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Panasonic KX-TG2513ET
by renniechew
I am very fussy with phones. Unusually not with mobiles but for landlines I expect quality. Mobiles, I find always have something wrong with them and I've given up on trying to get the latest touchscreen mega internet Wi-Fi multigame phones or however they're selling them now and go for the classic nokia bricks however, with landlines, I ... see no reason why they shouldn't do their job perfectly.
With them needing to do a lot less, with just basic calls, text and saving numbers, not a lot can really go wrong. This is what I thought when I bought this a few months ago. After all the handsets continuously going missing, I aimed to buy a new set with a pager installed with it. I'd had enough of using my mobile to phone the landline so I could use it. A strange cycle that took a few years to realise I needed to stop. The pager works very well, and has absolutely no complaint there. The volume is perfect as well as the ringtone volume and can even change the tune that goes along with these. It's the volume of the phone call itself that seems to cause the most problems.
I'm not exactly deaf and neither is my family that use this phone, however more often than not we have to resort to using the speaker phone in order to hear what the other person is saying. Though the loud speaker is extremely good quality and probably the best I have come across, I shouldn't be using this to communicate!
Another problem I have is using the buttons. Although it is very clear on the screen how to add contacts or text people, sometimes it can become unresponsive and now tend to just use my mobile to text while I'm in the house. Annoying seeing as texts are free with my landline! Though the buttons are easy to type into when it is responsive. They are large and not touch screen which is great for me as I much prefer using standard buttons.
The battery is great with this phone and last a considerable amount of time as long as you're not constantly on call though even when it does run out there is more than one handset so one is always on charge (when they're not all buried under the sofa that is).
The phones themselves aren't exactly attractive in appearance. Its description often mentions something about a sleek design but other that being a bit black and shiny, there really isn't anything that sleek or modern looking about it. It's doesn't really attract too much attention but then again it's a landline. When do people ever really care about the appearances of them? It doesn't have a cord and it's not the size of a brick. That'll do perfectly fine for me!
I can't say that I'm amazed with its product. I'm perfectly happy with its appearance, speaker phone and pager however it let me down with the volume of calls and ill probably invest in a new landline.
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BT Freestyle 710
by springtide
Both my Mum and Dad are in their 80's and both suffer from, in varying degrees from the condition age related macular degeneration which, although does not result in blindness can restrict vision in the centre of the eye. Mum in whom the condition is more severe loves her fixed Big Button BT phone but Dad still likes to wander about , ... (don't we all) whilst on the phone and to this end we chose a portable hand set which was recommended by The Somerset association which offers help and advice to partially sighted folks and has a range of aids like speaking clocks and weighing scales, special talking book machines and similar helpful gadgets.
Obviously the factor that was the most important was large buttons and a very clear screen and ease of use. It gets top marks for all three. You can buy up to five handsets which will cover a large house and out into the garden we went for just the one as it is only Dad that uses it.. It sits on it's neat charging stand on the hall table plugged into the mains and also into the phone line socket and provides an essential link to the outside world.
When we bought the phone kit it contained the handset, a base, two AAA batteries already in the hand set, mains power adaptor with a cord 2metres in length and a telephone cord . There was also an instruction booklet to help in setting up the phone.
It was stressed that the base station must be fully charged before you pop the handset into the base, this can take up to 20 hours to charge which seems a long time to me but as my brother was in charge of the set up and it took two days discussion as to where to place the phone maybe that's not a long time although the manual says keep the phone at least 1metre away from other electrical appliances, ours works quite happily next to the BT Big phone. We are also told not to place the handset in the bathroom or other humid areas. Although this type of phone works on the line of sight principal we can wander around the little house up and down without any loss of signal which means you can hunt for that elusive piece of paper whilst you are on the phone.
When the base is charged a battery icon lights up on the phone and you can then plug in the phone line. You then have 10hours of talk time or 100hours at stand bye.
