Whenever I do a review, I always do a quick search for existing commentary, mainly to see if I have anything worthwhile to add to the conversation. However many reviews we publish, we’re not a tech blog nor are we trying to be. We’re a SIP provider first, and reviews are part of what we feel will ultimately benefit our existing and incoming customers. I’d like to think that as a SIP service with a high emphasis on openness and the technology behind it all, we have something different (and hopefully worthwhile) to say about up and coming Voice over IP products.
There are already quite a few online reviews of the $599 Invoxia NVX610, which is to be expected since the device pairs with pretty much all of the iOS products. The views expressed range from so glowingly positive that I suspect someone got paid off to downright disappointment. I did notice that in all the reviews I read, not a single person mentioned using the Invoxia NVX610 with any VoIP service other than Skype, which to me is kind of like writing a review of a steakhouse when you went in and only ordered dessert. Before I get into all of that, I’ll first address an issue that I see being brought up time and time again: the price tag.
I will agree that $600 for a desktop phone is steep. Even more so when you consider that it’s a desktop phone that doesn’t even work without an iOS device. But let’s step back for a minute and look at how the NVX610 is positioned. First of all, the Invoxia NVX610 is marketed as the ‘New Generation Desktop Phone’ for business. New concepts typically are not cheap, especially not when they’re in any shape or form related to corporate telecommunications. Ever hear of video conferencing systems that cost tens / hundreds of thousands of dollars and wonder who the heck buys them? Someone does. The point here is that this isn’t something for the everyday consumer.
Next, let’s consider that the NVX 610 doubles as a conference phone, or at least that’s what Invoxia’s marketing tells me. If we assume that its performance lives up to Polycom conference phones (which is a huge assumption), then the $599 price tag is actually somewhat reasonable. Okay, more reasonable. Just compare it to the $1000 + list price of the Polycom Soundstation IP 7000 we just bought for our own office.
But enough rambling from me… let’s get to the actual review.
First Impressions
First of all, I want to make it very clear that even though the Invoxia NVX610 needs to be paired with iOS devices to work, it is a phone and not just a Bluetooth docking station like the iFusion we reviewed earlier. It comes with an Invoxia application that combines SIP and Skype. If you’re using the Invoxia app, your iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch) act only as the control mechanisms; they take care of dialing, contact management, and account configuration, but all the actual calls (with the exception of incoming / outgoing calls to / from your cellular number) are VoIP calls, and are handled by the phone’s hardware. Your iPhones mic and speakers aren’t in the equation. In my eyes, this is a SIP phone first, Bluetooth device second.
The NVX 610 has one of the most simplistic and unusual designs we’ve ever seen for a VoIP phone. It is more or less a rectangular box with rounded vertical edges. The four sides are wrapped in a continuous speaker grate that hides 8 digital microphones and 8 speakers. The side of the rectangle that faces upwards is nearly entirely bare except for an iOS dock and one protruding volume dial.
The phone comes with an assortment of ‘smart magnetic holders’, which is a really fancy name for different colored pieces of rubber with magnets inside. These quirky additions act as holders for the handset. Simply place one towards the left-hand side of the phone and it will fit into place. Also included are ‘adapters’ that fit over the iOS dock. These are to account for the varying designs of the different iOS devices that can be Bluetooth paired with the NVX610.
 |
 |
The handset is quite unusual in that there’s no curvature in the middle to fit your hand. Similar to the main piece, it is just a flattened rectangular box with the sides lined in metal. It isn’t the most comfortable handset to use on long calls. The earpiece is the only feature that protrudes out, and is coated in a soft rubbery material for user comfort.
Since a paired iOS device acts as the main control interface of this phone, there are only three buttons. The volume dial we mentioned earlier doubles as the pick up/hang up button. On either side of the dial are sensory touch buttons, one to self-mute and the other to access voicemail. The sensory buttons are flush with the flat top surface and were very responsive.
In the back of the device you’ll find an Ethernet jack, Integrated Ethernet Switch, 2 USB ports (your handset is a USB handset), and the on/off button. This is also where you would attach the iPad mount that comes with the device.
