For Christmas 2010 we got brought a new house phone a BT Stratus Cordless phone. We asked for a BT phone as it allows us to have caller id and since BT have been the leaders of the market for so long it only seem right they would have great phones.

**Phones Appearance**
It's a small cordless phone. The front of the phone is shiny black plastic with a black and blue screen. The screen is about 4cm x 3cm. The number buttons are flat with a raised line under each one. The back is silver with a small raised BT logo. Also on the back is a removable panel where the batteries sit.
The phone length is approx 25cm and sits well against your ear.

**Phone Features**
Personally I just like a phone to be a phone but there are some features that come with this phone.
Phonebook - You can log 100 numbers in this phone which is more than enough for me. Easy to program, it's just like typing a text.
Speed dial - You can log 8 numbers on speed dial. From the phone book press and hold the number you want to save
Caller ID - When you phone ring the number calling appears on the screen. Automatically is set as a default so no need to set up.
Hands Free - At the touch of a button you can put the phone on hands free.
Send & Receive Text - Enter the phone menu and go to text setting and is simple to type text and send.
Answer phone - An answer phone can easily be recorded or you can use the phone's standard "The caller is not available pleas leave a message". You can retrieve the messages by wither pressing the play button on the base or via the menu on the handset. The answering machine only holds 9 messages approx 12 minuets...I'm yet to of had 9 messages left for me, they are easy to delete by pressing the "bin" button. When listening to the message the time and date are relayed to you and listening to the message is clear.
Alarm Clock - This is a god send as the phone is on my bedside table and I didn't want to clutter it with an actual alarm clock aswell so to have the function on the phone is great. It's easy to set and you can set the alarm as a one off or daily.

My main gripe with any gadget is the battery life...But this phone seems to be doing very well with battery it is yet to fail on me during a call but saying that I try to put it back on the chargers all the time. Mainly so I can find it when it rings.

Assigned to our main phone we have one additional phone which sets up automatically once plugged in. This is done by a roaming function. You can have up to 5 additional phones assigned to the base. You can make internal call by pressing the "INT" button; we have only used this function as a joke when one of us has wanted something (i.e. / cup of tea!! Lol)

I have had 3 types of cordless phones and these are by the best they have all the functions I require and is very simple to use with a good battery life. The only negative I have on the phone is every time you have a call the phone stores the number and even if you answer the call it's stilled logged as a missed call. You have to go into the previous call list. The number that has an envelope by it you have to click on to remove it as a missed call.
I would definitely recommend this phone, I'm sure there are better more technologically advanced phones on the market but for me it's simple and does the job very well.

I would give this phone a 4/5 as i'm sure their is better out there.