Plantronics UPCALISTO Bluetooth Headset
by Plantronics
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List Price: Category: Wireless See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Plantronics UPCALISTO Bluetooth Headset
Customer Review: Great concept; just not perfect for the price
Summary: 4 Stars
I guess I'm the first reviewer on this as I could not find anything on this myself before purchasing. My needs are a home-based business and I'm constantly on a headset taking orders and dictation. My wired headset got very staticky and annoying as each time I went to answer my phone and reach for the headset, the wires would pull at everything in its path! I'd answer my phone with half my desk stuff on the floor!
I received the unit today and the packaging was the first thing that caught my attention. It's in a trifold type package...the actual handset on one side, the base and handset on the other and underneath are the connections and an installation CD for Outlook. In the middle of the packaging is a slot on the side which contains the instructions.
It was a no-brainer to set everything up: install the supplied battery into the back of the handset, plug in the telephone wire to the base and the jack, plug in the power, charge the unit and also next to the handset on the same base is the charger/holder for the headset, a nice all-in-one unit.
The handset started to charge immediately, even though it came half-juiced for use already. The headset was another story: I kept having to reseat the unit on the little plug, where the light on the headset was supposed to be red for charging, and then blue when completed. I had no lights and obviously the unit was not seating properly. I had to fiddle with it until it was firmly attached to the connector and then the light turned red, indicating it was charging. It was supposed to take 16 hours for a full charge but it took barely 3 hours. Both the handset and headset charged very quickly.
The headset can be worn on either ear and it takes a little adjusting to get it to fit nice and snug. Once it's in place, it's very comfortable, so much so, you forget it's there.
Answering the handset and transferring to the headset was very easy. It's very very different, more like a cell phone than a home phone. There's caller ID/call waiting, a halfway decent speakerphone. You can use the handset in the base to answer and dial using the speaker button..very convenient. However, I had to make the volume at almost full volume...maybe it's me. The headset is very clear but I absolutely hear some fuzzing and a slight buzzing in the background as does the receiving party. The first few calls I made were very annoying because I was very aware of the background noise. Again, it's not like house phone quality but more like cell phone.
I then decided to try installing the recommended DSL line filter, something I never had to do with any other phone on this line. It has definitely improved the call quality and lessened the background noise, although it's mildly there. I'm glad my hearing is not as sharp as it was 25 years ago!
The only thing I miss is what I had on my Panasonic cordless before this: name announce ID. I guess you can't have everything. So I left my annoying Panasonic hooked up so I can hear who's calling.
Also, since this unit is next to my monitor on my desk, I need to glance at the incoming number, even though I now hear who's calling, but the base rests slightly angled, too low for me to see very brightly, even with adjusting the contrast to the highest. It's fine when I pick up the handset which clips upside down on a belt or waistband and flips up so you can see who's calling while walking around. But I put one of those elevated foam phone rests to raise the base angle for better viewing.
There are 10 different ringers also.
Other than the small inconveniences, so far it's working out for me. The headset is supposed to stay charged for 8 hours before recharging it. I can't say yet how long it has lasted. I will know more in a few days and I'll post back if it's anything less or way unsatisfactory.
Neat unit, great to be wireless, I can get by with the minor things. Price is steep and I guess I expected just a bit more volume and less fuzziness but I love the convenience.
Customer Review: High quality phone - maybe a bit pricey
Summary: 4 Stars
This phone is excellent, especially if you are someone who uses the phone all day long.
Package pros: stylish and fairly compact, excellent call quality, easy setup, works with VOIP, landline and cell phone, has bluetooth capability (so you can use it with different bluetooth headsets).
Package cons: perhaps a bit pricey for some people. If you are unsure about this phone and price is a concern, I'd say the quality of the phone is worth the money if you use the phone a lot. Occasional use of this phone may not justify the price if money is a concern for you.
Handset pros: stylish, compact design, nice features, access to contact list with press of a button (up arrow), call log.
I think you can store over 300 contacts on this phone, which is nice. The buttons are small, but nice, as in a regular cell phone. The phone has a nice clip with a spring for placing it on your belt, and it works well. Speaker phone is definitely a nice feature.
Handset cons: The plastic over the display scratches easily - it is as delicate as an iPod closure.
