BT and Siemens unveil rugged landline telephones
By Darren Murph 
posted May 11th 2007 4:30AM
posted May 11th 2007 4:30AM
If you thought that covering your entire Mac mini computing system in aircraft grade aluminum was overkill, both BT and Siemens have somehow reckoned that equipping their latest landline phones with dust, splash, and shock proof enclosures will actually convince folks to pick one up. Granted, Philips has also tried its own hand at sprucing up the PSTN handset of late, but both of these new devices forgo sexy in exchange for sheer toughness. Siemens' Gigaset E455 SIM is a DECT phone which boasts of handsfree operations, SMS capability, an integrated answering machine, room monitoring, a backlit display, caller ID, and an oh-so-limited five choices of polyphonic ringing melodies. The BT Elements (shown after the break) also shares the SMS abilities and illuminated display, but goes above the call of duty by tossing in a reported range of one-kilometer and doubling the amount of ringtones. Of course, both of these handsets would fit right into households that resemble a UFC extravaganza, but we're still not sure that the £59.99 ($120) to £74.99 ($150) that BT and Siemens are respectively charging is worth the upgrade.Read - Siemens Gigaset E455 SIM, via TechDigest
Read - BT Elements, via CNET
The Siemens phone has been available (without the SIM capability) for at least 18 months, what's new about this?
The Siemens Gigaset is a gret product, but I had to dump my entire system two years ago when they discontinued the product in the United States. I even tried buying a new Siemens SOHO system (well, actually - two of them) to upgrade to the newer models and I was told that they were discontiuning their US models and selling only in Europe.
So it's great that they are making these upgrades. I now use a similar Uniden system in my business, and I am constantly replacing handsets that are being broken when staff drop them. But the bottom line is, where can I get one, how long will they be available and how long will Siemens support them?
I don't care how good the phone is. I expect my phone system to last longer than a couple of years when I am shelling out hundreds of dollars for it - and I want to go to the store, not eBay, for replacement parts.
basically an old phone. It might be the "Toughbook" of phones but its UI is so damn slow, it drives me up the wall. But my lady needs a sturdy phone... broke the two previous ones :(
IS it for the elderly/kids who keep dropping them or spilling liquid on them ?
Great. I've been trying to buy something like this for my, and other family members, garages and barns. Yes, we still have PSTN lines going to the outbuildings. Now, just dump all the features except for backlit display and callerID and cut the price in half.