---UPDATE: AUGUST 3, 2002.

Unfortunately (Due to lack of use) I no longer have a broadband connection to the net, and as a result I can not offer the updated software any longer, as my review below suggests.

For people seeking additional support, there is a CyberGenie support group at the following URL:

http://groups.msn.com/cybergenie/

Usually there are people there that can point towards download sites for the updated software.

I would still invite you to read my following review - and I would sure appreciate it if you would rate it afterwards.

Additionally, there seem to be some stirrings with Cygnion - rumour is that the system has possibly been bought by another manufacturer (or may be) and may yet be revived. Hopefully software updates will become available if this happens, as this seems to be the systems biggest downfall at this point.

www.cygnion.com is once again alive (It was dead for 1+ years after the company went bankrupt, but there seems to be minimal help available there - check the support group listed above instead.

Thanks!

---END UPDATE


In looking for a replacement for my old MP900 Microsoft Phone system (See my review here at Epinions) that has served us well for the last 3-4 years, I wanted something similar, but more capable.

I wanted to retain the PC-Interface capabilities, so that narrowed down the market signifigantly, and from the choices available at that point, the Cygnion Cybergenie system *seemed* like a decent choice.

I was unfortunately wrong.

First impressions:

- These systems can now be found very inexpensively - I purchased my setup brand new on eBay for only $60 US, which when compared to other 2.4Ghz systems seemed like a deal, especially with the capabilities that the CyberGenie was supposed to offer.

- Upon unpacking, everything appeared very sleek, functional, straightforward, and of decent quality..so far so good.

- Initial setup was fairly straightforward, with the manual being very detailed, and the software installation being mostly automated.

Setup:

- The first logical thing to do was get the battery installed in the handset, and start it charging. A Ericsson NiMH battery was included, which seemed great at the time.. However, upon being placed on the charging stand, the battery immediately showed as being fully charged, and the charger shut off. Unfortunately, this was not the case, as the handset promptly died the second it was removed from the cradle. After fighting with it for a few minutes, I finally got the cradle to recognize that the battery was actually *dead* (and not fully charged), and it began charging. Off to a rocky start.

- Off to the computer I went to hookup the base station. As with many custom USB items, software needed to be installed before the USB cable was plugged in - no problem, I followed the instructions. The software installation hung on the first try, and a reboot was required, at which point it continued successfully. The base station was plugged in, recognized, setup, and began operating. There is a multi-colour LED on the base station that indicates the state of the base station (Standalone, Fully Operational, Updating, etc) according the the colour and flash. It's a nice feature that does allow you to glance at it and ensure that the base and related PC are talking, and working.

Unfortunately, the major problems began here.

The software that shipped with these units is horribly buggy, and often crashes. When it did work properly, some functions worked sometimes, and not others. Setup is clunky, and required routine reference to the manuals to get even the most straightforward items setup properly.
The handset was setup, the lines were setup, and everything did however, operate, but I was not impressed overall at this point.

Thankfully, I had hoped that most of these problems would be solved with the (hard to find) final software release and firmware upgrade that Cygnion released shortly before going bankrupt. I found the software, downloaded it, and went gung-ho into the upgrade. (Anyone interested in the software, please email me, as I can provide it to you).

The software upgrade to the new 3.0 software went smoothly, but the firmware upgrade for the base station continually failed. Eventually, with experimenting with unplugging and replugging the base station, I was finally able to get the firmware upgrade to take place.

Reports suggest that using a better grade USB cable then what is provided with the CG system helps eliminate this problem.

The result? Some minor software changes (which were mostly usefull), and a little better performance from the hardware side of things, but not a great deal. The most noticeable difference was with the voice recognition, which worked signifigantly better after the upgrade, although is still not perfect - the system seems very susceptible to background noise during voice recognition.

After some usage:

The software remains buggy, and not only crashes still on occasion, but appears to eat memory and not return it to the system, as after 2-3 days of operation Windows starts to pop up "Insufficient memory" errors. This never happened previous to the Cybergenie system being part of my system.
The software is (in my opinion) very clunky, and setup is very confusing, especially with setup of voice greetings and voicemail boxes. It's very much based around a business setting, understandably so since that was the market that this system was aimed for, and setting the system up for use in a home environment (Disabling business hours settings, etc) can be confusing.

The actual hardware is also operationally challenged. Many calls that readilly provide Caller-ID info to all the other phones in my house appear as "No ID" on the Cybergenie handsets, which is annoying, although the firmware upgrade in the base station did signifigantly better this situation. Sometimes the Caller ID works, other times not. There seems to be no real reason for this, except for presumably a hardware or software issue. Thankfully, it does work about 90% of the time now.

Certain features in the software that is supposed to change settings on the handsets (Such as the "Name" feature that is supposed to allow you to change the display of the handset itself) also appears to only work occasionally. When I first set the system up, this feature worked readily, changing the display of the handset according to what I entered on the PC. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown this feature quit working completely a few days after the initial setup, and the display was simply blank except for battery and signal strength indicators - not even an extention number was displayed. Frustrating, and for people with multiple extensions, this could be a big hassle. For multiple handset households/businesses, this bug could be infuriating.

However, after some experimenting, removing the handset configuration from the Cybergenie system, unsubscribing the handset from the system, and then reversing the process (Resubscribe the handset, and reconfigure/reassign user to handset) turned out to solve the problem, and the handset name and extension information has reappeared.

The range is touted as much greater then it actually is. I have my base station in a large second floor room, and the range is mediocre, coming nothing close to the advertised maximum. It is, however, sufficient for use around my house, but could prove inadequate for a small warehouse, etc. No doubt a large open space (such as a warehouse) would allow better range performance, but I have not experimented with this theory.

