[Asterisk-Users] Hard Phone Screens - newbie question

[jj]

On Jul 18, 2005, at 7:25 PM, Bill Wesson wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Is there an advantage to purchasing a VOIP hard phone with a  
> display for use
> with Asterisk versus a hard phone without a display? Are there some  
> creative
> uses of the screen or is it pretty generic?
>
> Would anyone have a URL reference for the basics of how the screen  
> works? Is
> it a web page and the buttons are independently programmed to match  
> the
> screen presentation, or what? I know the question is incredibly  
> basic, but
> in my reading of VOIP-INFO.com and other sites, I have not seen  
> much info
> about this topic.
>
> Thanks,
> --Bill

Depends on your definitions and goals.

Yes screens offer flexible soft keys. Yes you may program creative  
applications to use them.
Obviously each manufacturers screens are configured differently and  
have different capabilities. Checkout each vendors support pages for  
admin guides. As a guidline screens add expense to phones so they are  
generally on the better models with additional capabilities. All  
screens are not equal. As an example the Polycom IP600 has a great  
display. The Polycom IP300 running the same software is almost  
unreadable - in my opinion.