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| Value for Money | 10/10 |
|---|---|
| Overall rating | 10/10 |
Full review by
jkl
on 15th Aug 2005
User Rating : 10
Respect :
+1
Good Points: Surprisingly easy to set up on PC Very useful in the office Is quick and fun.
Bad Points: Requires subscription to caller ID service. Use with TV requires Windows XP Media Center 2005
General comments: TapiRex makes your PC and even TV your Personal Assistant.
As soon as the landline phone is ringing TapiRex displays the caller's name on screen. The software can even display Outlook Contact notes on the caller and a picture.
A growing number of offices use call monitoring applications, which make sense in most businesses. As soon as the phone is ringing, the application takes the caller's details from its contact database, giving the user extra time to prepare for the call before lifting the handset.
TapiRex v1 boosts a number of features you won't find in any other application. The tool can be used on an individual PC or on a network. Your computer just needs to be connected through a TAPI device to the telephone socket. The TAPI-device can be for example your modem, ISDN-adapter or the telephone switchboard. The TAPI device channels the incoming call signal to the PC connected. The vendor of your TAPI device provides the necessary drivers, usually on CD or as a download from the vendor's website.
In networks the PC connected to the telephone line becomes the TapiRex server. It sends the incoming call signal to all other PCs (clients) on the network. The award winning developer Christoph Buenger says: "TapiRex can be set to allow every person in the office to identify the caller. This helps to have the one colleague answer the phone for whom a call is destined." The TapiRex client/server-mode is a real novelty: This feature will usually cost dear where TapiRex makes is affordable to companies of all sizes.
To find the callers name TapiRex works like an electronic detective: It checks your contacts on Outlook and can read most other data bases and address books in addition to its own, internal contact registry; it even searches the internet looking up online telephone directories. Christoph Buenger: "In case someone not on your database or address book is calling, like those annoying sales calls, it takes only seconds to register the caller's name. Next time TapiRex will identify the caller for you before answering the phone. To add some fun you can add a photograph to each contact entry - humans identify images and faces quicker than names." Your computer can even read TapiRex messages to you over the audio system.
The programmer also put in a call list, showing the history of incoming calls. Identifying missed calls when coming back from a meeting or after lunch break takes only a few mouse clicks - and you don't have to rely on your customers leaving sensible messages on your answering machine. TapiRex lists the call history with name, time and number - ready for you to catch up.
TapiRex was developed with modern, open program architecture - allowing you to add additional features through addons. With the right addon it is even possible to display calls from the free VoIP-service Skype. Christoph Buenger: "The support for Skype is unique. The recent trend to free IP telephony is not yet supported by traditional caller ID monitors - except TapiRex."
Users of Windows XP Media Center 2005 can use the remote control to get the call history displayed in TV format and will get notified of callers on the TV screen. The addon mceTapiRex, which makes this possible, is such a novelty and mayor step that is has been nominated for the "Europe xpMCE Award 2004/2005".
Microsoft Outlook is not a necessary requirement for the use of TapiRex. But users of Outlook will benefit from a number of useful features. It allows to set up a new Outlook-contact right out of TapiRex and to open the new entry straight away. This way all notes made during the call can be logged immediately on the record where they belong. If you wish, you can log all calls directly in an Outlook-Journal.
jkl's review and ratings | 669 words
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