Video Calling from Your Desk Phone?

We’ve made it personal with video – allowing you to see reactions that you can’t always hear. Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is not new and neither is video on a phone. What is new is the extent to which remote video collaboration has become “the norm”. The COVID-19 pandemic has many of us working from home and video collaboration is the way we meet. Many of us now spend more time on video calls than we do on voice-only calls. So, how will this impact future phone deployments? Video on phones will become more pervasive. Ad­­­­ditionally, just as we expect more features from the next desk phones we purchase — color touch screens, Bluetooth, multiple USB ports, noise blocking with AI technology — we’ll also be looking for video calling as a feature option.

The New Poly CCX 700 Business Media Phone

Poly is proud to announce that the CCX 700 business media phones with Open SIP are now shipping. With Exchange calendaring support, you can easily join your next scheduled meeting with video. The CCX 700 has an integrated video camera built-in that is similar to our popular EagleEye Mini USB camera, a 4-megapixel camera supporting 1080p video at 30 fps, with automatic exposure, white balance, and autofocus. It also has a privacy shutter on top of the phone and support for H.264 AVC and H.264 high profile encoding to round out the video features – simply meaning you’ll be looking your best on every video call. And, it’s easy to install anywhere because Wi-Fi is included.

CCX Portfolio Grows with Open SIP

Additionally, CCX “Open SIP” models, CCX 400, CCX 500, CCX 600 and CCX 700 with order codes ending in -025 are also now shipping. These newest phones in the CCX portfolio run Poly UC Software with hundreds of proven features valued by both Service Providers and customers alike. For example, over 60 Service Providers worldwide support Poly VVX series phones running UC Software.  The CCX Open SIP phones running UC Software will enable Service Providers to quickly bring CCX series phones into their portfolio offerings once they have lab tested and qualified CCX phones on their cloud and IP phone platforms.

Handset or Headset? — You Choose

Now let’s talk options… Do you work best with a handset, no handset, or a headset? We have options to help boost your productivity.

Poly grabs another ‘industry first’ feature for desktop phones with our CCX series. With the CCX 500, CCX 600 and CCX 700, there are model choices available that do not include handsets. For example, an executive with a private office may always prefer using a speakerphone and go with a ‘no handset’ CCX model that takes up slightly less desktop real estate. A Generation Z new hire might always prefer using a headset. In both cases, ordering one of the ‘no handset’ CCX models may be their first choice.

Handsets still have their place though. People do not share their headsets. For common area phones and office hoteling use cases, a phone with a handset will likely always be the model choice. Whether the phone has a handset or not, a Poly headset can make your call 100% handsfree to keep you more productive. Moreover, Bluetooth wireless headsets like the Poly Voyager series connected to your CCX phone free you up to grab your printout from the printer across the room or get a refill on your water, coffee or tea while you’re on a call.

Sound Quality Matters

Poly phones have always had a reputation for excelling when it comes to sound quality. Poly continues that tradition and takes it even further by introducing NoiseBlockAI to the speakerphone of our top performing CCX phones — the CCX 500, CCX 600, and CCX 700. Each of these models support an exceptional frequency response at 100 Hz–20 kHz for handset, headset, and handsfree speakerphone modes compared to most competitor phones that top out at 7kHz for their wideband performance. And, it’s easy to cut out the background office noise or, if working from home, the noise from barking dogs, vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and noisy children with award winning Poly Acoustic Fence technology.

A Phone Platform for the Future

Built with Android 9 at the core on the latest chip sets, the CCX series phone has room to grow with future development potential. While the CCX Teams Edition phones (CCX 500, CCX 600) includes a dedicated Microsoft Teams button, the CCX Open SIP series phones (CCX 500, CCX 600, CCX 700) have a dedicated applications button. These buttons remain ‘off’ until a feature is built that utilizes them –– however, you may see them flash on briefly during the phone startup process. Not sure if you need video on your CCX phone today but want to keep your options open? CCX 600 (Open SIP) will also support adding video with an optional EagleEye Mini Camera kit for CCX 600.

Availability

So, by now you may be wondering, ‘Can I buy and install CCX 700 and CCX Open SIP phone models today?’

CCX 700 and the Open SIP CCX phone models are shipping today — however, you may want to wait until your Service Provider completes their testing and officially supports these newest phones in their UCaaS, IP PBX or Cloud PBX environments before you purchase them for your entire office. Or, if you are planning on moving from Cisco, Avaya or some other IP phone service to something newer and aren’t sure where to start, visit our Poly Desk Phones page to learn more about the CCX phones and other phones in our portfolio. From there, you can always get in touch via the “contact us” button, and we’ll guide you to the right solutions — desktop phones, headsets, and/or video, depending on your specific needs.