Description

The SIP VP-T49G is Yealinkƒ??s newest collaborative video phone. As part of the high-end T4X series offered by Yealink, it’s an evolutionary leap over the VP-2009 model weƒ??ve used in the past. The VP-2009 was Yealinkƒ??s first attempt at combining video calling with SIP phones, and itƒ??s clear that the T49G is a more mature device.

The T49G comes with a beautiful LCD touchscreen and standard IP phone features, including 16 SIP accounts. Yealink clearly designed this phone to serve as a complete voice and video phone solution. However, with a price tag of $800, itƒ??s definitely on the pricey side of phones. Is it worth the investment? In this review, we take a closer look at the T49G to find out.

Like the other ƒ??ultra luxuryƒ?? phones Yealink produces, this is a solid device. People will be happy to learn that the device is sturdy and well-constructed and will last a new user at least 3-4 years.

Even with the camera perched on top, the T49G seems to take a small portion of desk space. The screen and camera both fit comfortably onto the base, and are separately adjustable. This flexibility is quite impressive, and we were able to adjust both pieces to an appropriate angle for all of our video calls. The touchscreen is responsive, and we were able to navigate through the menus quickly and efficiently. This made setting up the device a cinch.

In comparison to competing models, the Yealink T49G offers small adjustments that make a noticeable difference. For example, some video cameras on other phones arenƒ??t able to record at high angles, or the screen is obstructed by the phoneƒ??s dashboard. The Polycom VVX 1500 looks quite similar to T49G, but the camera on the T49G is freed from the bezel, made wider, and given a longer range of movement.

Features

One of the T49Gƒ??s most notable features is its ability to hold a 3-way simultaneous video conference. This is an interesting feature for a number of reasons, but to start out, we were eager to simply try it. We used the T49G to initiate a 3-way video conference with off-site employees who had video phones.

During the video call, we noticed that the T49Gƒ??s screen was wide enough to accommodate the two other video feeds side-by-side. The video quality of the feed never dropped below HD, although it was hard to say if it remained at 1080px throughout. Regardless, the video quality looked like an upgrade, and is certainly much better than a Skype conference call.

The T49Gƒ??s 5-way audio/video mixed conferencing is even more salient to the average office phone than 3-way video calling. Most employees are not equipped with video phones, much less ones with features like these. The mixed conference feature allowed us to have a diverse array of IP phones participate in the same call. Video participants were able to see each other speaking, while audio callers could only hear the voices on the call. Instead of seeing the world as audio-vs-video, Yealink has found a neat way to combine both mediums with ease.

The video features are the T49Gƒ??s main draw. But even without the screen, the device still holds its own with the best voice phones on the market. The T49G can register up to 16 SIP accounts, and could easily power call center operators, managers, and employees with multiple roles.

For the basics, the T49G has eight feature keys, including message, headset, mute, hold, transfer, redial, and speakerphone. It claims to have 29 one-touch DSS keys. Auto provisioning, phone locking, and a local phone book with 1000 entries rounds out the most notable features.

Voice/Sound Quality

The sound quality with the handset was excellent. The speakerphone was loudly audible, without much clipping or distortion during calls. We had no complaints about the microphone quality. SIP-to-SIP calling was pristine, and calls to the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) were better than many other models. This superb voice quality puts the T49G in a tier with the very best SIP phones.

Testing

At OnSIP, 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 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 found no interoperability issues with the Yealink T49G.