With the loosening of restrictions due to the pandemic, the everyday life of the average company employee has seen a gradual return to office life. Not for everyone, as for a Tesla that demands everyone in flesh and blood at the deskwithout ifs and buts, there is a Bitpanda that embraces the flexible and remote model. But willy-nilly, and regardless of one’s vision (or that of one’s office manager), and on the goodness and effectiveness of smart or remote work, it is undeniable how meetings on Zoom, Teams and various platforms are still welcome, when Not highly recommendedfrom colleagues or business partners.
In short, the beloved / hated calls are here to stay, and then we might as well be prepared. Logitech knows this well, in whose catalog, well before the pandemic, devices such as cameras and headphones they have always had a predominant role. The current times have done nothing but push the Swiss giant to invest even more in the range of solutions designed specifically for companies, and specifically, to raise the quality bar of video conferences, it does not matter whether they are in a meeting room or from home. For companies, Logitech has started producing devices such as the Tap Scheduler, a small screen to be applied outside the meeting rooms that track of meetings booked in a specific roomsynchronizing with the various existing platforms (Teams, Zoom, Google), and allows with a touch to book and start a meeting, or the Tap IP, a sort of controller to be placed in the middle of the table and from which to adjust the volume or disable the microphone or the video camera, to be used in parallel to the Rally Bars, Instead, the solutions revealed in these days, Also in Italyare studying more for a purely domestic use.
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Logi Dock, a little docking station and a little speakerphone
The first is Logi Dock, announced in September and also available in Italy in graphite and white: it is a tool particular and undoubtedly expensive (449 euros), and perhaps not even so essential or revolutionary, but it is an idea designed to improve the quality of the experience of those who, in spite of themselves, spend most of their day at the conference. In part it is a practical docking station, rich from the point of view of connectivity (but if it were limited only to that, it would have much cheaper competitors): it offers uscite HDMI e DisplayPort to connect it to two different monitors, 3 USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 outputs (two on the back, one on the side), 2 USB-A 3.0 outputs, and another USB-C Upstream output with which to power a laptop (guaranteeing up to 100W).
Basically, however, it is also a hands-free system, equipped with speakers that reproduce the voice of the interlocutors, but also music and audio from the connected PC or MAC, and 6 noise-canceling microphones, which allow you to use the Logi Dock without the need for headphones. For those who have a studio or a personal room in which to work, it offers the possibility of speaking and listening without resorting to additional peripherals, hands-free: just connect a webcama monitor and a PC, and you’re ready for the meeting, minimizing the clutter of cables, headphones and various microphones, much to the delight of cable management fanatics.
Finally, it also works as a controller: i buttons on the top allow with a single touch to adjust the volume, activate or deactivate the microphone and (by pressing the central button) to start the meeting, automatically connecting to the incoming call from the main platforms (it is certified for Google Voice, Meet and Zoom, and is waiting for certification for Teams).
Also, by installing the software Logi Tunealready used to adjust the settings of Logitech microphones and webcams, it is possible to customize Logi Dock and synchronize it with the calendar: in this way, a notification on the desktop, accompanied by a light signal from the device itself, will indicate the arrival of a call or the start of a call imminent, to participate (as mentioned) with a single touch.
In short: nothing that reinvents the way of holding meetings, but i benefits that Logi Dock offers in terms of experience quality improvement could appeal to a very specific range of users and companies, willing to spend 449 euros to make those interminable remote meetings somehow more bearable.
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True Wireless zones, always connected without dongle and Bluetooth
Logi Dock is also equipped with Bluetooth connectivity, and in the case of co-working or sharing spaces with sweet halves or simple roommates, it is possible to forgo the integrated speakers and transfer the entire audio channel to Bluetooth headphones or headphones equipped with a dongle (no 3.5 mm jack), or to also connect your smartphone and use it as an amplifier. To offer an extra tool, at Zone Wired Earbuds already available from 99.99 euros with the cable (and both Type-A and Type-C output), Logitech has also debuted a new model, strictly wireless: the earphones are called Zone True Wireless, and work with any device, supporting both types of connection. The included dongle can be connected to the Logi Dock, thus ensuring a better quality of signal transmission, but nothing prevents you from connecting them via Bluetooth: they can connect to two devices at the same timein order to keep them on and use them both with incoming calls via computer and via smartphone, without having to change earphones.
Waterproof (thanks to the IP68 certification) and equipped with active noise cancellation, they promise 5 hours of use with ANC and 6 hours without, while the 100% energy case guarantees two and a half cycles of recharging. They are also certified for numerous platforms (Team, GoTo, Webex, BlueJeans, Zoom and Google) and they cost 329 euros.