Phone Home
Sun Herald
Sunday July 6, 2003
Replace the cordless that goes snap, crackle and pop, MATTHEW BENNS writes.
THE manufacturers of cordless home telephones are predicting a new dawn with features such as text messaging and video conferences.
Most people who already have a cordless phone in their homes would be happy just to get one that doesn't crackle the second you move away from the base station.
Of course, almost everyone has a mobile phone these days, and mobile technology has leapt ahead so quickly it has left the good old cordless home phone in the shade.
Mobiles already offer video calls, SMS text messaging and a tiny size, while the humble home cordless has remained the size of an ugly house brick with a battery life shorter than a toddler's attention span.
But the latest phones revealed at the recent telecommunications and technology trade show in Germany show that the cordless phone is making a comeback.
The new phones will be welcomed by switchboard operator Lynelle Gullick , who works at Fairfax (publisher of The Sun-Herald).
``When you deal with telephone calls all day, the last thing you want when you get home is a crackle box that makes your call hell," she said.
``The way the technology has advanced with cordless phones is excellent. But the way I sometimes look in the morning, I'm not looking forward to the advent of the video phone."
In 2003 the buzz word seems to be wireless. In 1983 the buzz word was cordless. Different word, same meaning.
So just how far have we come from the old cordless buzz boxes that were all the rage 20 years ago? Telstra Consumer Group marketing manager Tracey Hamilton said the principle was the same, but the technology had advanced in leaps and bounds.
``The latest generation of cordless phones has addressed many of the technical issues that have plagued these products in the past," she said.
Cordless phones begin in price on a par with the old-style analogue, wall-mountable numbers that your Aunt Betty has in her kitchen. But then they go digital and the sound quality clears up a bit.
Take the Doro DECT , which looks space age, runs on digital technology and has a reception up to 300 metres from the base station. That means you can take your home phone with you to the corner shop and not sound like you are receiving the call at your new job as the wind tunnel technician for a grand prix race team.
It also has twin handsets, a hands-free speaking option and a funky modern design. Not as funky, however, as the Bang & Olufsen BeoCom 2 , which also doubles as a remote control for your Bang & Olufsen music system.
Next: the mobile phone that turns into a portable waterbed!
Put to the test
Shop! asked Fairfax switchboard operator Lynelle Gullick to test four of the latest cordless phones from Telstra. Here is her verdict:
Doro DECT 5035+1 . $249
This phone comes with two handsets, which is great if you and your partner want to talk to his mother at the same time. Then again, who wants to talk to his mother? You can transfer calls between handsets, each of which has a 10-number memory. It also has a hands-free speaker phone that, unusually, does not make you sound like you are shouting from the bottom of a well. The phone is light, good-looking, easy to hold, has caller ID and is digital with a good range that can be increased by adding more bases. It has 10 hours of battery life. Unfortunately the buttons proved hard to press and, despite being digital, it still was not too clear.
VERDICT: Good value with lots of extras. But this phone is how a now ex-partner once described me: good-looking on the outside but with buttons that are too hard to press.
Panasonic KX-TC 1220 . $189
This phone is the later version of the one I own and it has been superseded rather like Captain Kirk has by Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek . The point being, the old one was all right but the new one is fabulous. The Panasonic boasts digital caller ID, 30-number memory, dual key pads on the handset and the base station, plus a hands-free operation, which is great if you are baking a cake when the phone rings. It has two-way paging, which would be great for finding the handset if the dog had buried it. The sound quality is great, but it has an annoying ring tone.
VERDICT: A good, functional phone worth the extra money.
Uniden XS915 . $109
This is a cumbersome, old-fashioned-technology phone with a muffled sound. It has the normal caller ID, 30-number memory and no choice of funky ring tones. If I were shopping for a cordless phone, I would give this boring one a miss unless I was on a very tight budget.
VERDICT: Not too sturdy, nor boasting a particularly good sound quality, but it works and it is cheap.
Bang & Olufsen BeoCom2 . $1190
Funky. It has a unique, sleek design and comes in a variety of colours. I wasn't sure if I should put it in the fruit bowl or my underwear drawer. Then I tried speaking into it and found the sound quality to be all you would expect from a brand with this kind of reputation. The handset also doubles as a remote control for any other Bang & Olufsen product. Unfortunately I don't have any.
VERDICT: A stylish talking point for any Potts Point home that unfortunately might look like part of a Thunderbirds set in a normal house. Good sound, though.
FINAL VERDICT: The Doro Dect 5035+1 is my choice. It has plenty of options with the hands-free and dual handsets. It is stylish and good value for money. After a hard day on the phone at work, it does not make me cringe when it rings at home.
© 2003 Sun Herald
