Grandstream GXV3140 IP Multimedia Phone

by Grandstream

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.5 x 3 inches ; 1.9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B0026XTI0C
• Item model number: GXV-3140
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #1 in Electronics > Office Electronics > Telephones & Accessories > Video Phones
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 19, 2009

Product Description

The GXV3140 represents the next generation in personal IP multimedia communication. Extraordinary video quality, advanced telephony features and rich applications embodied in a sleek industrial design, distinguish this product in a unique class of its own. The GXV3140 sports a crystal clear 4.3" digital color LCD, a tiltable 1.3M pixel advanced CMOS camera with razor sharp clarity and privacy shutter, dual network ports, rich auxiliary interfaces (such as SD, USB, stereo headset, audio/video output, etc), advanced video compression standard H.264/H.263/H.263+, and a full-duplex speakerphone. By splendidly blending state-of-art real time video conference capability with a number of popular Web and social networking applications (such as Web browsing, IM with Yahoo/MSN/Google, Internet radio, Yahoo Flickr Web photo album, RSS news/weather/stock feeds, music streaming, games, etc), the GXV3140 creates a powerful platform for enabling converged IP multimedia applications that bring unprecedented stunning user experience. COMES WITH FREE SIP ACCOUNT. CALLS BETWEEN THE VIDEO PHONES ARE FREE! GXV3140 is certified by Skype! You may use it with Skype voice and video service!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grandstreams answer to the Germans "Eierlegende Wollmilchsau", July 28, 2009

By 

Nils Valentin (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grandstream GXV3140 IP Multimedia Phone (Electronics)

Believe me I have been waiting for this long time.
5 Years back I was already considering a solution like the GXV3140.
At that time the devices came with some kind of VOIP account bundle. So I was skeptical.

Especially Grandstream as a budget maker has a long history for hit or miss products.
If Grandstream can pull this product of the right way, make it work and actually deliver on the promises the brochure gives then this will be a 6 star product.

Grandstream has been promising before features that didn't make it into later firmware versions. So when I heard the GXV3140 comes out with all this killer applications built in I was even more skeptical.

The GXV3140 is clearly a device that focuses towards "one size fits all" - in other words - quantity.

The GXV3140 must be Grandstream's answer to the Germans "Eierlegende Wollmilchsau."*

- Skype
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Google voice
- Browser
- IM (Gmail, MSN, QQ, Yahoo)
- Weather
- Calender
(Display of holiday names in local language)
- Currency converter
- Calculator
- Stock ticker
- RSS feeds
- Mp3 player
- Internat radio (streaming)
- phonebook
- 3 sip accounts
- TV out connection (audio/video)

- USB port
- SD slot


With this vast amount of functionality the device can literally fulfill "little" technical wonders.
As a sidenode: The "bigger" wonders are fulfilled by you during the configuration period ;-)

The key to this success is that - after configuration - the user can enjoy all those applications without PC knowledge.

With all this privileges comes of course a new level of responsibilities. So keep in mind that running so many applications on a network device naturally increases the risk of becoming unstable.

The good thing (from security point of view) is most applications need to be started first before they can be used.

So first advice I would give is to update to the latest firmware.
(Users have been complaining about stability on earlier version.)

--- Update June 2010: ---
Since the official GA release of Firmware 1.0.1.18 (GA) on 24th August 2009 the phone has come a loooong way.
It became considerably more stable and usable.

--- Update November 2010 ---
Latest firmware version is 1.0.7.3

--- Update March 20111 ---
Firmware was overhauled and Interface feels now fast and snappy.
Especially web browser seems to have been improved again.

--- Update April 20111 ---
Linux Skype Ver. 2.2.xxx is now fully working with the GXV3140
This means that Grandstreams GXV3140 / Skype client now fully works with Windows / Mac / Linux Skype clients !!
Lets hope that next Skypes mobile client versions will include H.264 video.


Its pretty cool to have that much functionality after the initial 4 days of configuration.
So I don't need to startup my PC for smaller tasks anymore and my desk looks cleaner too.

My only complaint (for now) is that 3 sip accounts is no way enough for me.
(I would require roughly 6+). If you use 3 incoming DIDs (Tokyo, London, New York) with different providers and 3 others for outgoing calls than you already have an issue.

It can be an invaluable advantage to change the provider at a push of a button when the carriers voice quality varies. (as it does with many budget providers).

Having said that The GXV3140 has a remarkable voice quality even when the network is sluggish.
I am (still) a long term (5+ years) SNOM 360 user (and fan) and was buffled that the GXV3140 delivers even better voice quality.
The voice is literally crystal clear. Your partner will hear you taking a breath in and out. (and that's no joke !!)

I have to confirm yet if Netmeeting will work with it.
Ekiga does (think of it as a sip based Netmeeting) and there are other compatible softphones out there too like f.e portsip, eyeBeam etc.

Its pretty cool that you can receive PC calls.
This means that your partner does Not have to buy the GXV3140 if (s)he doesn't want to.