The handset which is quite attractive looking in black and graphite. measures 5cm x 17cm x 3cm which fits comfortably into your hand and the all important screen is 4cm x3cm. When in use the letters and numbers are in bold black on a glowing orange screen, if you do not press any buttons for 30secs the screen light goes out. The buttons are big and black and the numbers are in white and are very easy to see.The phone book which can contain 50 names option is smack in the middle of the phone. One press opens the phone book and you just keep pressing until you reach the name that you want then press dial. Above the phone book button is the menu button which has a tick on it and the X button which takes you back to the previous screen, below the phone book is the call button in green and the hang up button in red.
The phone is hearing aid friendly and has speaker phone option, mute, hands free, redial, keypad lock, new call alert and 8 speed dial options, I am number 7!
I am very impressed by how easy it is to use this phone and it has certainly kept my Dad in touch with his many friends and family.Mum finds it too difficult to use but her eyesight is now very poor. The clarity of sound is very good and the volume control is responsive.
We paid around 40.00pounds for this easy to use phone which we have had for over two years and I have used it many times whist on my frequent visits. I feel that this phone would really help anyone with eye or hearing problems or, anyone who likes easy to see and easy to use phone.
5 stars from me I find it hard to fault it.
Thanks for reading my review which may also be posted on Ciao under splishsplash.
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Panasonic KX TCA155
by MEL0611
It is very rare that I use our land line phone, these days it is so easy to pick up my mobile and chat away to friends and family whilst on the go, I often catch up with friends when I am walking home and as the mobile phone deals are so cheap I would be lost without it, but I did find myself at a loss when our landline phone went down a ... few weeks ago, My Nan and a couple of Aunts just don't seem to be able to get the hang of phoning my mobile so I need the landline for them as much as anything so when I was using it and the line was so faint and crackling, after getting the electrician at work to look at it for me, it was deemed dead! So I had to look for a quick fix and after looking around I decided to invest in the Panasonic KX TCA155 and here are my thoughts on it.
I made the purchase from the Argos store, it was easy for me to be able to go into town and pick it up. The phone is also available from the Amazon website and the Curry's store. I know this as I did a price check, the phone will cost you around the £25.99 price tag so in my opinion that is not too expensive. I would not have really wanted to pay a great deal more the product and this seemed to fit in with the specifications that I had for the phone as well as it being a good known brand.
The Panasonic phone came well packaged and upon opening I found that it had a detailed instruction booklet as well as a 2 year manufacturer's guarantee. The phone has quite a sleek design about is as well as the base being nice and compact. It is brushed silver in colour and the buttons are black with the numbers printed in white and they do stand out really well and are very clear. The phone is cordless and it is run of rechargeable batteries, there is 600 minutes of talk time and up to 120 hours of standby time. I guess like my other phone we just got used to charging it overnight and this seems to work fine, I have never know the phone go flat on me!
The phone is quite lightweight to handle and it is also comfy to use. There is a very clear display on the phone, it is a LCD display screen and when the phone is in use it will light up. Because we don't tend to use the phone that much I guess we have not taken full advantage of the memory on the phone but you can add some favourite numbers. One thing that we did access on the menu button of the phone was the ringer and volume controls. I set the volume to the highest as only having the one handset, I needed to be able to hear it all across the house, I set it at the highest but even this is still a little bit quiet but that is just my personal tastes.
I have to say that after using the phone for some time now, I am really pleased with it. The phone has a good reception and when using it I find that it is really clear. Whilst I may not really understand all of the technical stuff that goes with a phone, I do like that it works well, is really easy to use and is reliable, as I mentioned, it charges well and I would hate not to have it now.
There is no answer machine facility with this phone, that is something that was done on purpose as we have the BT answer phone but it is worth me pointing it out.
In summary, as I am sure you have guessed, I am really pleased with this phone and it is really easy to navigate around, reliable and good quality.
5 out of 5 from me
Thank you for reading
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