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snom 760 First Impression Hands On Review

 

I have snom 760 in hand and have looked over it a bit and need to say my first impression is good. I think snom has an interesting device on its hands. (Note: The previous photo blog we did about the 760 I now realize was a prototype model and the production unit looks much better. )

Here are some thoughts:

Pro

  • Faster boot ( snom760=53secs and snom360=1m15secs)
  • Nice looking (compared to mockup model)
  • Easily printable BLF labels (straight piece of paper)
  • 2 color BLF present some interesting possibilities
  • 12 BLF buttons dedicated and 4 dedicated Line keys (means realistically 4 extra definable keys for 760 over 360)
  • Unit feels snappier (is cpu faster in 7xx series? better GUI feedback?)
  • New smooth phone user interface that takes advantage of hi color and hi resolution
  • tool less stand mount installation is nice
  • Ability to mount on a wall senario is welcome
  • Box says "snom UC Edition" ready so the cat is out of the bag there as far as snom’s intentions with this device
  • Blue Tooth upgradeable with dongle
  • Wi-Fi upgradable with dongle
  • push to talk button feature is cool.

Cons

  • No protection to color LCD seems almost an oversight.
  • The BLF buttons and round navigation button have little “over center” feel
  • Power supply is no longer included in the box
  • Might be nice to have a steeper tilt

Below are some screenshots and comments:

WP_000252

The snom 760 is a nice looking phone. It is grey in color compared to snom 3xx black. Overall the phone has a nice, solid feel to it.

WP_000253

The dedicated “Line” buttons are a marked improvement over the 3xx series.

WP_000254

The 12 dedicated definable, 2 color LED buttons are very welcome. Because of the 4 dedicated “Line” keys on the  7xx series, this effectively means the 760 has 4 more and 720 12 more BLF buttons than 370.

WP_000255

The Ethernet system has been upgraded to 1GB and a 1GB pass-through port. LED’s let you know if things are plugged in properly. The way the Ethernet is mounted on the chassis this phone should be fine wall mounted device.

WP_000256

The 760 has 2 USB ports that can be used for Blue Tooth and WIFI dongles.

WP_000241

The box states “snom UC Edition Ready” so I expect this is a hint that Lync firmware is in the works.

WP_000242

The unit comes with a paper manual. (but no power supply, I expect this is a cost cutting measure which is realistic considering most people will use POE)

Below are some phone user interface screen shots:

screen-homescreen-dnd

above is home screen and the DND.

screen-keypress-upscreen-keypress-down

above is a call in progress. Not the 2nd screenshot shows a new button press graphical indication allowed by the new higher screen resolution.

screen-oncall-callrecordscreen_about

The full color screen shows nicely when you press the call record button as shown in the first picture.

7 comments:

  1. Just got one to have a play with.

    Firstly, there was a PSU in the box - came as a surprise to me, but there it was...

    Secondly, it was listed on the Snom website as being compatible with the Wireless Headset Adapter. It isn't. Snom have now confirmed that it isn't. This means that the only sensible option for wireless headsets is now Bluetooth. OK for some, but if you want more range than the 10M Bluetooth promises, you're scuppered.

    I have found a few other things which I'm not happy about:

    1 - The stand permits two levels of tilt. The problem is that the LCD display isn't tiltable. If neither of the two tilt levels you can put the phone into are suitable to let you read the display, you have to raise or lower yourself every time you want to, just to get the viewing angle good enough to make everything visible. I ended up propping the stand up on a book to get more tilt out of it.

    2 - The tick and cross are swapped over when compared to the other Snom handsets. Basically, if you're used to using Snom handsets, you can't seamlessly shift to this phone.

    3 - BLF subscriptions don't work properly (firmware problem). I have several different registrations. I have several BLF subscriptions. Only the BLF subscriptions relating to the first registration actually work.

    4 - Weird things are happening when I dial. To try to work out what was happening, I set up a script on an Asterisk box which immediately answers a call and then reads DTMF. With the handset on-hook, if I dial, for example, 0123456789 and then press tick or take the handset off-hook, 0123456789 is dialed correctly, but when the script answers (be it immediately or after several seconds delay), '9' is sent in DTMF. It doesn't matter how long the dial string is, the last digit is always received as DTMF when the script answers the call.

    Basically, I'm not happy with the phone and we won't be recommending it to our customers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Nicholas,

    Thanks for your valued comments. I've just had a 1st impression so your experience is interesting.

    -PSU: that's interesting and nice surprise.

    -wireless headsets: we've been using snom 3xx for years without wireless headset adapter. Is it strickly nessesary?

    -1-tilt display: it seems vendors are moving away from tilt displays on phones like the snom 3xx had to tilting the entire phone. i can see your point that it would be nice to have more tilt positions, but i think snom is in the company of other vendors on this one.

    -2-dial/hangup posistions: the world moves forward and this was an effort to match mobile phones and other desk phone manufacturers. I would count this a move forward imho.

    -3-BLF with multiple identities: i may be wrong, but my understanding is that there is only 1 set of blf settings on snom 3xx phones as well. In other words: you provisiong the buttons/blf at the phone level.

    -4-have you tested this with pbx other than Asterisk? but if this is finicky it needs to be corrected.

    In summary, i would agree with the last point but the rest are less strong imho.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Nicholas - i've been using this 760 at my desk and am not experiencing the dial issue you mention. Just feedback for you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The 760 has been returned - completely fed up with it!

    1 - Tilt. Agreed, they may be doing what others do, but to my mind it's a step backwards.

    2 - Dial/hangup positions. Again, take your point but I can't begin to imagine the complaints we'd get if we put this handset into a site with a hundred or so 3xx models!

    3 - BLF started to work perfectly after a reboot. I haven't been able to replicate the fault. You can assign BLFs to an identity exactly as per other models.

    4 - I have tested with Asterisk and also with my own ear. If I dial another phone and answer it immediately, I do hear a DTMF tone on that phone. None of the thousands of 3xx phones I control do this.

    I have also discovered another interesting bug with the 760 firmware. If an emergency services number is dialed (999, 911, 112 etc.), the phone displays 'emergency call' (or something like that) on the screen and then creates a SIP invite to '+999@my.pbx.com' (or +911, +112 etc.). Again, none of the 3xx phones do this. OK, so this is easily circumvented in the PBX dialplan (by removing the '+'), but this is just careless programming and just shouldn't happen in the first place.

    Continued use has also shown that key debouncing hasn't been implemented at all well. Quite often I will dial, for example, '5' and the phone will think I have dialled '55' or '555'. Having experimented, with firm, light and off-centre pushes and also having the good lady wife use it, I can say that it's definitely the phone!

    Anyway, distinctly unimpressed. Phone sent back. Now about to try an 821 with a Vision.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I should have added, re the WHA... I sit/walk away from my desk quite often. Without the WHA, the on/off-hook functionality doesn't work and I (and my users) need this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The firmware is buggy they will have an update soon.

    Volume is low, my customers say they can hear the remote party even if volume is on the loudest.

    The handset is rounded and slides when holding on shoulder ( not me saying this it is my customers.)

    They made a very nice 2 screw wall mount option, however the spacing between the 2 is not the standard, you can not hang it on a stanard wall plate.

    I comments are regarding the 720, however I beleive it applies to the 760 too,

    ReplyDelete
  7. IPPX.us,

    Thanks for that valuable feedback.

    Good point on the wall mount. I'm not sure why they did that.

    ReplyDelete

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