Sangoma P-series phones - design & features - where is the Apple effect?

Last time I criticized a Sangoma phone…it led to a lifetime ban :wink:

I still use the Sangoma/Digium D65 phones at several locations, because the Sangoma P-330 is a rather ugly duck. I cannot understand how a developer/designer goes from this

to this

@csalameh…will there be a P-350 in the future? With a larger display? Currently I cannot recommend the P330. The feel & look is rather cheap, yet the price is high. Never underestimate the importance of beautifully designed endpoints (phones)…Steve Jobs knew it.

The P-370 is ok…but again…it is uglier than its predecessor the Digium D-80.

Both phones (P330&P370) work ok…they have been sitting on my desk for some time now…but again I don’t know why I would replace my D65s & D80s with these new Sangoma phones. Please update the design of the P-series or introduce a new phone line. Thanks!

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One more thing…regarding the features:

The P-370 could become a great phone, but the software is somewhat unfinished. There is this large touchscreen, but it is mostly empty, because you cannot customize the taskbar.

Wouldn’t it be nice, to add apps, contacts and extensions to the bar?

Thanks for the suggestions to improve feature , functionality and design #darwin. I will send this to our phone engineering team and ensure you have a response. I have all these in my office - want one :slight_smile:

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Thanks for your reply. I think it would be also beneficial, if you force all your P-series SW devs to use the phones, they are supplying code for. No mobile phones allowed at the desk :wink:
This would quickly improve the usability of the phones…

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I like this idea!!

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Hi- Great feedback. I’ve always said that a potential customers make the first call with their eyes and agree that the phone’s appearance still plays a big role in what the customer chooses.

Just a heads up, there are many internal discussions happening on these exact same topics. That said, on the community side, we’re already seeing some community feedback/feature requests hit the platform. @kendalldever15’s P/D-Series Web Interface Access & Commands request is a great example.

Please keep this feedback coming, it’s welcome here and one of the ways we can continually improve- We’re working hard at this!!

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I don’t understand…what is actually @kendalldever15 's request? The cgi-bin stuff (screenshots etc) was always part of the Digium D-series phones…at least on the D65&D80. So it seems Sangoma just added a few extra commands to the Digium firmware, which is still the basis of the P-series phones? There is another thing. On the D65/80 I have to enter the password for the screenshot…it seems this is not required on the P-series phones…last time I checked. Security? Anybody? :wink:

EDIT: Just realized that the missing password requirement, must be a consequence of my non-standard configuration (http) of the phones.

EDIT2: False alarm…see below…my fault!

For the record, yes, the phones development team does have, and use, a variety of our Px phones for everyday use. What don’t have them connected to each of our UC platforms, so our end-user experience is necessarily limited, but we do get a window into our customers’ experience.

However, I’m always seeking more user feedback so I’d advocate for an expanded universe of users.

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I’ve been a developer, architect, and leader of Digium/Sangoma phones development for 10 years now and I am not aware of a configuration that allows the user to omit admin user/password for access to some of the cgi-bin phone interface, including screen shots. If you’re seeing cases where credentials are not required (for URL’s that should require them), perhaps our security is faulty, and I’d encourage you to share that with me via e-mail.

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Are you sure that your colleagues use the phones and not their mobile phones?
The text on the P-330 display is too small and the resolution of the screen is too low for the small letters. It doesn’t look good on my P330.
The P370 has a huge touchscreen…and it is empty most of the time. In small companies, like pharmacies, there are only about a dozen extensions and users want to see the status of the other extensions. To open the favorites window is not good enough…just my opinion. On a Digium D65 a call comes in…e.g. for the boss…the user instantaneously sees the status of the extension and forwards the call. On the P370 he has to open the favorites window to see the status…why? There is so much space! :wink:

Yes, I tested it on my P-370…but I assume it is because the provisioning protocol is http. I will contact you.

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Finally, @Charles_Darwin , you’ve been “singing my song” so closely that I’ve been accused of being you. Thanks much for the feedback. The difficulty with which we have historically struggled, is how to address the majority of the market along with the wide variety of feature requests that bubble up. Your suggestion for more buttons on the home screen is a great example (notwithstanding the collection of folks you apparently have on speed-dial): that’s very close to the original design for the D80, but it was abandoned in favor of reserving more space for notifications (missed calls, voicemail, etc.) and instead dedicating a full screen for Favorites. Maybe a winning solution would be to provide a configuration that gives the user more flexibility in tailoring their own experience.

I agree that the device a user sees on their desk every day, with the corporate logo, has a powerful impact on users’ perception, not just of that device, but that perception gets associated with the entire company and our offerings.

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False alarm…my fault, sorry! On a macOS machine with Safari I did not access the P-370 for a long time, but it seems Safari stored the credentials and automatically provided them to the phone without showing the credentials window.

Sorry :see_no_evil_monkey:

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Quite sure, yes.

This has been a common comment in the last 6 months or so. It’s a bigger problem on the very small screen P31x models. The current “call card” design (a derivative from the earlier D6x models) is not ideal and will be getting a “face lift” in a firmware release in the coming months.

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Thanks…great to hear (read) :slightly_smiling_face:

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Ken requested that we enable the web UI of our P-Series phones. FreePBX group worked with the Phones group (@apartis and company) and now we have this as a feature in EPM/P-Series.

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I see…so the P-series phones now have a web-gui like the D65? That’s definitely a good idea! :slightly_smiling_face:

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One more question…where to submit bug reports…nowadays
There are still a few translation issues (P-370)…e.g. the time & date format of the screensaver is always English, despite setting it to German.

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Does anyone know, who designed the D65 & D80? Hardware & software? I think the P-series definitely needs that guy. :wink:
Maybe a limited (colored) edition of the P-330 in Sangoma blue or any other color would be a good idea. Just to test the customer response. The current grey was not a good choice…just my opinion…even black would be an improvement!

Long time ago…the German company Auerswald offered their ISDN/Voip phones in blue, white & black.

Digium really knew about the Apple effect… :wink:

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With phone (and other commercial products) you should always start with a support ticket. If they identify a bug, it will escalate to the proper folks.