Founded in 1990 and based in San Jose, California, Polycom is a world market leading Telecoms Company that designs a wide range of innovative communication tools for numerous different types of businesses across the world.
Though the brand is universally recognised and highly popular, we have decided to write a review on the Polycom VVX 501 to help you decide whether or not this brand is right for your business type by explaining the features available on this headset along with its advantages and disadvantages.
However, before we continue with the review we feel we must inform you that we are not selling this product. Instead, this review is written with the intention of helping potential buyers make the right decision for their business by passing on our professional opinion.
What is the Polycom VVX 501?
In a nutshell, the Polycom VVX 501 is a performance business media phone that professes to bring next-level productivity and unified communications to the desktop of anyone that uses it. Sleek and elegant in design, the VVX 501 offers users a touch screen interactive interface with a 3.5-in TFT LCD display at QVGA (320 x 240 pixel) resolution display that offers simplified navigation deigned to match the kind that you would see on a smartphone.
What can it do? (The Basics)
Offering all of the standard things you would expect from a desktop phone such as call hold, call forwarding, DND, reject call, call transfer etc., the VVX 501 offers all of the fundamentals needed from a business phone, but what else can it do?
And now for the cool stuff…
One of the most interesting features about the VVX 501 is its ability to complement the workplace applications present on the user’s computer to improve productivity and help aid organisation and efficiency in the workplace. For example, with the VVX 501 users can access their Microsoft Outlook calendar directly from the information screen during a call, allowing them to manage their time accurately, arrange meetings and update their schedule without having to break conversation. This feature can also be used to set reminders for events listed in the Outlook calendar ensuring that you’ll never forget an all important business meeting (or your wedding anniversary).
As well as this, The VVX 501 useful My Info Portal application allows users to access web-based information, everything from stock figures and industry news to sports results and weather forecasts, directly from the phone’s screen. Users can also extend their PC desktop to include the Polycom VVX 500 Series screen, helping to enable simplified interactions and dialing using their PC’s mouse and keyboard for greater efficiency and productivity.
Also, thanks to its innovative, web-based configuration method, administrators will find that the VVX 501 is incredible easy to deploy and simple to manage, meaning costs for installing and maintaining the device will be low. Alongside this, the built in, broad interoperability capabilities allow IT departments to incorporate previous IT infrastructure investments to seamlessly integrate third party UC applications and minimise losses.
What are our favourite bits?
We appreciate how well the device is able to improve user productivity by integrating with features present on their desktop PC. I’m sure you’re all aware of how frustrating it can be when you have to stop speaking on the telephone mid-conversation to open up Google calendar to check your schedule (and we may add that this frustration is a usually shared by the person waiting on the other end of the line) – fortunately the VVX 501 lets users bypass the embarrassment of doing this.
Alongside this, the fact that the device is so easy to install and maintain plays a crucial part in reducing administration and maintenance costs, which we believe is an incredibly advantageous feature for small to medium sized businesses who require a multi-functioning and ultra reliable phone that will deliver the highest ROI.
Who would benefit most from this phone?
Polycom claims this model was designed for modern business managers and knowledge workers who need a powerful phone that enables multitasking and schedule juggling. Thanks to the Google calendar app (and the many other apps that can be accessed in a similar fashion), we believe this phone would be ideal for someone like a Receptionist who is responsible for administering a business and updating manay schedules on a daily basis, or perhaps for someone who is requires a tool that helps them better organise their time.
How compatible is this phone?
Compatible with Microsoft Skype for Business and various other SIP based platforms, the VVX 501 is quite flexible and, as mentioned previously, saves businesses a lot of time and money by working well with many different existing UC applications.
Where to buy and for how much?
After searching on Google, we can see that the Polycom VVX 501 is currently available at a retail price of approximately £234.00/$296.00, which, given the mass savings you will gain from not having to upgrade your existing UC software, is quite reasonable.
What do we think?
If you’re looking for a phone that helps saving time, boost productivity and generally requires little upkeep and maintenance then the VVX 501 appears to be the ideal option for your business. For relatively little capital investment you are given a phone that is simple to use, simple to set up and maintain, yet it offers a number of features that will undoubtedly improve productivity in the workplace and be a valuable tool for any person that uses it.
However, your opinion on this matter is just as, if not more important that ours and we would be more than happy to hear what you have to say in our comments section below. If you’ve had any experiences with this phone that you would like to share, please feel free to leave a comment or write a review and it will be published on our page for all potential buyers to read.