The design takes a little getting used to. Minimalistic would be an understatement. But then again, if the Invoxia app has a UI that combines all the features I need onto the screen on my iPhone, then why not?
Some will love it and some will hate it. Since you’ve read up to this point about a device that only works with iOS products, I’m going to assume that you’re an Apple fan and that you’re more likely to be in the former group.
Phone Configuration
The following instructions will walk you through how to set up an OnSIP user on the Invoxia NVX610. First off, do the obvious. Plug in the power adapter, Ethernet cable, etc. Next, look for Invoxia in the App Store on your iOS device and download it. This is a free download. Once you have downloaded the app, open it and dock your iOS device. Go into your iOS Settings > General > Bluetooth to pair your devices.
Next, click on Settings in the Invoxia app (cogwheel in the upper right hand corner) and scroll down until you see ‘SIP account’. Have your SIP user credentials ready:
- SIP Address (Address of Record)
- SIP Password
- Auth Username
- Username
- Proxy/Domain
OnSIP users can find this information in the user detail pages under the Users tab in the Phone Configuration section.
Select ‘User’ under ‘SIP Account’ in the app to create a new user. Click on the ‘Wizard’ button at the top of the next screen and scroll down on the list until you see ‘OnSIP’. Click on it. Simply enter in your user credentials into the appropriate fields on the following screen and you’re all set. At this moment, the Invoxia app allows one SIP account to be registered at a time.
 |
 |
The setup process was quick and not too complicated.
JN Testing
At Junction Networks, we put each of the phones we use through a multi-step interoperability test in which we apply ~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 CCall 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.
[ All testing was done on version lemon-1.55.0, Application version 3.0. ]
Our interoperability test was done on the NVX 610 with an OnSIP SIP account using the Invoxia application.
We ran into a couple of issues. First of all, the phone doesn’t do transfers because the SIP refer method is not yet fully supported. As far as I can tell, a transfer button is still missing from the app’s interface so there was obviously no way for us to initiate a transfer. We also had issues being transferred and being the target of a transfer. There are definitely some kinks to be worked out here.
The good news is that the developers are actively working on implementing this must-have feature. The latest app upgrade seems to be an interim version, giving users an updated UI for multi-call handling features that will be implemented in a firmware release in the near future.
Also curious is the fact that when we called into our own auto-attendant with the Invoxia phone, we weren’t able to get anything but silence. We didn’t have this issue with earlier versions of the app, so it’s possible something got mixed up with this latest update.
Voice Quality
Used as a Bluetooth device
Just like when we tested the iFusion docking station, I didn’t notice any significant voice quality decrease when we used the NVX610 as a Bluetooth dock with the iPhone ‘Phone’ app. We were able to get a much greater range of volume when we took calls on the handset / speakerphone versus on their iPhone counterparts. This device allows you to turn the volume way up. The speakerphone experience in particular is a huge improvement, which isn’t surprising considering that the NVX610 comes equipped with 8 digital microphones and speakers.
Used as a SIP phone
When making or taking your calls using SIP, the NVX610 supports the G.722 (also G.722.1 and SILK) wideband codec for high-definition audio, which makes the voice quality on the handset very good for VoIP calls with any phone that supports high-def.
Please remember that you will only get high definition audio on VoIP calls, calls that do not traverse the public switched telephone network at any point. For OnSIP customers, this means conferences, SIP calls, and extension-to-extension calls.
To test Invoxia’s In Vivo Acoustic Technology (speakers and microphones), we put the NVX610 next to the Polycom Soundstation 7000 in our 15’ by 25’ conferencing room to see how the device measured up to one of the best office conference phones we know of. We were pleasantly surprised.
The microphone pickup range on the NVX610 isn’t quite as large as it is on the Polycom so when you walk more than 10 feet away from the device, the listener on the other end will start to have some trouble distinguishing the finer details. However, when we were in the appropriate range, audio clarity was excellent on both sides of the call.
