Hands-on with Panasonic's Link to Cell KX-TH1211

Panasonic's Link to Cell KX-TH1211 is quite the interesting piece. Hailed as a "mobile phone accessory that seamlessly connects a Bluetooth enabled cell phone to cordless handsets in the home," this device simply enables users to make and receive cell calls from a home-based phone. Panny talks up its ability to preserve battery life and offer up "better reception," but the real heat comes from the included talking caller ID. Additionally, the Link to Cell is expandable to up to six handsets, and if you've just got to have this little gem, you can snag it in two months for $99.95. Another pic awaits you after the jump.

[paragraph @ Jan 7th 2008 10:27AM]

Neat, but then I realized if my phone worked in my house, i would just pick IT up....

I guess someone will find it neat, but not for me.

[YouFaceTheTick @ Jan 7th 2008 10:36AM]

We've wanted something like this for years. Everybody in the family has a cell phone and the home phones never get touched. This would allow for two things:

1. Answering of all calls on the telephones installed in every room.
2. No more missing of calls because the cell is in a different part of the house.
3. No more of the mad dash to get a call and your cellphone.

I have 24/7 tech support people working for me and quite often they use the lame excuse that their cell phones cannot be heard in their homes. The smart ones forward calls to the home phone; the dumb ones just make the lives of everyone else miserable. This system would help some - though eventually we're making them use VOIP phones at home.

[michael @ Jan 7th 2008 3:40PM]

Or you could sign them up for grand central accounts. Free service from google. It gives them one number that can be used to ring their cell phone and home phone at the same time. Or cell/home/office at the same time.

[koz @ Jan 7th 2008 10:37AM]

How is this different from the VTech model that's already on sale? Has caller ID and all the works, too.

[MikeS @ Jan 10th 2008 10:03AM]

So this is like the Dock-n-Talk or the BT Xlink currently on the market. This allows you to dump your landline and use your cordless phones when at home over your Cellphone.

[GW @ Jan 21st 2008 8:59PM]

Is this 2.4, 5.8 or DECT 6.0? Does anyone here know?

[Jocal @ Jan 7th 2008 11:04AM]

I have a uniden model that does this and have used it for 2 years now and it works pretty well. What's real nice is if I'm outside, I just take the home phone with me and I can answer both my cell and home number on the same phone. Also, I have multiple handsets on the home phone, so I can use my home phone to make long distance cell phone calls. The uniden has a little delay in connecting, so hopefully the Panny will improve on this technology

[Ladderless @ Jan 7th 2008 11:08AM]

I know lots of people that would like this. The handset looks a whole lot more comfortable than many of the cell phones out there, and because you can connect a landline, too, it means dealing with only one phone when you're at home.

You come home, drop your keys and cell phone, and know that you won't miss any cell calls.

It does look a whole lot like the V-Tech phone that's out there. This is different, in that it's made by Panasonic (ain't I insightful?). It's also under $100, where the V-Tech is $149.

[GW @ Jan 21st 2008 5:00AM]

True. But the V-tech is a 5.8ghz phone. We don't know WHAT freq this phone will be. The KX-TH111 is a 2.4ghz model, and wrecks havoc on my wireless network. I had to go out and get the Linksys dual band WRT600N.

[Bobby @ Jan 7th 2008 11:10AM]

This assumes kids and spouses would like their cell calls received and remember bluetooth on all the time. Rather tiny market ...

[t.i. @ Jan 7th 2008 11:37PM]

i have the panasonic KX-TH111S at home now and i got it at futureshop. does pretty much the same thing and its already out.