is under GNU General Public License v3. The project page says SIPDroid “Adds native SIP/VoIP to Android's dialer/contacts. Make and receive calls over Wifi, 3G, and EDGE with perfect voice quality and lowest delay”. AWESOME! Open Source, Native SIP, Wifi, 3G, Perfect Voice Quality! Sounds good, right?..."

"The Grandstream GXP 2020 Enterprise SIP phone is the top end device in the company’s GXP series of phones that are supposedly (taken from Grandstream’s site) ‘feature rich, auto-provisionable for mass deployment, easy to use and competitively priced’. The company specializes in very affordable VoIP equipment and the GXP 2020 is no exception. At around $140, this phone is probably one of the most affordable ‘executive class’ user agents on the market..."

"Psi is a completely open source XMPP instant messaging client that uses Qt, an application development framework most notably involved in the development of applications and programs like Google Earth and Skype. Unlike Adium, which is specifically designed for the Mac OS X, Psi will also work on machines running Linux and Microsoft Windows..."

"Adium is a free multi-protocol instant messaging client for the Mac OS X. It supports an extensive list of the most popular IM networks, including AIM, Google Talk, Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Lotus Sametime, XMPP, and more. We've found that Adium is a great way to consolidate all the contacts on your multiple networks into one application..."

"The WPU 7700 seems to be the preferred end point of choice for LG’s subscribers--they are selling like hotcakes! Over 1.44 million units have been sold as of December last year and we heard that LG plans on ordering hundreds of thousands more. As you may already know, when we do reviews like this, we look at things from a business perspective...It will certainly to interesting to see if the WPU 7700, a phone that’s clearly fantastic for the consumer market, will fare just as well in a corporate environment..."

"Korean vendor Unidata focuses on two main products, the WPU 7700 wifi phone and the far more interesting SQ 3000. We’re pretty sure the SQ 3000 is one of the first mobile wifi video ‘HD’ touch-screen phones on the market. Since the majority of our readers employ VoIP for business, we will be specifically looking at how the SQ 3000 would hold up in a business environment. The Unidata SQ 3000 is about the size and weight of an IPhone..."

"The Aastra 6730i is the new entry-level addition to Aastra’s line of 67xi SIP phones, which range from the 6730i to the new 6739i executive class IP phone. Since Aastra released its own wideband audio technology, Aastra’s ‘Hi-Q’, all models in the 67xi lineup allow users to experience wideband audio via the industry standard G.722 codec..."

"The Polycom 335 looks and feels almost exactly like the 331, but there are a few differences and upgrades here and there that we will get to in this review. The most significant improvement over the 331 is obviously the new “HD voice” label on the handset..."

"The Cisco SPA504G is a midrange business desktop phone with an extensive feature list considering that you can pick one up for under $150. The phone supports 4 lines, each of which can be registered to separate SIP addresses. It also includes a high-resolution backlit LCD display, a full-duplex speakerphone, and a feature that’s particularly exciting to us—G.722 wideband audio support...."

"Polycom has long since established itself as a leader in the industry and high-end devices like the 550 show why it deserves the attention. In short, this is a good phone. In fact, it’s a very good phone. The question is whether or not this phone is right for you, and if it’s worth spending that little bit extra for the added benefits. The Polycom Soundpoint IP 550 is a 4-line SIP phone that supports wideband audio, more commonly known as HD voice (G.722 codec)..."

"We recently got our hands on the Aastra Mobility Base Unit (MBU) 400, and a few of the Aastra 420d handsets that go along with it. The MBU 400 is a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) solution designed especially for small businesses. If you or your employees ever need to be mobile while on the phone for whatever reason, then this might be what you’re looking for..."