MegaPhone 1.0 For Performa

     When I bought my Performa 5200, I didn't anticipate getting all the stuff that was bundled with it.  It came bundled with System 7.5.1 and Global Village's Teleport Gold IIv internal modem.  The modem supports 14.4 Kbps data/fax/voice.  The data and fax stuff I was somewhat familiar with but I was thoroughly impressed with the voice capabilities of the modem and the software which makes it possible to use your Macintosh as a telephone, answering machine, and voice mail service.

What is MegaPhone

     MegaPhone is a powerful, flexible telephone system that incorporates a superior high-fidelity speakerphone, a digital answering machine and a built-in contact list.  MegaPhone's advanced features helps you manage your telephone calls and voice messages automatically and effortlessly, while you continue to work on other pressing tasks.  I have enjoyed playing with Megaphone.

MegaPhone Features

     Here's a brief overview of some of MegaPhone's more impressive features.  All in all, this is one of the best software package's I have seen in some time.  MegaPhone is a delight to use.  But I digress, let's get back to that list.

◊ HIGH-FIDELITY SPEAKERPHONE

     MegaPhone's high-fidelity speakerphone with crystal-clear audio allows you to simultaneously speak and listen to your caller, just as you would using a regular telephone with handset.  The high-fidelity speakerphone gives your conversations dynamic lifelike quality.  

◊ DIGITAL ANSWERING MACHINE

     This sophisticated voice messaging system allows you to use your Mac as an answering machine.  MegaPhone's digital answering system automatically date/time stamps all of your voice messages as they are recorded.  MegaPhone allows you to review them right from your Work Station, using instantaneous skip, fast forward and rewind features.  I really enjoyed recording my outgoing message.  It was a lot more fun than doing it on my old answering machine, and I only had to do it once to get it right...

◊ AUTOMATED CONTACT MANAGEMENT

     MegaPhone's Contact Manager allows you unlimited flexibility by letting your Macintosh do the dialing for you.  Once you use the Contact Manger you'll grow to love it.  It will automatically add unknown telephone numbers to your database.  The next time you call that number, you will have the satisfaction of seeing "You called <person's name>" in MegaPhone's main window.

Uncompared Flexibility

     And there are even more features.  MegaPhone is intelligent enough to accept and dial any telephone numbers you type or enter in any other application that supports AppleScript, Apple Events or System 7.5's drag and drop feature.  Megaphone will allow you to dial one of those easy to remember, but hard to dial alphabetical numbers (1-800-SOS-APPL, for example) by typing it on the keyboard.  Megaphone automatically converts the letters to numbers.  Megaphone's built in call timer lets you know exactly how long you've been on a call.  Megaphone can even answer your calls as soon as the phone rings, so that you can work undisturbed.

Possible Additions

     Cypress Research did not limit you to just the features of Megaphone, you can expand your Macintosh's capabilities by adding additional software.  MegaPhone's digital answering machine integrates easily with these other Cypress Research software products:

◊ Voice Messenger 

     Allows you to run a 10 user voice mail system, using MegaPhone as your interface.

◊  PhonePro

     This award-winning program allows you to custom design and build your own telephone applications.

Closing Comments

     I have found this piece of software to be indispensable to our home business.  There is also a version of MegaPhone available for the GeoPort.  The program costs $49.95 to register, and it is worth every penny.  Once you've used this piece of software, you will not be able to live without it.  The only bad experience I have had with this product is the support provided by Cypress Research.  As most of you who have bought a Performa 5200 or 6200 have probably already found out, customer service at Cypress Research leaves much to be desired.  I called up to register my product (a total of three times) and no one at the company knew that MegaPhone was bundled with these new Performas.  Go Figure!  

Extra, As I Promised

     Last issue, I promised to do some tests with Office running on the 5200.  I added a 16 Mb SIMM chip to my 5200, bringing the RAM up to 24 Mb and installed Microsoft Office.  I ran it with the amount of RAM it prefers.  As was expected, it ran slightly slower  than on my PowerMac 638 (Performa 638 with the Apple Processor Upgrade Card).  Unless you were accustomed to both machines you might not even notice the difference when using Word.  However, calculations in Excel were noticeably slower.