Let your voice do the walking: VoicePrint Phone Model 200 - from Innovative Communications - Hardware Review - evaluation

Home Office Computing, Feb, 1991 by Lois Deberville

Let Your Voice Do the Walking VoicePrint Phone Model 200 Rating: * * * AT A GLANCE: An ingenious, easy-to-use, dialby-voice telephone. Includes a number of advanced phone features such as call-screening and answering, pager-forwarding, and call-logging. Also has a speakerphone and LCD status window. DOCUMENTATION: User's Manual slightly daunting; helpful Quick Reference Guide. SETUP: Just put in the batteries, plug it in, and start programming. EASE OF USE: Simple, once quirks were overcome. VALUE: Good value at a discount; has a number of useful call-management features. SUPPORT: Not toll-free. Friendly and knowledgeable. LIST PRICE: $299 STREET PRICE RANGE: $250-$299 MANUFACTURER: Innovative Communications, 300-1(c), Route 17, Lodi, NJ 07644; (201) 4705706 FEATURES: Hearing-aid-compatible receiver; battery backup; alarm clock; time clock; call logs; security protection; voice directory; speed directory; call-screening; digital phone answering; pager-forwarding; telephone-line status indicator. MEMORY: Voice directory for 50 names; speeddialing directory for 100 additional names; three "single touch" dialing keys. DIMENSIONS: 8 by 6.5 by 3.5 inches WARRANTY: One year Remember the days when color coordination was the biggest selling point of a phone system? Not anymore. Pick up your phone handset and speak a client's name. Your phone automatically dials the number, times and logs the call. Is this a script from "Star Trek"? No, it's the VoicePrint Model 200 from Innovative Communications.

VoicePrint 200 has to recognize the name spoken, or voiceprint," in order to make your call (you can also dial manually). Voiceprints are created by speaking a name into the receiver, then typing in the person's phone number and name on the keypad. This information is then saved in the phone's memory. Up to 50 names can be stored.

The technology isn't perfect: One name kept popping up when I was saying another-for example, if I said "Harold Smith," the VoicePrint would dial Harriet Smeathe. The phone gives you two tries, but it automatically dials the second time. The call-logging feature automatically records the last 100 names dialed, the time, date, and telephone number. Calls logged may be redialed automatically when the number is displayed in the window, and the logs may also be erased. VoicePrint 200 displays the time elapsed since the receiver was picked up, which is great for long-distance timekeeping, or for telemarketing or consultation records.

Three unusual phone-answering features are provided, with up to 50 incoming calls logged. Call Answering and Call Screening are similar. With Call Answering, the phone answers after a prespecified number of rings; tells the caller, via a synthesized voice, to enter his or her own phone number (this only works if the caller is using a touch-tone phone); and records the number, date, and time of call. With Call Screening, the voice answers immediately and gives the caller the same message; however, the caller is instructed to enter a specific three-number password code, and then VoicePrint rings aloud. This means that only people with the password can get through. Great as they are, these services do not replace an answering machine, since there is no way for the caller to leave a verbal message (answering machines attach to the VoicePrint as with any other phone).

Pager-forwarding allows the VoicePrint to relay callers' numbers to your pager; there is a directory lock to prevent anyone from accessing your logs and directories, and a dial lock to restrict outgoing calls.

In researching comparable telephone systems, I found that I could purchase a few very good ones for as much as $150 below the cost of the VoicePrint. None of these has a comparable voiceprinting capability, but one phone had memory for 100 numbers that could be dialed by using one button, and a speakerphone. The VoicePrint may be something of a gadget, but it worked well and is technically innovative.

LOIS DEBERVILLE