If we are going to spend $599 on a phone for our phone, it must offer unparalleled audio quality, absolutely seamless device integration, and a drop-dead gorgeous design. Invoxia, a brand new entrant to the arena of VoIP telephony, claims to have created just that, with its NVX 610. The desktop unit uses an iPhone (or iPod touch or iPad) app as its control interface — the hardware itself includes only touch-sensitive volume, mute, speakerphone, and voicemail keys. Apart from accessing your iOS device’s address book, however, the entire phone’s hardware is self-contained. Calls are processed using the built-in ARM Cortex-A8 processor, and may be made via Skype or any third-party SIP. You may also take incoming iPhone calls using the handset or speakerphone, but all outgoing calls are processed using VoIP, not your iPhone’s mobile network. We took a peek on the NVX 610 at IFA , and certainly liked what we saw. Jump past the break for our initial impressions, and a (somewhat noisy) intro video from Invoxia CEO Serge Renouard.
From what we saw, the NVX 610 gave the look to be conceptually sound, though due to connectivity issues we were only ready to hearken to a simulated demo mode. The device connects for your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad using the 30-pin dock connector, or over Bluetooth (a built-in connector and attachments can fit various iPhones and iPod touches, and you’ll connect your iPad using an Apple-supplied dock connector cable). Renouard insisted that audio quality was identical when making actual phone calls, and if that’s really the case, shall we easily see this replacing both corporate desk phones, which might sometimes cost near to the 610′s $600 retail price, and conference room speakerphones, which occasionally cost much more. And because the device can access your iPhone or iPad’s address book, with the ability to use multiple phones inside the office while maintaining access to your whole contacts could prove invaluable.
One of many phone’s premier features is its position-based audio in speakerphone mode. If both callers are using the 610 and this mode is enabled, it uses eight microphones and 8 speakers to distinguish between users in accordance with where they’re sitting in a room. Callers sitting to the left in their phone would be heard from the left speakers, for instance — particularly helpful if you end up chatting with multiple people speaking from the similar conference room. There’s also an analogous mode for music playback (yes, you could play music from iOS in addition). Pink Floyd’s Money definitely offered fuller sound on this multi-position mode, though it’s difficult to produce a more detailed analysis since our demo was within the construction zone that surrounded the Invoxia booth. It is easy to visualize the 610 providing better sound in a quiet office, and music playback obviously isn’t a key feature of a VoIP phone.
Overall, the Invoxia NVX 610 is a sublime desktop VoIP solution. The entire hardware is self-contained — iOS is actually only used to control the address book, display visual voicemail, adjust settings, and dial phone numbers. It’s greater than only a speakerphone and handset dock — all calls are processed in the desktop device itself. $599 is much greater than you could spend to put in this at home (Renouard says a less expensive home unit is within the works), but for businesses used to spending no less than this much for every enterprise user, shall we see this being successful. The telephone is now available on Invoxia’s website, with an “introductory” $499 price ticket.
invoxia – telephony’s year one.
Today, 135 years after the phone was invented, invoxia is finally revolutionizing the desktop phone. By selecting the iPhone to function its interface, invoxia has reconciled the world’s smartest mobile solution and the necessities of sedentary business. Ease of use, revolutionary ergonomics, sleek design, amazing acoustics, dramatic sound spatialization and disruptive technologies are all hallmarks of this wholly new tool, marking the appearance of sensory telephony. With this, invoxia is set to set a brand new global benchmark for the office desktop phone.
Invoxia has decided to show the sector of commercial telephony on its head and create an aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly object more in keeping with the sector we are living in.
Says Serge Renouard, Invoxia co-founder: “Eric Carreel and that i made the observation that business telephony had never really moved forwards. Existing devices are highly complex and, surprisingly, unable to offer levels of service reminiscent of what consumer mobile handsets – similar to the iPhone – can offer. With Invoxia, we’re trying to create a tool featuring the proper technology with a view to achieve unparalleled efficiency and quality”.
The invoxia NVX 610 is the primary desktop IP phone that uses the iPhone as its control interface to radically simplify business telephony. With its ultra-innovative acoustic design, it offers unparalleled sound quality in both handsfree mode and private communications (using the handset).
The invoxia phone features 8 wide-bandwidth speakers and eight digital microphones. When utilized in “conference” mode, it is going to be capable of perform virtual placement of remote speakers within the room, in addition to automatic local speaker localization to create the texture of a physical conversation. Users enjoy the full potential of In Vivo Acoustic technology, with its echo and background noise cancellation systems.
While regular office phones include hundreds of keys and lines that nobody understands, invoxia features only the basic: a control to select up incoming calls in speaker mode and adjust the quantity, and an insignificant two touch-sensitive “mute” and voicemail keys. With the iPhone as an interface and free application available from Apple’s App Store, using the invoxia could hardly be more intuitive.
The invoxia unifies your mobile and professional contacts within the same directory, and allows you to pick up calls for your mobile directly from its high-quality handset. The telephone seamlessly handles incoming calls on both the mobile and landline.
