Invoxia NVX 610 desktop VoIP phone review

It's possible to spend an awful lot of money on a business-class conference call system, so when Invoxia told us the price of its NVX 610, we weren't all that surprised. Given that it can only be used with an iOS device, it might seem expensive at 417 inc VAT, but with prices for even modest rivals such as Polycom's SoundStation 2 Basic starting at around 300, it's actually in the right ballpark.

The Invoxia NVX 610 is far from a basic piece of kit, too. What starts out looking like a cheap iPhone dock is in fact a powerful piece of enterprise communications hardware. Slot an iOS device into the docking slot on its right-hand side and, with the help of Invoxia's free accompanying app, it turns into a desktop speakerphone, high-powered conference call system and VoIP phone all in one.

It's certainly an unusual-looking device, topped with white plexiglass and with a silver speaker grille wrapped around all four sides. A white handset plugs into a USB port at the rear and rests on top of the unit, held in position by a Toblerone-shaped rubber strip. This is held in place magnetically and six different coloured strips are supplied. Its magnets also act upon a sensor in the handset to initiate and terminate calls.

The dock on the right of the NVX 610 comes with various inserts to suit the iPhone 3, 3GS, 4, 4S and third and fourth-generation iPod touch. Beneath it is a large dial and at the rear are two USB ports, one for the handset and one for an undocked iOS device an optional mounting bracket is included for use with an iPad.

VoIP calls can only be made over Ethernet and not the iOS device's Wi-Fi connection, but the NVX 610 has two Gigabit Ethernet ports for a pass-through connection to a PC. One also supports PoE (Power over Ethernet) for use in lieu of the supplied mains adapter.