The video experience itself is pretty cool too, you can start to consider it a replacement for a video conference system.

For ADSL / SOHO users:
With Video Bit Rate : 256kbps it feels still like a web cam experience.
But, the video size is sufficient to confirm that its your mum on the other side.
That alone can make it worth if you live far away from people you care about.
I have read stories about it being used in health care as well.

For professional users:
With Video Bit Rate : 512kbps - 1024kbps it delivers quality like a video conference system.
The video can be output on your TV screen.
The quality is so good that it will bring tears (not only) to your granny.
That stuff just wasen't possible not so long time ago.


The key to being able to enjoying it is the networks latency and that is where you (usually) don't have influence in long distance calls.

Nevertheless we have been running tests between Tokyo (Japan) and Frankfurt (Germany). The slower end of the line ran on a DSL 384 kbps SOHO connection.

We found that it gave us sufficient performance to make us want to deploy it further.


Summary:

Spending $250 on a VoIP phone is not cheap, but with this amount of functionality its well worth considering. You get the most used functions accessible from your desk for the fraction of a power consumption a PC has.
In addition it also offers non technical users accessible functionality in a new package.

If you think about being able to see the people that are close to you, whether or not they are within the same building or on the other side of the street, the country or the ocean, then this alone is a big time motivation.

While the video experience alone might be the most attraction for some, for me its really the combination with the other applications that pull each separate function together and make it a whole package.

Also note while most phones are not used when you dont call, this phone has a screensaver, digital photo frame function, mp3 player, internet radio streaming function, weather function, currency converter etc. all build in.

Have I even mentioned yet that the interface currently already supports 11 languages ?
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese (twice), Korean, Japanese etc. - (the last language I am guessing is either Russian or perhaps Greek).

Overall, in its current state I think its well worth 4 stars.


Three things that immediately got my attention:

First, upgrade your phone to the latest firmware.
Second, I personally would like to see the GXV3140 offer at least 6 sip accounts.
This way I could take all current accounts from the "old" phone over to the new phone.

Thirdly, I would loved to see the device design more elegant and in different colours than black. (f.e coffee cream or pearl white) perhaps at some time skins will be available in several colors.

* A fairytale pig, which in addition gives milk and lays eggs and with a skin made of wool. You get the idea ? ;-)



This product shows Grandstreams commitment to develop it towards a six star killer application.


--- Stay tuned ---

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you plan to use this for Skype be prepared for possible stress, December 25, 2011

By 

need4help - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Grandstream GXV3140 IP Multimedia Phone (Electronics)

Before everything, let me say that I purchased this product mainly because of the "Certified for Skype" note on the manufacturers web site. Other features seemed impressive as well so I thought it would be a great solution with some added features. Also, let me add, before I begin, that I am an IT guy so I have some technical knowledge.

Certified for Skype proved not to be really true. Out of the box my phone came without Skype or even Skype support. Had to find out, by reading blogs and support site, that I have to upgrade the firmware on the phone in order to be able to use Skype on it. This was not that straightforward, and I guess it would be difficult if you don't have technical knowledge.

After that Skype started working fine on the phone. But....
After several months, the phone screen would simply go black after turning the phone on and going to the Skype screen. Tried calling the support and was extremely disappointed. They basically told me to submit the ticket on their web support site. I explained to them that I already did and that it has been a week and nobody has even acknowledged my question. After that I got a feedback on the support ticket but when I replied with all of the items that they needed from me, again no response from them. It went so far that my ticket was automatically closed because there was no activity on the ticket from them! I called again and I explained that I had no response on the ticket, that the ticket is now closed and that I cannot use my Skype on the phone. Their response was simply to use other options on the phone to call people, to stop using Skype on it !!!!

So I went back on the forums and blogs and somehow figured out that I had to again do factory reset of the phone. I did that on my own and the phone worked for a while but several months later, again the black screen. Another reset and again it works, probably until the next black screen. Oh, and every factory reset that I do, deletes all of your data and settings so you have to do it all over again after every reset.

Support web site says that this is a firmware problem that has been resolved by a firmware fix. The only problem is that that was more then a year ago since they released that upgrade and I am still continuing to have the problem even though I have firmware that is up to date.

In essence, if you want to use this for Skype you might not have problems, but if you do you have to figure out how to resolve them yourself as "support" is useless.

I have not used other features of the phone a lot but they seem to work great.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Buying for Skype? Don't Waste Your Money., April 13, 2011

By 

E Xavier (NY/Philly/Daytona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grandstream GXV3140 IP Multimedia Phone (Electronics)

I use Skype on a daily basis to communicate with colleagues and clients. This phone isn't ready for Skype. Although the product is sold on the Skype website I had to manually update the phone's firmware to get the Skype application. The call quality is terrible, and it drops calls often. I have yet to make a solid Skype call from the GXV3140.

Until GS figures out how to handle the Skype application better, it's far more effective to use the actual Skype program on your computer.