IP phone vendor snom's latest sleek handheld, the m9, is billed by company officials as "the next generation DECT (News - Alert) handheld," giving users "the convenience of wireless communication along with the benefits and feature richness of Voice-over-IP telephony," including "excellent speech quality." Let's take a look.

snom officials say the DEC- based snom m9 is "the world's first cordless device which supports the basic functions of the Microsoft (News - Alert) Office Communications Server 2007 R2."

Furthermore, they say, the snom m9 can be integrated into several SIP based IPPBXs: "Supporting four concurrent calls and the ability to connect up to nine handsets, the snom m9 is suited for business and private usage, and professional and private use alike."

So far, so good. Here's the part we like:

With features such as hands-free mode, calling line identification -- by displaying name, number and image of the caller as well as typical mobile-phone features such as Address Book, Calendar, Calculator and Alarm function -- the snom m9 is aiming for the mobility and accessibility-conscious buyers.

The phone provides interference-free communication by making use of the dedicated DECT frequency band, and delivers what company officials characterize as "the typical benefits of the DECT world, such as high standby time and superior speech quality in addition to internet application integration, thus providing a decisive edge over WLAN handhelds."

The working range of the snom m9 Access Point (News - Alert) is about 50 meters indoors and approximately 300 meters outdoors, depending on the actual topology of a building or outdoor terrain. Your mileage may vary.

We see how the consumer-friendly approach works, and the design does look pretty intuitive. Or, as snom puts it, the design of the snom m9 IP phone "makes it a highly consumer friendly and convenient handheld device." Just check out the illuminated keypad and TFT color display.

Though consumers might ooh and aah the m9, the IP phone is currently being marketed to the enterprise and SoHo environments alike. Company officials say the menu-driven graphical user interface "allows intuitive usage and five navigation keys provide easy access to most of the phone functions, saving users from the hassle of searching through complicated menus."

We're definitely intrigued, to say the least.