Following on from my initial post on the Polycom Voicestation 500 last week, I've had a good chance to put it through its paces, and it really is everything you want an office phone to be: efficient, non-nonsense and good quality. In short, it's a cracker of a phone.

First impressions

Opening up the box provides a slightly daunting combination of different wires, but it quickly becomes clear that most configurations will involve just two: one to connect to your phone and one to the power socket. Everything else can be done through the almost magical power of Bluetooth, with the spare wires offering backup should you not want to use this feature. In fact, it's great that Polycom throw in every possible combination of lead to allow for individual circumstances. There's even an extra port on the 'transformer' (a box which sits between the phone and the Voicestation), to allow for a call recorder should you be working for the CIA.

Setting it up

I searched through the packaging for the inevitable CD-full of drivers and other memory-clogging software but, joy of joys, you don't need to install anyhting on your PC (apart from Skype of course!) to use the Voicestation. Just plug it into the phone socket and the wall, and off you go.

Hold down the phone button for 3 seconds and a beep lets you know it's ready to pair with your computer or mobile phone; once paired a blue light flicks on and a quick tap on this button switches between your land line and your internet calls.

In use

It was great to note that if you have more than one Voicestation, you can give each one a different name on your mobile phone and then easily select the right one to pair with depending on where you are. Important for those working in bigger offices.

Also, the phone quite happily plugs into the ADSL modem socket on the broadband filter, meaning I can leave my landline plugged into the other socket for those more private conversations with my bank manager/podiatrist/anarcho-syndicalist friends, etc.

Call quality is great, both in VoIP and non-VoIP modes, and the Bluetooth responds to commands quickly and efficiently. VoIP calls have to be initiated via the PC, but in an office environment where people are sharing the phone this is absolutely fine.

Conclusion

How Polycom have managed to make such a feature-rich phone with this level of flexibility so easy to use is quite remarkable. There is something eminently liberating about being able to quickly flick between placing a call on the landline, to choosing a contact on your mobile and placing that call via the Voicestation, and then to being able to navigate through Skype contacts on your PC.

As anyone who has worked in a reasonably large office will attest, at the moment communication involves not one but many different modes of communication, be it PC-based, mobile-based, landline-based or even (occasionally) just shouting at people. Polycom are really living up to the meaning of their name, offering multiple ways to communicate.

And one last point. At the back of my mind throughout looking at this product I kept thinking "hold on a sec, Polycom are missing a trick here: this isn't just a work phone, it also makes a really funky home phone!". Available now from a number of retailers, for example eDirectory in the UK for £229.99 inc. VAT, or $324.99 via PCMall.com in the US.

Get one. In fact, get two.