On the NVX610 side, the overall speakerphone voice quality was comparable to what the Polycom Soundstation 7000 delivers, which is impressive. The Invoxia iPhone application allows you to switch between a ‘Room’ setting and a ‘Front’ setting. ‘Room’ utilizes all the speakers and microphones while ‘Front’ is an appropriate setting for when it’s just one person using the speakerphone feature at their desk.
In rare cases, listeners on the other end reported a delayed, distorted echo when we were using the NVX610 speakerphone.
I’ve read somewhere that when two NVX610’s are used together, the phones will actually reproduce voices as if they’re coming from different directions so that callers will feel like they are in the same room. Unfortunately, since we only had one test unit to work with, we did not experience this ourselves.
Overall, we were very pleased with the speakerphone/conferencing capabilities of the NVX610. The limited microphone pickup range makes it unsuitable for large conference rooms, but it should work fine in an office or smaller meeting room. Relatively minor intermittent echo cancellation issues aside, the NVX610 speakerphone is very good.
Usage
As a Bluetooth device for the native iPhone dialer
The NVX610 is integrated perfectly with the native ‘Phone’ app. Assuming that your iPhone is Bluetooth paired, you’ll get the option to select an audio source when you’re dialing out using the iPhone dialer. Selecting the Invoxia NVX610 will automatically make the call go through the device’s speakerphone. Pick up the handset at anytime to take it off speaker. When you hang up the handset, your call will terminate.
If you get an incoming call to your cellular number and you want to use the NVX610, you can hit the volume dial to put your caller through the speakers or simply pick up the handset. Everything just works. Your iPhone does not need to be docked to use the NVX610.
As a Bluetooth device for a SIP softphone
As far as I can tell, trying to integrate Bria, the only VoIP softphone on the iOS that I know of that supports Bluetooth, with the Invoxia NVX610 doesn’t work at all. Each time I tried to make a call with Bria while Bluetooth paired with the Invoxia, I got a message telling me that there was a “Phone Error: Unspecified CPMEDIA error”. There’s something with the RTP media stack Counterpath built that isn’t playing nicely.
With the Invoxia app
As I mentioned earlier, the accompanying Invoxia iOS app is the main control mechanism. It looks and feels a lot like the iPhone’s Phone application. There are 5 tabs in total: a ‘Home’ tab that displays the date and time, and allows you to get into ‘Settings’, a ‘Recents’ tab, a ‘Contacts’ tab, which is just your iPhone & Skype contacts ported over, a keypad, and finally, ‘Voicemail’, which is a ‘currently unavailable’ copy of the visual voicemail tab in the native Phone app.
 |
 |
Click on the ‘Settings’ cogwheel from the ‘Home’ tab and you’ll see that there aren’t many customization options. In addition to setting up your SIP and Skype users, you can turn on/off incoming call notifications, choose to display recent calls on the ‘Home’ tab, and change the ring tone. Incoming call notifications allow you to answer calls using your iPhone even when the app is running the background; this feature worked without a hitch.
The keypad holds no surprises. Currently, you cannot dial SIP URIs with the Invoxia keypad so that’s a little bit disappointing.
This is what the Invoxia app UI looks like during a call:
 |
 |
Again, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. The ‘Room’ button in the bottom right corner is the button that allows you to switch between microphone focus modes. The ‘more’ button that you see was added in the latest app release to prepare for the multi-call handling features in the upcoming firmware version. Right now it just takes you to a menu full of grayed out options.
Something important to note is that you do not have to have the Invoxia application open or even running in the background to take incoming calls using the hardware. Your SIP account stays registered on the device.
As a Bluetooth device to play your music
The music feature was also added in a recent update. I won’t say too much about this since it has little to do with business telephony, but I will say that, again, the 8 speakers shine.
Summary
It's a bit premature to make closing statements about the Invoxia NVX 610. We love the idea, the audio quality is great, and the build quality of the device is clearly fantastic. However, if you're going to advertise a product as the 'Next Generation' anything, I would expect that you would include the features of the 'Previous Generation': Multi-call handling, Blind Transfer, Attended Transfer, Multiple SIP accounts, etc. We will update this write-up when we get our hands on the next firmware version.