Solid all-rounder, with clear sound and Sim-card reader Loading numbers into a new home phone is, frankly, yawn-o-rama. Be thankful, then, that BT’s cunning Sim-card reader enables you to transfer 200 contacts from a mobile in seconds. This smarty-pants phone can even ping SMS texts to your pals. The ergonomic handset is neck-friendly, with a concave earpiece that helps to provide extremely sharp call quality. The built-in answering machine also sounds the best on test, and the nine-line colour screen and solid battery life are impressive. The Diverse has no speed-dial function, call barring — to stop the baby-sitter racking up a bill — or polyphonic ring tones, but you can record your own tunes, or add them from a computer. Factor in ease of use, and this is right on the money.
BUSINESS CALLER
Philips Dect6271S/05 — typically £70, or £61 from www.evocal.co.uk
Smart, hands-free phone, hampered by range This swish handset totes a useful speakerphone, making it ideal for hands-free notetaking. Solid battery life, great call quality and a conference-call feature all help to enhance its home-working credentials, as does a proper numeric display on the answerphone base station. The handset’s smart — albeit small — colour LCD screen, polyphonic ring tones and ability to send SMS texts ensure plenty of family allure. Despite a nifty alarm clock, its skimpy memory stores a mere 25 texts or 50 contacts — though pricier Philips phones can stash far more and offer Sim-card readers. It is the least intuitive model on test, and range is comparatively poor, hence unsuited to humungous homes or thick walls. Yet for those to whom its strengths appeal, this is a more than capable assistant.
YUMMY MUMMY
Panasonic KX-TCD820 — typically £125, or £105 from www.kkelectronics.co.uk
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Stylish, feature-packed handset that doubles as a baby monitor Prepare yourself for serious phone envy. With its slimline, angular styling and a 1.8in colour screen featuring customisable wallpaper, this top-of-the-range Panasonic is more akin to a mobile phone than a cordless domestic model. It can send SMS texts and accept new ring tones, if transferred from a computer. Any of the 200 stored contacts can easily be reached with a speed-dial function and, as with more basic Panasonic models, the KX-TCD820 offers remarkable battery life, fine call quality and a crystal-clear answering machine. Despite all the super-evolved features — the phone doubles as a baby monitor — it remains superbly intuitive, too. Nice work.
NEED TO KNOW
Despite reports last week warning that Dect (digital cordless) phones pose a health risk, Doors was assured by Dr Michael Clark, of the Health Protection Agency: “There is no scientific evidence that radio waves, at levels such as those produced by Dect phones, are harmful. Dect phones emit less than a tenth of the radiation of a mobile phone.” That is roughly the same level as home a WiFi router.