Now I'd like to comment on the headset by itself:
Headset pros: very light-weight and feels very nice. This is a plus if you have it over your ear for long periods. There's a button on the side right opposite to the ear bud. This button has three positions and it works great. Up or down will adjust the volume. Pressing it down will make a call or hang up. Headset is stylish and I like that the mike stays close to my mouth (unlike some headsets that are too short at the compromise of quality). This headset can be used on either right or left ear. It sits tight on the docking station when you need to charge it.
Headset cons: putting it over my ear is a bit clumsy and difficult for me to do with just one hand. On emergency calls, one can always use just the handset, though.
Extra comments: I have walked away from the docking station with the phone on my belt and headset on my ear some 30 feet and not had any problems with call quality.
When using this phone you can dock the handset (if battery is low), and it won't hang up the call. If you have your headset on, you can continue the call while the handset is being charged.
I use this phone with a VOIP service is I find landlines obsolete and I have an aversion to anything obsolete (note: I love this phone). This phone syncs with my VOIP service very well. It shows an "envelope icon" when I have a message in my inbox, which is very cool. A little off topic: landlines may be more reliable than VOIP if society collapses, but I have not tested this phone with a landline or cell phone.
Because putting on the Plantronics headset is a bit cumbersome and I remove it from my ear a lot, I tend to use a different headset that I have. This is a bluetooth Motorola heaset that covers both ears and I can put over my head with one hand. It's very cool that this phone is bluetooth, thus allowing you to use different headsets (you have to configure the headset with the phone, of course). BTW, the handset also has an opening for a headset that has a plug and a cord.
The docking station has a button for locating the handset. Good luck locating the heaset if you lose it, though.
In short, this is an excellent phone and pretty stylish if you are willing to pay the price. My office mates just upgraded their office phone to a Cisco phone, and everyone wishes they had my phone due to all the things I mentioned above, plus the fact it looks so stylish.
Customer Review: Good phone overall, needs some tweaking.
Summary: 3 Stars
I just got this a couple days ago and so far, it's not a bad phone. Overall, I'd honestly be hard-pressed to recommend this phone to most people I know. But I work from home and spend about four to five hours a day talking with clients. For someone in that position, this phone is worth the cost. Easily.
However there are a couple things that are annoying me with the unit:
It doesn't hang up on its own. When the remote side of the conversation hangs up, this phone stays connected. I have to manually hang up every call.
Size of the dial pad. OK, this one might be a tad nit-picky. But the buttons are VERY tiny! I'm getting used to it, but the first day I had the unit I could barely dial the thing. If you have large fingers, you may have some problems with this unit.
The display/menu system is crap. Ok, it's not crap. But for a phone that costs more than a cell phone that has a very sophisticated menu/display system...yes...it's crap. It's VERY simple. It's easy enough to figure out (or maybe not if I'm having to hang up every call manually), but for a $200+ phone, I expected something more robust. Especially for caller ID and number completion when dialing. The call log is kinda hard to read.
The headset isn't as good as my E220. The headset that comes with the unit feels cheaply made and doesn't, in my opinion, sound as good as my $10 E220.
To make a call using the headset, you dial the number, then hit the "Call" button on the headset. That's nitpicky too, though, really.
Now, there are a LOT of GREAT things about this unit too:
I can pair my cheap E220 with this if I don't like the headset that came with it. Do a google search, there are some headsets that don't pair for whatever reason.
It's portable as can be. The handset works from well over a block away from my house and the sound is just as clear as if I were right next to the base.
The handset works as either a regular handset like a cell phone would (hold it up next to your head) or a speaker phone. And the sound on both has been fantastic. Again, even a block down the street.
The base unit is right next to my Wireless router and no interference at all.
There was a comment about the tones not being long enough to use with conferencing services. I use Webex and Centra and both work brilliantly with this this phone. Also my local VM service works, no worries.
There is software from their website for us Mac users. WARNING: The software claims it's not compatible with 10.6 yet. I haven't tested it yet.
Again, for the average user, this phone is silly. But, if you spend a goodly some of time yaking it up, this phone has been absolutely great so far. Just a couple tweaks (firmware update, Mac software updates) and it will be bloody brilliant.
Now, we'll see how I feel in a few months. ;-)
Customer Review: Great Phone System!
