Logitech EasyCall Desktop

Though the keyboard is littered with shortcut keys and features a slick design, the real star of the EasyCall Desktop is the speakerphone. It's a full-duplex speaker phone that features Logitech's RightSound technology for clear, echo-free calls. We were able to carry on natural-sounding conversations in testing; the voices on the other end didn't drop out when we spoke and vice versa, and there was no echo of our own voice coming back at us from the speakerphone. We were impressed with the sound right from the start, but you can tweak the audio settings for both the speakerphone and the headset using included software, which Logitech dubs SetPoint. For us, everything worked out of the box. Once the speakerphone was plugged in (via USB) and batteries were added to the keyboard and mouse, we were up and running.

The speakerphone has the feel of a quality device; it's much heavier than we anticipated. Along the bottom of the front edge are volume control buttons, a mute button, and two buttons to start and stop phone calls. Along the side are headphone and mic jacks for the included headset. The headset worked well, too, though we can't see anyone other than a cube dweller using it, given the fine quality of the speakerphone.

The keyboard itself is exceedingly comfortable to use. The keys are soft, perhaps too soft for some. They're also very quiet, which is perfect for typing while Skyping. Around the edge of the keyboard reside shortcut and media control buttons. Along the left are typical media control buttons--play/pause, fast-forward, rewind--along with two other useful keys: one opens the media player of your choice, and the other is a shuffle button for toggling that feature on and off in iTunes, for example. All of the function keys serve dual purposes, and their secondary actions are listed by small, blue icons. F9 through F12 can be used as speed-dial buttons for frequently called contacts.