Last year I predicted a dual stack 'Skype' & 'SIP' phone was coming soon. That day has arrived with Grandstream's GXV3140 IP Multimedia Phone, which already supported SIP, but now adds Skype support in their latest firmware. The GXV3140 is the world's first multimedia dual stack Skype and SIP phone. It supports Skype voice/video calls in addition to making SIP-based voice/video calls. The ability to support both SIP and Skype has obvious applications both for consumer and the enterprise markets. The video conferencing support also makes this a very flexible and powerful IP phone.
I reached out to Grandstream and they told me, "We are extremely happy to share with our worldwide customers that Grandstream's GXV3140 is the first desktop multimedia phone to be compatible with both Skype and SIP open standards for free voice and video calling. What this mean is consumers and enterprise customers can use Skype to send and receive free video calls between their computers, mobile devices and Grandstream's GXV3140."
The GXV3140 sports a 4.3" color screen with 480x272 resolution and the camera supports 1.3 megapixels. It supports a stereo headset with microphone, wideband/HD voice support, TV output, 3 SIP accounts with line switching support, MPLS, SIPS, AES, NAT traversal, H.264, 2X optical zoom, 30 FPS support, PIP, audio mute, camera block, and more."With multimedia applications becoming increasingly popular among both consumers and businesses, we are thrilled to be working with Grandstream to deliver a product that meets the needs of both markets," said Manrique Brenes, director of business development at Skype. "Through our collaboration with Grandstream, we are giving Skype users another Internet-connected device on which they can enjoy video calls without being tethered to their desktop computer."
The GXV3140 IP Multimedia Phone leverages the H.264 codec to deliver high quality video over Internet. I still have to confirm if they added SILK codec support, but this phone does support another HD audio codec, namely G.722.
This phone supports Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, IM, Google Voice, and more. Heck, you can even plug in a USB keyboard or mouse if you want to quickly type or click on something. A keyboard or mouse plugged into a desktop IP phone? Is that not gadgety or what?
Check out these shots of the LCD:
Highlighted Features:
- 4.3" digital TFT color LCD (480x272 resolution), 1.3M pixel CMOS camera with privacy shutter
- Dual switched 10M/100M auto-sensing Ethernet ports, optional FXS and FXO port
- SD/MMC/SDHC, USB, stereo headset with microphone, stereo audio output, video output, 2-angle stand, wall mountable
- High fidelity full-duplex speakerphone with acoustic echo canceller
- H.264 baseline (with CABAC enhancement pending) and H.263/H.263+ (pending) video standard at bit rate of 64kbps to 1Mbps, frame rate of up to 30fps and resolution of QVGA/CIF/QCIF
- G.711 (a/u-law), G.722 (wideband), G.723.1, G.729A/B, GSM-FR, G.726-32 (pending) voice codec and AAC, MP3, WMA, Real, Ogg-Vorbis audio codec
- Web browser, IM with Yahoo/MSN/Google, RSS feeds of weather/news/stocks, Internet radio, music/video streaming/playing from SD/USB card/Internet, Yahoo! Flickr web photo album, alarm clock, calendar, games, music ring tone, etc
- Intuitive graphic user interface with customizable skins, multi-language, multiple virtual screens
- Advanced smart NAT traversal technology to allow truly zero-configuration plug-and-play
- Strong security and privacy protection based on TLS/SRTP/AES
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Network Ports |
Dual switched 10M/100M auto-sensing Ethernet ports |
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LCD |
4.3" digital TFT color LCD with 480x272 resolution |
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Camera |
Tiltable 1.3M pixel CMOS camera with privacy shutter |
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Exterior |
Black ABS plastic, 2-angle stand, 18 function keys including 4 programmable soft keys, 5 navigation keys, Line, Message, Phone Book, Local View, Transfer, Hold, Conference, Dial/Send, and Speakerphone |
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Auxiliary Ports |
SD/MMC/SDHC, USB (2.0), stereo headset with microphone, stereo audio output, TV CVBS output, optional FXS/FXO port |
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Virtual Lines |
3 individual SIP accounts with "Line" switching button |
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Wall Mountable |
Yes |
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Network Protocols |
SIP RFC3261, TCP/UDP/IP, PPPoE, RTP/RTCP, SRTP, HTTP/HTTPS, ARP/RARP, ICMP, DNS, DHCP(client), NTP/SNTP, TFTP, Telnet, TLS, UPnP |
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QoS |
Layer 2 (IEEE 802.1Q/p VLAN tagging) and Layer 3 QoS (ToS, DiffServ, MPLS) |