Initially, the handset either had issues with it's battery strength understanding, or the supplied batteries were stale, as the handset barely lasted the full day without charging, even with only light use. The 'low battery' warning never even activated, and the handset just went dead unannounced in the middle of calls, which was highly annoying. Once dead, the same problems as I originally had appeared again - the charging stand refuses to charge the handset, thinking it's already fully charged. Again, after fidling with it, it charges.

However, again, after about a week of use and several charges, things have improved in this respect. Perhaps it was just a side effect of the batteries having sat in a box for several years before being put into service, and all that was required to "refresh" them was some charge and discharge cycles.

Also on the issue of the handset batteries, the charging stand issues (regarding refusal to charge discussed above) are avoided by simply charging the phone *before* it goes completely dead.

On the plus side, the handset does offer some neat and usefull features, very similar in nature to alot of cellphones. Many visitors here mistake the handset for a cellphone, actually, as they do look very alike. Sound quality is decent, as good as my old 900 Mhz Microsoft phone system. There is noticable interference from other devices in the house that emit noise in the 1.2Ghz range, most noticably the microwave. This problem is inherent to most 1.2Ghz phones, however, and is not really a direct fault with the Cybergenie system.

Although I havn't explored it yet, the Cybergenie system also supports many features that are usually only found on PBX systems costing thousands more. These include handset-to-handset calls (intercom), custom call routing depending on many variables, conference calls, handling of two phone lines at the same time, fax handling capabilties, and the abilitity to expand up to 10 handsets with no extra hardware.

The "CyberGenie" voice recognition system that was touted as the biggest feature of this sytem garners mixed reactions. When it works properly, it is rather usefull, responding to most spoken commands quickly and accurately. However, background noise has been a major issue, and repeating commands several times to get it to "take" can get very annoying, *very* fast. Strong annunciation of some words is necessary to get the computer to understand them. My wife has much better luck with the voice recognition then I do - perhaps the system doesn't like deep voices.

A big plus is that you don't have to stick to a strict set of commands - the system will understand "Read my mail" the same as "Please read me my voice mail", so it is adaptable. The manual suggests that you give CyberGenie as much information as possible when speaking, so instead of saying "help", say "Can you help me please". It seems to work, although the system isn't without fault, and sometimes proceeds to do things you didn't order it to. I seem to have repeated problems with the system understanding my command to "Take a voice memo" with a command that causes the phone to pickup line 1, resulting in a dialtone rather then a recording prompt for a voice memo. Argh!

The voice dial feature is also great, when it works. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be accurate sometimes (especially when compared to my old Microsoft Phone systems voice dialing capabilities). Thankfully, Cybergenie allways confirms the number it's going to dial if it isn't 100% sure it's right, and you can answer it's "dial X number?" prompt with a spoken yes or no. It is annoying when the Genie system asks you to repeat yourself over and over again, however, or responds to a command with an action completely different then requested.

Thankfully, commands can also be entered into the Cybergenie system using keypad numbers, although remebering them all could be daunting, and simply speaking your wish into the voice prompt system is easier, providing you can get used to it and get it to work properly.

My overall impressions:

I'm regretting having purchased this system, however, I will probably continue to use it simply because getting my money back through resale probably isn't a reality. Perhaps with some more tweaking and adjustment some of the features will begin to work more reliably in the future, I have been terribly dissapointed with this setup to date, and would not recommend that anyone interested in this sytem purchase it, regardless of it's touted capabilities.

For a small business user who isn't worried about Caller ID usage, works in a fairly small space where the range issues won't be a problem, and require a PBX-Type system but can't afford it, this system may manage to fill the gap, but be prepared to fight with it to get it working right, and hope that your hardware doesn't arrive flaky like mine.

For the home user like myself, to whom Caller ID functionality and range is of upmost importance, as well as battery life and easy voicemail setup, this is most certainly not the choice for you. The multi-line and multi-handset capabilities may prove nice for large famillies, however, as each resident could have thier own handset, and the intercom and call-handling features could be handy.

Your milage may vary!

However, with the hardware and software issues I have encountered, even after the software and firmware upgrade, I could not recommend this system at this time. Unfortunately, with Cygnion having gone under, it's time appears up.

-----UPDATE Feb 6, 2002.

Problems aside, I purchased another handset for my Cybergenie system simply to add the versatility that having two handsets in the house offers, but also to be able to use the handset-to-handset options.

The second handset never suffered from the battery problems that the original handset experienced. I'm unsure why, but am glad.

The voice-recognition problems persist, and are terribly annoying. Both me and my wife have all but given up on the voice recognition, and are simply learning the keypad button equivalents instead. Unfortunately it's not quite as easy, but it certainly is easier then repeating ones self over and over again while the "Cybergenie" acts clueless.

None the less, in keypad mode, all of the features do work quickly and flawlessly.

The addition of the second handset added the ability to use the handset-to-handset intercom feature, was has proven nice for communication around the house while we are not within earshot. It works flawlessly.

Overall, I'm upgrading my original 1-Star rating to a 2-Star rating since some of the original quirks have seemingly ironed themselves out.

Even though I've decided to stick with this system for a while, and have purchased a second handset, if I was to start at scratch over again, I would still avoid it.

----END UPDATE.

UPDATE, DEC 23, 2003.

The Cybergenie system is history.. One handset quit working, and the computer software side of the system just got more and more frustrating to deal with.

We've moved into a plain-jane cordless again, opting to get away from the PC Reliablility.

I still have the base, two handsets (one working, one not), and two handset chargers, if anyone is interested in buying them. Contact me!

---END UPDATE.

Thank you for reading my review - I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a second to click on a rating button below! This helps me with feedback as to the quality of my reviews.

Thanks!

Regards;
Mark

Recommended: No