Its exclusive design makes it uniquely wonderful to fashionable office environments. For extra fun, invoxia comes with a collection of three smart holders (magnetic handset holders) that may be changed to fit your mood or style.
The product is obtainable from www.invoxia.com priced at 417.22 € excl. VAT ($599 excl. VAT). invoxia is made for iPod touch (3rd & 4th generation), iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2 and iPad.
The quick-changing world of telephony
VoIP has to this point been considered merely to be able to keep costs down, and it’s true to mention that it has now taken a foothold in almost every home and business. But greater than this, VoIP also offers a possibility to drastically improve the audio quality of phone conversations by leveraging the Internet’s resources and IT devices’ computing power. invoxia has explored these new capacities in a bid to show business telephony on its head and introduce totally new levels of quality in phone sound and user experience.
The user on the centre of a revolution in usages
Apple’s global success – notably that of the iPhone – is evidence of the triumph of the user. In massively adopting the iPhone, users have voted for a high-quality, ergonomic and intuitive device. This revolution has significantly reshuffled the cards, with leading Telco’s dominant position now under threat.
Devices for most people outperform professional tools
When Apple began to offer truly intuitive, powerful and user-friendly devices that won over the majority, a rift appeared with the business world, where users gradually gave up the pro devices supplied by their management and commenced using their very own smartphones. Today, about half all smartphones and 70% of iPads used for work are purchased by employees themselves. A Forrester survey released in July 2011 shows that in the following few years, touch-screen smartphones and tablets stands out as the norm in business environments, with 60 million tablets and 175 million smartphones used at work by 2015.
Employees imposing their very own preferences
Inside the US, as in Europe and Asia, the iPhone and iPad – although see as costly – are experiencing high growth in business environments. Today, even CIOs in large companies – let alone small and micro-business – are letting employees get their hands on an iPhone: Disney, Deutsche VermoÌgensberatung, the Financial Times, Korean Telecom, M6, Novartis, Hyatt Hotels… The iPhone has even been selected because the sole smartphone across Total group, and is now enjoyed by 5 000 executives of the French oil major.
Business telephony can not afford to disregard Evolution
Like some type of fossil from the past, business telephony has experienced little or no change over the decades in relation to design and lines. Quite naturally, the distance in ergonomics and quality between our desktop and smartphones has become blatant. What do users make of the large dinosaurs sitting on their desks, much more in order actually using them remains a mystery? (Office phones offer as much as 300 features – but even a complicated user, at best, hardly knows forward a choice…). That’s why invoxia is getting down to put an end to this historical and technological aberration!
Matchless sound quality and performance
High-definition sound technology delivers acoustic comfort yet unparalleled in a phone. The device reflects the sophisticated nuances of the speakers’ voice. This comfort is most perceptible in a conference setting, when the telephone renders voices in spatial way all over the room. Each of the speakers appear seated on the same table: conversations are easier to follow, less exacting, more excited by the essentials. The power to differentiate sounds, to clear out background noise and concentrate what individuals are saying, even in motion, also helps to optimise listening comfort.
Ultra-intuitive navigation
The desktop phone’s operation is predicated at the iPhone (or iPad / iPod touch). Through its user- friendly, smart and intuitive invoxia application, the user moves in a well-known environment. Its unified interface brings together all contacts (mobile and office) and all incoming calls are received at the same device (iPhone or invoxia desktop phone). Landline/mobile convergence increases the productivity and straightforwardness of use of commercial communication tools.
Ease of use
The invoxia phone leverages each of the iPhone’s unique features, which cuts down at the need for multiple interfaces, which include screens or keyboards, while offering innovative and accessible services. In a time when office phones are getting increasingly complex, this device goes against the flow and makes a speciality of useful core features, comparable to call forwarding, conference mode or voice mail…
Automatic setup
The invoxia application – available free from Apple’s App Store – is designed to maximise user experience. It’ll reflect a constantly-changing choice of Voice over IP providers. When creating their invoxia settings, users will simply tap on their operator’s tab to acquire an automated connection, as simply as with the e-mail setup on Apple devices. Invoxia is compatible with any operator using SIP technology.
a sensible object
The connected device can perform all software updates remotely. It’s an ever-changing appliance, not made obsolete by technology, but constantly improved and enriched with new services and applications. It’s also a durable device so one can change with the user because it follows the iPhone’s own evolutions.
Invoxia does its share in protecting the planet
Particular attention was given to energy usage within the design process. For example, ARM processors were selected for his or her notoriously low power consumption. Using noble materials together with chrome steel and glass encourages recycling. In standby mode with an Ethernet connection, the telephone consumes nothing in any respect. Product packaging also makes extensive use of recycled materials.
Technical specs
• In Vivo Acoustic Technology:
o 8wide-bandwidth speakers,
o 8digitalmicrophones.
• Full duplex hands-free
• Background noise cancellation
• Wired handset with High-Definition sound
• Bluetooth® 2.1
• Incoming GSM call answer in hands-free mode or at the wired handset.
• Unified corporate/mobile phonebook
• 2 Ethernet Gigabit ports with built-in PoE
• 2 USB ports
• Support for the most important wideband codecs
1-year guarantee
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