Kiley Davidson
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2025
The phone arrived in a plain, but well designed and packed shipping box with a cute carrying handle, plenty of foam for protection, and all the accessories you'd expect to need: Phone itself, camera module, handset and associated coil cord, a small 12v/1a DC wall wort, the stand for desk use, and a standard RJ11 phone cable. That last was rather confusing for a VoIP phone, but turns out to be for a rather interesting feature I'll get to later. The biggest surprise during setup was the lack of PoE support - you MUST use the power adaptor. That's...very disappointing (and an odd exclusion), but something that can be handled using a POE to 12v breakout adaptor with the standard 5.5mm DC barrel connector if critical.The phone hardware itself feels solid, with only a single small power button on the side and a pinhole reset button on the back. It's plastic, like every other IP phone not meant for a rugged install, but not cheap or odd feeling in your hand. The handset itself is well sized, grips nicely, and doesn't hurt when pressed against your ear for a longer period of time. The volume is perfect for your typical office environment, and you can tuck it between your shoulder and ear to free a hand up in a pinch. Rubber grips on the bottom of the stand keep it from sliding around a bunch on your desk when pulling the handset cord reasonably taut, which is good. Audio quality on the speaker phone is, again, merely fine. Lacking in the low end, it sounds inexpensive, but not *bad*. Absolutely OK for phone calls and ringtones, but you're not going to be using it to play music without connecting some sort of bluetooth speaker. There is no external phone headset port - bluetooth only, but that's perfect.Alas, the stand itself doesn't adjust and thus neither does the screen: but, it looks fantastic from many angles and is plenty bright, so that's less an issue than you'd expect. The camera module, which snaps in using a standard USB-C port on the top of the phone, blends in nicely and does adjust. The quality of the image isn't great - think mid-2000s camera phone, though higher resolution - but it's good enough to check the box, and you could probably replace it with any Android-compatable webcam if that's critical for you.Audio quality on the speaker phone is, again, merely fine. Lacking in the low end, it sounds inexpensive, but not *bad*. Absolutely OK for phone calls and ringtones, but you're not going to be using it to play music without connecting some sort of bluetooth speaker - which is an option! There is no external phone headset port - bluetooth only, but that's perfect.Internally, the hardware is simple but well designed and assembled. Soldering looks high quality, breakout boards for the camera interface and rear ports are connected via ribbon cables such that damaging either wouldn't physically damage the main board, and speakers/microphones all use JST-PH connectors that make them replaceable. Every connector was secured using a small amount of glue or tape, so you don't have to worry about them popping out by accident but can unplug them if you wanted to replace something. The hook switch was plastic, but again well designed and doesn't seem liable to break - angrily slamming the handset down on occasion won't trash it. Aside from a screw hiding under the label plate for the rear ports, opening was easily done - and that rear port plate was easily removed using a little heat, and sticks back on nicely. All in all, well built!The included manual had all the info I needed in well-written English to access the web interface for configuration. Alas, both the phone UI and Web UI defaulted to Chinese: Changing that on the Web UI was simple enough using the drop-down menu on the top right, but changing it in the phone UI required some googling for guidance on how to do so in Android. Not impossible, but would definitely be daunting for someone not-technical. Unlike the manual, which relatively well translated, the web UI is marginal: some of the English labels for things in SIP setup were not clear, at all, or were mis-translated entirely. Thankfully the Phone UI shows configuration info, and is much better translated, so you can cross reference the two to figure things out. An example of this: the Web UI for a given SIP account will have fields for "Proxy Server 1" and "Proxy Server 2". In reality, these mean "SIP Proxy Server Address" and "SIP Proxy Server Port".The phone interface itself is basically stock Android 7, with a slightly customized launcher app ("S09 NewLauncher"), and a custom "Enterprise address book" that supports uploading contacts in Excel format as well as LDAP lookups. The Android OS is completely rooted, AFAICT, so it's very customizable despite the rigidness of the phone app itself. An older version of Chrome is installed, but no Google Play services or other App Store. There is an APK installer app, but your only way to get APKs onto the phone besides Chrome downloads is via ADB (once enabled) or a USB-C flash drive in the port meant for the camera (Awkwarddddd).That RJ-11 port I mentioned earlier, though, enables a kinda cool and VERY unique feature: this IP Phone can also talk to a POTS line. It won't bridge a POTS phone to VoIP like an ATA, but if you need to migrate from POTS to VoIP or want a phone that does both - this can, and that's pretty neat. That said, the PSTN option can't be hidden if you don't need it...which is kinda annoying.All things considered, the Phone UX is clunky, incredibly basic, and not customizable at all. The lack of any regulatory labels on the phone at all, and the aggressively generic software, strongly imply the manufacturer (SassinComm of Shenzen, PRC) intends this to be a white label product and not versus a direct-to-consumer one. That in mind, the basic phone software is understandable (even forgivable), and it *does* work. Just don't expect to be able to change much beyond the wallpaper and SIP settings. Dial tone? Set in stone. Changing the display text? You get a clock, date in YYYY/MM/DD format, and the current IPv4 address. Softkeys on the right side of the display? SIP lines and the PSTN option up top, which you (again) can't hide. In-call interface? Even more clunky and awkwardly translated.The phone app *does* have some nice logs, if you browse to them in the File Explorer app, which can help if you're having issues with SIP. However, it *also* logs your SIP password is plain text, which is a security faux pas - at best. While the Phone Launcher does have a way to install updates for itself, the Android OS doesn't, and the vendor doesn't seem to make any available (nor any other release notes) on their website. This means the phone ships with an Android Patch Level of ~April, 2017 - painfully out of date. That's unsurprising given it's Android 7 - but still concerning, from a security standpoint.
