"Radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there." - Einstein (Philips Magic)

Member Name: ILoveJackDaniels

Product:	Philips Magic
Date:	06/01/02 (500 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Faxes, Phones, Beeps

Disadvantages: Short phone lead

Here's hoping you are looking for a fax machine/answerphone type thing, and not just reading this out of boredom. Try as I will, I cannot guarantee that an opinion on the Philips Magic2Voice 6-in-1 Fax gizmo will attach you firmly to the edge of your site. I make my apologies in advance...

I would love to say that this machine is a lifesaver and a Godsend, but it is neither. It is no work of genius, and once you pass the 'oooh, isn't it a fun new toy' phase, you will find faults with it.

In it's favour, to start with, it is very easy to use. It is very simple to assemble, and plugs into the wall perfectly normally. If you have extensions (eg computers or other phones), all you need to do is plug this beast in as near to the outside world as you can, and everything will run just fine.

Once it's put together, plugged in and you have a dialling tone, setting the rest up is a piece of cake. They have an easy-install feature that prints a sheet of paper with instructions and guides you through installation very quickly and easily.

Once it's all set up, it runs just as easily. It can store 200 phone numbers, and you can have 10 quick dial numbers as well. The volume of the conversation can be changed when using the built in speakerphone, which is great if you're talking to quiet people.

Faxing is easy, and there isn't much I can say about this. The quality can be changed, as well as lightness and darkness, and the rest is simply a matter of putting the paper into the thing and pressing Start.

A few of the more innovative extras they have built into this are the ability to set different volumes of calls for different times of day (no more loud faxes or calls late at night). The scanner used in the fax machine is removable, just in case you can't fit something in the scanner or need to scan something that you can't bend.

It does have it's down points too. For examp
le, the phone lead is obscenely short, but this can be fixed easily enough - it's a standard phone lead so longer ones are very cheap. Or you can use the speakerphone. The other gripe I have is that mine came with these hideous blue stickers on, but no matter - they peel off.

The cost varies, especially with this being the season of sales, but the average seems to be £200. Hunting around now will most likely enable you to find a great deal on one of these.

Overall, I thought this was a great little gadget, but could be improved. I have no major gripes with it, though doubtless over time, I will regret not getting one with a better ringtone. For £200, you will be quite hard pushed to find another machine that does all of the things this does - fax, phone, answerphone, scanner etc - but others are available. I would reccomend this machine, and happily say it's good, but I find it hard to believe that there are none better.




I just couldn't help adding this last bit in, to cheer you up a bit - reading about fax machines is hardly everyone's idea of a good time... I love using quotes as titles, and unfortunately this one from the Grinch movie was too long, otherwise I would have used it without a second thought:

"If you utter so much as one syllable, I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN AND GUT YOU LIKE A FISH! If you want to fax me, press the star key."

Summary: