Philips AECS7000/37 WeCall Bluetooth Conference Speaker

I had been using a Jambox (as a speakerphone) for years and really liked it. Lately, the sound quality dropped. The other people on the call sounded distorted. I had to turn the sound super low to reduce the distortion, but then I couldn't hear them unless the unit was practically on my head.I looked online for the best personal, portable, bluetooth speakerphone. The WeCall had great reviews, so I bought it. It was Prime and $132. Packaging and a timely delivery excellent.When I received the WeCall I unpacked it and immediately started charging it. It comes with a charging cable and a thick felt travel case (that has a special place for the cord!) I downloaded the iOS app too.- The iOS app was easy to set up, but keep in mind the # is automatically added to the end of all conference codes. It does NOT handle multi-codes (like a participant and speaker used together). App is okay.- The call quality is excellent. All my test participants said I sounded "loud and clear". They too sounded like a normal call... no distortion at any volume- Mute function works and even displays a red light to remind you that you're on mute (nice feature)- It works while plugged in!- It's a small size. I have thin hands, and it extends beyond my palm by a 1"- It has an answer and end feature on the unit- It handles call volume on the unit- The on/off button is on the bottom. I'm not sure if I like it there. Would have been nice to have it as another corner button. Perhaps in testing people accidentally shut it off? ;) You might forget it's on though...I recommend this if you need a personal and/or portable conferencing unit.

After 2 hours of testing, it's been a disappointment.1. In Bluetooth mode on an LG G2 and T-Mobile (4G LTE in a major metro area):(I'm identifying the phone and carrier in case the problems are related to the handset and/or carrier; I plan to run a new set of tests on a Nexus 4 on a different carrier.)The microphone audio quality is terrible. Everyone I called on my cell phone demanded that I stop using the wecall immediately because they couldn't hear me.So I tested it by leaving voice mail messages to my self:baseline: leave myself voicemail using cellular network and handset: okleave myself voicemail using cellular network and wecall: awfulleave myself voicemail using skypeout and wecall: okI also tested using skype calls to the echo123 skype id and the audio quality was very nice over both 4G and WiFi.2. In USB mode hooked up to my PC using Skype:The audio quality here was actually pretty great. There were some dropouts, but I think they were due to network problems and not the wecall.The crappy audio on cellular networks really sucks and I hope Philips will tell me how to fix this. But the audio is decent on Skype (and hopefully VOIP in general) which means I'll try to live with the limitations instead of sending it back.

I loved this device for the first 6 months it was working! It had powerful sound that could easily fill a room, so there was no chance you couldn't hear the remote party. And the microphone was fantastic: the remote party could always hear each person you had in the room with excellent clarity.Unfortunately, about 6 months in, the device started having trouble pairing via bluetooth. Within 30 days of the first problems, the unit stopped connecting to anything at all. It was just a dead unit. You could power it on and the lights indicated nothing wrong, but you couldn't connect anything via bluetooth. No phones, no tablets, no laptops, nothing. Game over.I loved the product so much, I called Philips to return it for a replacement unit and -- happily -- they promised to send one in exchange for my returning the defunct unit. Unfortunately, within a few days, they called me back to announce that the WeCall is now considered a recall product. They are trying to remove it from all retailers and will not send replacements, even when it breaks under warranty. Instead, they offered a cash refund for the amount that I paid. I reluctantly agreed, as I'd rather have a working device than my money back.But that's the way it happened. I'm surprised to see Amazon still selling this device since Philips made it clear they have recalled the product... probably because it will stop working in a few months, like mine did. It's a shame since I loved the promise of this conference speaker, but hopefully some buyers will read my experience before purchasing a product that has been discontinued.

Amazing clear when I tested it people thought I was speaking directly into the phone.