Summary: 4 Stars
I spent a few months doing research before I purchased this phone system. To be honest, after we got it and went through all the Sype related issues mentioned in all the other reviews (not always related to this phone...), we decided to keep out land line too. Yes, initially we thought we would just use VoIP service and save a bundle of money, but it was a pain when the audio settings kept skipping all over the place after we had painstakingly set them again and again.
So it had been a week or so when we made the decision to keep the land line. We also decided to keep the Plantronics Calisto Pro Series DECT 6.0 Cordless Landline/VoIP Phone with Bluetooth Headset because by that time WE LOVED IT! I haven't actually gotten into the habit of wearing the headset all the time because I haven't completely figured out how to reliably answer it every time it beeps in my ear. I'm working on that and I suspect it's operator error and not a problem with the headset.
What do we love about it?
-The hinged tab to easily hook it on your clothes.
-The compact size is easy for my kids to hold (It's a little wide for the 3 year old, but how often is she on the phone?)
- The easy push button's that have a nice click to let you know you've pressed the number (The button's are a little skinny, but that's what fingertips are for.)
- The nicely sized readout that allows you to see all you need to see.
- The intuitive options such as asking if we would like to save a number we just dialed or just came in.
- The similarities in function to cell phones with makes it easy to switch back and forth to a cell phone without having to rewire your brain.
- Okay, this one is silly, but I just love the cool factor. It looks impressive to have on your desk and people comment on it's looks and style.
Does it have any problems I've not listed above? Sure. There are a few things that I would change if I had designed it myself, but I didn't. The isn't a phone on this earth that could fit the needs of everyone who uses it. There is no way to please everyone with one piece of machinery and with the limitations of the average person's budget and needs in mind.
Would I recommend it to others? Heck yeah. It's a fine phone and we are pleased with it overall. I gave it 4 stars because based on our lack of knowledge (we're both computer savvy, but that doesn't always relate to knowing everything...), we decided not to use it as a Spype phone after all. Also, it should be easier to set up the audio settings on my computer if it's truly compatible with Skype. I'm not going to lie and say that wasn't frustrating!
Customer Review: Just what I was looking for (with a few nitpicks)
Summary: 4 Stars
I had just ordered a GN Netcom 9350 DECT wireless headset when I saw this phone. It sounded exactly what I was looking for in a wireless phone/headset combo (vs. using the 9350 with my existing corded phone), so I ordered this as well. Short answer is that the GN Netcom headset is going back and I'm keeping the Plantronics.
The range on this DECT phone is great - much better than the 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz cordless phones I've had before. I can walk all over my yard (1/2 acre lot) and still get a good connection. Headset range is also good. I can get about 20 feet away from the cordless unit before callers start to hear some sound breakup (but can still hear me fine).
The headset is very good - nice and light on my ear. Sound volume (both incoming and outgoing) was fine. Many people complain that BT headsets are too quiet, but I am always able to get an acceptable sound level out of this headset.
The cordless phone interface is decent, I'm probably the least enamored with this. It was easy to set up and has good features. However, as the reviewer above noted, it's hard to see the display given the angle it's at on the desk. The display is also not very big, so you have to crane your neck over to see who's calling. It would be nice if Plantronics changed the design to angle the phone up more (many of the other cordless phones you see stand vertically in the base, which would give a better view, but also make it impossible to dial with the phone in the base).
Another thing I don't like is that the buttons on the phone are TINY (and hard to read, though they are backlit). This makes it hard to dial (harder than most cell phones). Plantronics, couldn't you have made the phone a little bigger and put bigger keys on there? I think these are the smallest keys I've seen on any cordless phone.
Finally, it would be nice if this phone would work with Mac OS X Sync Services so you could sync contacts over to it like a cell phone. Instead, you have to use a separate Windows program to move contacts over from Outlook. If you don't use Outlook, you're out of luck and have to set up your address book with yes, those tiny keys.
You also have to use another program to use the headset with Skype or other PC-based VOIP programs, but my computer has Bluetooth built in, so I just paired up the headset with my computer as well as the cordless phone, so I can switch back and forth with no problem (and no lame Windows program needed).
If Plantronics addressed these points with a follow-on product, it would get 5 stars from me.