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Security Protection |
SIPS/TLS/SRTP, AES |
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NAT Traversal |
Smart NAT traversal technology to allow truly zero-configuration plug-and-play Support STUN, TURN, and UPnP |
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Provisioning & Management |
Support TR-069 and Syslog for remote device automated provisioning and monitoring Support configuration via LCD, Web browser, and AES encrypted configuration file Support firmware upgrade via TFTP and HTTP |
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Video Capabilities |
H.264 baseline (with CABAC enhancement pending), H.263/H.263+ (pending), CIF/QVGA/QCIF resolution, configurable frame rate up to 30 fps, configurable bit rate from 32kbps to 1Mbps Anti-flickering, auto focus and auto exposure, zoom (2x optical, 2xdigital), PIP (Picture-in-Picture), on-screen-display, audio mute, camera block, call log, video phone book Configurable screen-saver pictures, still picture capture/store, visual voice message indicator |
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Voice Codec |
G.711 (PCMU/PCMA, Appendix I & II), G.722 (wideband), G.723.1, G.729AB, GSM-FR, G.726-32 (pending) |
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Audio Codec |
AAC, MP3, WMA, Real, Ogg-Vortis |
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Multi-language |
English, Chinese, Spanish, German, French, and more pending |
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Applications |
Web browser, IM with Yahoo/MSN/Google, RSS feeds of news/weather/stock, Internet radio, music & video streaming & playing from SD/USB/Internet, Yahoo Flickr web photo album, alarm clock, calendar, music ring tone, 3-way conference |
The GXV3140 certainly sets a new mark for a "cool" and "sexy" desktop IP phone that no doubt many executives will want on their desk. Who wouldn't want a phone that can do high quality Skype video calls as well as traditional SIP calls over a SIP trunk or SIP-based IP-PBX. Sure, PCs can do Skype video, but then you have to deal with wearing a headset and you can forget about speakerphone mode with a PC unless you own something like the ClearOne CHAT 170 USB speakerphone device which has excellent echo cancellation. The GXV3140 has built-in echo cancellation so you can use the handset or the speakerphone. When you toss in support for Facebook, Twitter, and even the ability to plug in a keyboard and mouse and you have one supercharged IP phone. Personally, I can't wait to test and review this phone myself!
The GXV3140 is priced at $249, however Amazon currently has it listed for around $195.
This would be nice if this firmware was actually available. There is no mention of it on there site and the current available firmware does not support Skype.
Ya sound like those iPhone 4 fan boys that can't wait for their new iPhone 4s to arrive. :) I learned about this new feature before the 'official' announcement. I'm sure it's coming soon.
Bought the phone and been trying to set it up on Skype for a week now. Just today, after (5) 45 min chats and whole lot of run around Skype said the phone was NOT supported for SIP while Grandstream said that the software was 'coming soon', but I could still 'configure it' to work with Skype. Wish I had waited for a couple months until they sort all this stuff out. For now, the support is terrible and product is vapor ware as far as I'm concerned.
Hi! I also have this phone and no idea how to set it up for skype. Please help on how to... GXV3140
I only bought this phone for skype, please help. thanks.
[email protected]
I still haven't gotten the phone to work either. Grandstream people say that new firmware for it is coming 'soon', which could mean a couple of weeks
or 6 months, but you CAN'T use the phone with Skype without it.
Makes me pretty angry -- both Skype and Grandstream have misrepresented the product.
Wish I had better news...
There is a new beta firmware dated from the 26th of july. Someone tested it already ? I wanted to buy this product but I would like to be sure that the skype functions are real.
Thanks,
Rosco
Interesting. I wouldn't have thought this to arrive so soon - even if there is this firmware issue.
You can't use this on a landline, though, or can you? Now THAT would be great.
The beta firmware FIXED the basic problems. I can now place calls both over SIP and regular Skype.
Calling cell + landlines is pretty flawless.
Receiving a landline call is good, too.
Receiving a cell phone call takes way too many rings on the cell phone end and the caller doesn't hear you for the first 3-5 seconds after you've picked up the GVX. Most people give up by then.
Igor C: Neat.
My previous posting was a bit unprecise. I meant that it would be great if the phone could be connected to the landline networks as well, i.e. would have three ways of working (native landline phone, skype phone, sip phone).