When you are around a person on a daily basis you don’t notice how much they have changed over the course of a year or two until you see an old photo of them. They may have lost or gained weight or have a different hair style but since you see them on a daily basis you don’t notice how much they’ve changed until you have a chance to look back..
The same can be true of manufactures and their products. Recently I found an old line sheet for Grandstream phones and was surprised by how much change there has been in the past two years when it comes to their offerings. By my count Grandstream had introduced 10 new phone models in 24 months, while at the same time discontinuing 5 phone models.
- Grandstream VoIP Phones 2011 – GXP280 (Discontinued), GXP285 (Discontinued), GXP1200 (Discontinued), GXP1450, GXP2000 (Discontinued), GXP2100, GXP2110 (Discontinued), GXP2120, GXV3000, GXV3006 (Discontinued), GXV3140, GXV3175
- Grandstream VoIP Phones 2013 – GXP1100 (New), GXP1105 (New), GXP1160 (New), GXP1165 (New), GXP1400 (New), GXP1405 (New), GXP1450, GXP2100, GXP2120, GXP2124 (New), GXP2200 (New), DP715 (New), DP710 (New), GXV3000, GXV3140, GXV3175
In all these changes there are few that jumped out to me that I thought were worth looking at a little further.
Discontinued Grandstream VoIP Phones
- Grandstream GXP280/GXP285 – These two phones were the replacement for and an upgrade from the old Grandstream Budgetone phones, one of the earliest Grandstream phone models. They became the entry level VoIP phone from Grandstream and were designed for small business users and public areas. The direct replacements for the GXP280/GXP285 are the Grandstream GXP1160 and GXP1165 which share many of the same key features but fall more in line with the new Grandstream look. For the public areas there is also the Grandstream GXP1100 and Grandstream GXP1105 which feature a paper insert instead of the graphical LCD display.
- Grandstream GXP2000 – In my opinion the Grandstream GXP2000 was the Ford Taurus of Grandstream phones and I mean that in a good way. It may not have been the sleekest of phones with all the newest features but it was reliable, popular and when it came down to it, it had everything you needed including an optional sidecar. The GXP2000 had been slated to be discontinued for a while but due to the continued popularity and demand they hung on for an additional year or so. The direct replacement is the Grandstream GXP2100 which mirrors many of the features of the GXP2000 including line appearances and programmable keys but features upgrades such as a more updated look, a backlit display and an RJ9 headset port.
New Grandstream VoIP Phones
- Grandstream GXP2200 – Unlike some of the other new Grandstream phones that can be viewed as a replacement for a previous phone models the Grandstream GXP2200 is blazing its own trail. The GXP2200 is the first VoIP phone from Grandstream that runs on the Android operating system. This opens up the phone to vast variety of 3rd party Android apps for voice, business, fun and whatever else you can find. Even if the phone didn’t feature the Android operating system it would still be and impressive multimedia phone with key features such as Dual Gigabit ports, a USB port, Bluetooth and a touchscreen TFT LCD display.
- Grandstream DP715 and Grandstream DP710 – Much like the GXP2200 the Grandstream DP715 and Grandstream DP710 Dect handsets are a step in a new direction. Before the release of these Dect phones Grandstream wasn’t in the Dect marketplace. The DP715 is the base station of the solution and includes one phone. Each base can be paired with up to 4 additional DP710 handsets concurrently. The addition of the Dect solution gives a Grandstream offering for people who aren’t tied to their desk throughout the day and are moving around the office. For homes looking to switching to VoIP the DP715/DP710 allows for multiple handsets throughout the house and keeping the cordless phone feel.
As you can see Grandstream has gone through some changes over the last two years. By my math they released a new VoIP phone every 2.4 months.
But the change hasn’t been limited to just the VoIP phones. Grandstream also released all new Analog telephone adapters, gateways and have been growing in the IP surveillance space. It will be interesting to see how much more they change in the next two years.