Kiley Davidson
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2025
The phone arrived in a plain, but well designed and packed shipping box with a cute carrying handle, plenty of foam for protection, and all the accessories you'd expect to need: Phone itself, camera module, handset and associated coil cord, a small 12v/1a DC wall wort, the stand for desk use, and a standard RJ11 phone cable. That last was rather confusing for a VoIP phone, but turns out to be for a rather interesting feature I'll get to later. The biggest surprise during setup was the lack of PoE support - you MUST use the power adaptor. That's...very disappointing (and an odd exclusion), but something that can be handled using a POE to 12v breakout adaptor with the standard 5.5mm DC barrel connector if critical.The phone hardware itself feels solid, with only a single small power button on the side and a pinhole reset button on the back. It's plastic, like every other IP phone not meant for a rugged install, but not cheap or odd feeling in your hand. The handset itself is well sized, grips nicely, and doesn't hurt when pressed against your ear for a longer period of time. The volume is perfect for your typical office environment, and you can tuck it between your shoulder and ear to free a hand up in a pinch. Rubber grips on the bottom of the stand keep it from sliding around a bunch on your desk when pulling the handset cord reasonably taut, which is good. Audio quality on the speaker phone is, again, merely fine. Lacking in the low end, it sounds inexpensive, but not *bad*. Absolutely OK for phone calls and ringtones, but you're not going to be using it to play music without connecting some sort of bluetooth speaker. There is no external phone headset port - bluetooth only, but that's perfect.Alas, the stand itself doesn't adjust and thus neither does the screen: but, it looks fantastic from many angles and is plenty bright, so that's less an issue than you'd expect. The camera module, which snaps in using a standard USB-C port on the top of the phone, blends in nicely and does adjust. The quality of the image isn't great - think mid-2000s camera phone, though higher resolution - but it's good enough to check the box, and you could probably replace it with any Android-compatable webcam if that's critical for you.Audio quality on the speaker phone is, again, merely fine. Lacking in the low end, it sounds inexpensive, but not *bad*. Absolutely OK for phone calls and ringtones, but you're not going to be using it to play music without connecting some sort of bluetooth speaker - which is an option! There is no external phone headset port - bluetooth only, but that's perfect.Internally, the hardware is simple but well designed and assembled. Soldering looks high quality, breakout boards for the camera interface and rear ports are connected via ribbon cables such that damaging either wouldn't physically damage the main board, and speakers/microphones all use JST-PH connectors that make them replaceable. Every connector was secured using a small amount of glue or tape, so you don't have to worry about them popping out by accident but can unplug them if you wanted to replace something. The hook switch was plastic, but again well designed and doesn't seem liable to break - angrily slamming the handset down on occasion won't trash it. Aside from a screw hiding under the label plate for the rear ports, opening was easily done - and that rear port plate was easily removed using a little heat, and sticks back on nicely. All in all, well built!The included manual had all the info I needed in well-written English to access the web interface for configuration. Alas, both the phone UI and Web UI defaulted to Chinese: Changing that on the Web UI was simple enough using the drop-down menu on the top right, but changing it in the phone UI required some googling for guidance on how to do so in Android. Not impossible, but would definitely be daunting for someone not-technical. Unlike the manual, which relatively well translated, the web UI is marginal: some of the English labels for things in SIP setup were not clear, at all, or were mis-translated entirely. Thankfully the Phone UI shows configuration info, and is much better translated, so you can cross reference the two to figure things out. An example of this: the Web UI for a given SIP account will have fields for "Proxy Server 1" and "Proxy Server 2". In reality, these mean "SIP Proxy Server Address" and "SIP Proxy Server Port".The phone interface itself is basically stock Android 7, with a slightly customized launcher app ("S09 NewLauncher"), and a custom "Enterprise address book" that supports uploading contacts in Excel format as well as LDAP lookups. The Android OS is completely rooted, AFAICT, so it's very customizable despite the rigidness of the phone app itself. An older version of Chrome is installed, but no Google Play services or other App Store. There is an APK installer app, but your only way to get APKs onto the phone besides Chrome downloads is via ADB (once enabled) or a USB-C flash drive in the port meant for the camera (Awkwarddddd).That RJ-11 port I mentioned earlier, though, enables a kinda cool and VERY unique feature: this IP Phone can also talk to a POTS line. It won't bridge a POTS phone to VoIP like an ATA, but if you need to migrate from POTS to VoIP or want a phone that does both - this can, and that's pretty neat. That said, the PSTN option can't be hidden if you don't need it...which is kinda annoying.All things considered, the Phone UX is clunky, incredibly basic, and not customizable at all. The lack of any regulatory labels on the phone at all, and the aggressively generic software, strongly imply the manufacturer (SassinComm of Shenzen, PRC) intends this to be a white label product and not versus a direct-to-consumer one. That in mind, the basic phone software is understandable (even forgivable), and it *does* work. Just don't expect to be able to change much beyond the wallpaper and SIP settings. Dial tone? Set in stone. Changing the display text? You get a clock, date in YYYY/MM/DD format, and the current IPv4 address. Softkeys on the right side of the display? SIP lines and the PSTN option up top, which you (again) can't hide. In-call interface? Even more clunky and awkwardly translated.The phone app *does* have some nice logs, if you browse to them in the File Explorer app, which can help if you're having issues with SIP. However, it *also* logs your SIP password is plain text, which is a security faux pas - at best. While the Phone Launcher does have a way to install updates for itself, the Android OS doesn't, and the vendor doesn't seem to make any available (nor any other release notes) on their website. This means the phone ships with an Android Patch Level of ~April, 2017 - painfully out of date. That's unsurprising given it's Android 7 - but still concerning, from a security standpoint.