Aastra 57i
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Please note:
- Disclaimer 1: We often test single phones in a lab environment. Real-world experience on your network might produce different results.
- Disclaimer 2: More importantly, these are REVIEWS and not RECOMMENDATIONS. Please read the review carefully for the features you are looking for to see if the reviewed phone has the features you are looking for. Our RECOMMENDED phones for OnSIP are found here.
- This phone currently does not support our Music On Hold feature.
Aastra 6757i: At a Glance
| Category | Rating (0-5) |
|---|---|
| First Impressions |
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| Phone Configuration |
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| Junction Networks Testing |
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| Voice Quality |
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| Ease of Use |
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The Aastra 57i is a feature-rich, customizable business SIP phone 'ideally suited for executives and heavy telephone users who require more one-touch feature keys and a large screen to take full advantage of XML based programs.'
Indeed the phone comes with a 144 by 128 pixel LCD screen, and 6 dynamic context-sensitive softkeys that align the sides of the display. These soft-keys also make up half of the 12 programmable keys that come with the phone. For more one touch feature keys, the Aastra has given their 57i expandability options: the phone itself can support three Aastra M670i modules, each of which offers 36 keys with LED indicators, or three of the ‘advanced’ Aastra M675i modules, each of which offers 60 keys and its own LCD display and LED system. That’s a lot of buttons for one person! We can’t imagine anyone needing more than a hundred customized one-touch buttons, but its nice to know that the extras are there should someone need them.
The phone comes with 4 lines, a built in full-duplex speakerphone, and wideband audio compatibility. The phone does not actually come with HD voice, but it is available through Aastra’s Hi-Q audio technology, a software-based ‘acoustic optimization’ upgrade that comes with the latest firmware versions.
Feature Overview
- Class: Executive Class Phone
- Application Targets: Office, Heavy calling
- 144X128 pixel graphical LCD display
- 18 dedicated hard keys, 6 context sensitive soft keys, 12 programmable keys
- Full Duplex Speakerphone
- Pricing: ~$210
First Impressions
We’ve heard a lot of good things about this phone. TMC’s Tom Keating gave it a lengthy, glowing review and called it one of his “favorite VoIP phones”. NerdVittles.com calls the Aastra 57i “the world’s best asterisk phone”. Given all the buzz about this piece of equipment, we just had to get our hands on one and test it out ourselves.
The Aastra 57i makes a very good first impression. For a little over 200 bucks, it comes with a 144 by 128 pixel graphical LCD screen, probably one of the biggest displays we have ever seen. The resolution isn’t great, resulting in blocky-looking text, but now we’re just being nitpicky. The latest firmware releases also upgrade the sound quality considerably, giving the phone wideband audio support, something that you probably won’t find in most other phones in around the $200 price range.
The look of the phone is all business. Silver on black, sharp edges, with almost 20 LEDs. The handset is just around the right weight; not too light that it has a hollow feel, but also not too heavy. We do wish that the handset would feel more secure when we hang up the phone, but this is a minor issue. After the many attempts to accidentally not hang up the phone were unsuccessful, the wobbly handset no longer bothered us.
Phone Configuration
Configuring users for the Aastra 57i is not difficult at all with the intuitive web interface that Aastra provides. Configuration instructions for this phone can be found in the dedicated Aastra section of our knowledgebase. The phone reboots very quickly so users don’t have to wait 2 or 3 minutes for their changes to take place. Another great feature of the web interface is that firmware upgrades can be done from the browser, something we found incredibly convenient. This process takes only a few minutes, and it can be one of the ways to get new features such as wideband audio.
Junction Networks Interoperability Test
At Junction Networks, we put each of the phones we use through a multi-step interoperability test in which we put the phones through 30 test cases. An example of a test case would be the following:
“Test phone calls phone B
B picks up
B puts Test phone on hold
B calls phone C
C picks up
B transfers test phone to C
Call must be transferred correctly to C. B must be released correctly after the transfer. When C picks up, audio must work in both ways between test phone and C. When test phone is on hold, there is no audio between it and phone B.”
We are very happy to say that the Aastra 57i passed each case.
Voice Quality
We’re currently running the latest firmware version on our 57i, version 2.5.2.30, and the voice quality is superb. We were excited to learn about the wideband audio upgrade software upgrade, and even more excited that it did not disappoint. Wideband audio automatically kicks in for all calls that successfully negotiate the use of G.722 codec, and is available for all the 67xxi phones, meaning that enhanced audio quality is available not only to the 57i, but also to the 55i, 53i, 51i, 31i and 30i. Rarely do you get this kind of audio quality with phones in this price range, so we were very pleasantly surprised. It isn't quite up to par with Polycom phones, but the users will still appreciate the vast improvement.
Speakerphone
The new software upgrade also extends to the speakerphone but the difference in quality is not as noticeable. The speakerphone itself works great, and the voice quality is definitely still very good considering the price of the phone.
Ease of Use
The Aastra 57i is very user friendly. The large LCD screen and the accompanying navigation buttons make many of the functions incredibly easy to access. Users can view up to four options at a time when they need to look through a long menu list, making searching for desired choices painless. The phone does not have dedicated hard keys for ‘transfer’ or ‘conference’ because it is all taken care of with the context sensitive keys. For example, when a call is not in progress, the context sensitive keys at the bottom half of the LCD may either be blank or customized with one-touch features. When a call is incoming, the keys change to “answer” and “ignore”, and when a call is in progress, the keys change to correspond with the “drop”, “public”, “conference” and “transfer” functions.
One of the main selling points of this phone is its advanced XML capability to access custom applications. Currently, some of the most valuable applications like Visual Voicemail, which allows you to selectively pick which of your messages you want to play based on the Caller ID, are only available with Asterisk-based PBXs. Freely available apps include Google, CNN, Netflix, ESPN, etc.
More advanced features are also supported. For example, you can track the phone status of another member of your team and see when they’re available from your LCD screen. Some of these features are covered in depth in TMC’s review of the phone.
Final Thoughts
We highly recommend the Aastra 57i to executives or to anyone who is constantly on the phone. The large LCD screen, and the wideband audio compatibility are both huge selling points. The phone is also highly customizable, which is always a plus. The fact that users on an Asterisk-based PBX can take advantage of some very useful XML applications is icing on the cake. At around $200, you’ll be hard-pressed to find another phone that does this many things right.
