Microsoft, Cisco, Siemens and others have been talking for a while about Unified Communications. This week Google announced Voice. But like Larry Dignan I was intrigued by Plantronics Savi due next month. It promises to unify into a single head set landline, mobile or VoIP calls. Solves as Larry says the “last 10 feet” problem.
This I got to see, I said.
So I reached out to Karen Auby at Plantronics volunteering to be a guinea pig for Savi. And she goes – why wait till April? She sent me their Calisto Pro, the early version of the Savi.
And sure enough I can pair the headset via Bluetooth to my PDA. I can use it as a wireless headset for landline calls – the phone uses low-interference DECT 6.0 functionality (or I can plug another headset in the 2.5mm jack on the phone). I can make Skype calls on the PC with that headset (the computer has to be connected via USB to base unit).
So now my mind is racing – can I use it when I am traveling? (sure, since it is paired with my PDA but the headset charger is built into the base unit so I would need to lug that and power unit along). Can I stream A2DP music to it? (No). Ok, so I am getting greedy, but for a home office unifying all 3 modes – landline, soft and mobile - into one headset is pretty nifty.
The Savi should increase the range the headset or phone can be away from the base unit. And as Larry writes it also lets Plantronics dabble in software.
Which reminds me – I better upgrade my Grand Central subscription to Google Voice.
Plantronics Savi is awesome. The design is really eye catching. What one could ask if this handy device works on all 3 modes landline, mobile and softphone. I am anxiously waiting to get my hands on it.
Posted by: Andrew Jones | May 29, 2009 at 06:28 AM
We've been trying out the Plantronics Savi here, and the headset is pretty much the same as with the Calisto Pro, but it does have better range and works perfectly with our already set up office phones! We'll see as time goes on how well it does.
Erin
Plantronics Headsets
Posted by: Plantronics User | June 09, 2009 at 12:10 PM