Hello,
I'm a little bit overwhelmed by the number of different models available in the T5-series.
1) What's the difference between T58A and its hardware revision 2? Some retailers offer both.
2) What's the main difference (regarding features) between T56A and T57W?
- The T56A seems like a stripped-down version of the T58A, without video (also no incoming SIP-video calls?) and door phone features.
- The T57W seems very similar. Lower screen resolution, and seemingly Linux-based instead of Android.
Thank you.
(09-15-2019 07:30 PM)DS25 Wrote: [ -> ]Hello,
I'm a little bit overwhelmed by the number of different models available in the T5-series.
1) What's the difference between T58A and its hardware revision 2? Some retailers offer both.
2) What's the main difference (regarding features) between T56A and T57W?
- The T56A seems like a stripped-down version of the T58A, without video (also no incoming SIP-video calls?) and door phone features.
- The T57W seems very similar. Lower screen resolution, and seemingly Linux-based instead of Android.
Thank you.
Dear customer,
This is Ted from Yealink Technical Support team, nice to meet you.
About first question, you can find like below.
And the second question, it already has been answered.
Any queries, please feel free to let me know. Thanks.
Best Regards,
Ted| Solutions Engineer | Yealink
(09-20-2019 05:51 PM)DS25 Wrote: [ -> ]Though to find this out as a customer, you have to compare the datasheets point for point, don't you?
Yes, a reasonable researcher would do that.
I pointed out the obvious.
Yealink doesn't really breakdown/explain their naming concepts, but having dealt with them for many years I can give you a bit of brief history to help clarify things a bit:
First phones were TXX series... so T18P, T20P, T22P, T26P, T28P etc. Higher numbers meant more buttons/bigger phone/more features. (if I remember rightly the T18P didn't even have a screen on it). Here, the P actually designated POE support. So they had T22 and T22P versions, one which only worked with power adapter and one which could be power adapter or POE. Eventually as costs of POE circuity dropped the non-poe models went away leaving only the T2xP models.
Then over time they evolved some of the most popular T phones to include gigabit switches. These became the T3x series and were suffixed by "G" to indicate "gigabit"... so T38G, etc
The T3x were a stop gap measure as they still had the same form factors as the T2x. To keep up with the times, Yealink introduced the more "modern" T4X designs. Since they also originally had 10/100 and Gigabit variants, those models became T4XP or T4XG depending on the switch built into them. In reality the P variant really only hit low end units, and before long the G version was the defacto.
When the time came to give the T4XGs an internal upgrade to get faster processors/more modern hardware etc, Apply had just pulled their famous "iPhone S!" marketing scheme and I suspect Yealink switched from T4XG to T4XS as a blatant copy of the strategy. (i.e. it's the same phone but faster inside, so let's add an S to say "Super!").
The T4XS became the primary line. At the same time though Yealink had been getting into the video conferencing business, and I expect as some compliment/evolution of that they decided it was time for a new high end phone series (The T4xS were cool but they didn't have that "new" feel anymore). This is where I expect the T5x series originally came from.
The T5X line has become a random mash of oddity over time though. It was originally pushed out as T52, T56A, T58A, T58V. The T52 was entry level and still based on Linux firmware, but the others were Android. Like the T4x phones, the 58 had a touch screen and fancier interface, while the 56 was a little more basic. As you suggested, the A probably was originally meant to indicate "Android", with the camera option making the T58 into a "video" phone. Notice if you look on Yealink's support site though, despite reseller info the official models are:
T58A, and T58A with camera option. So the V notation isn't officially documented.
Since the T5X was Yealink's latest "cutting edge" they began rolling out other models into that series to fit requirements outside of just Android. Built-in wifi was one such requirement that I expect they had not originally anticipated but due to requests from customers began to build out. This is where the "W" suffix began appearing. So as part of the "W" roll out (which was somewhere between 1-2 years after the initial T5X) you ended up with:
T53W, T54W, T57W
For T53W they were aiming for a lower more basic/common use phone that would fit the same form factor/look consistent with the rest of the T5X series. So just like the T41 that's now at the bottom end of the T4X series, you get the original version (T53W) and the "stripped down bare bones" version T53.
As a side note, there's also a T55 which is MS Teams only for some reason...
Probably way more than you care about but you asked ;o) As a clarification I am not a Yealink employee and never have been, so this is all merely based on my observations and assumptions over the last 10 years of selling their products.
Great, thank you, Jolouis!
That little walk through history was indeed very informative - and entertaining, by the way. :-)
Though Yealink is definitely not the only company (think of Samsung with their S, A, M, J, etc. smartphone series!) missing this, I'm happy about every vendor's website giving some rough directions before forcing you to dive into the details.