Pink Dog

My two favourite landline phones

My requirements for landline phones are surprisingly hard to meet: I want phones that are durable, simple and don’t look awful.

Durable is a problem as there are lots of poorly made phones out there. There isn’t even a nicely segregated market between cheap and short-lived or expensive and long-lasting as there is with other devices for the home.

Simple is a problem because many phones come packed with too many features for my needs, and the combination of an abundance of features and frequent poor interface design means using even the few features I want becomes unnecessarily hard.

Avoiding looking awful is an issue because so many phones are white (oooh yes, let’s pick a colour that shows up dirt really well for a device that is going to dirty hands on it all the time) and go for a rather tacky, save the pennies look. At the other end, designer phones often have a horrible price tag.

But with a recent purchase, I think I’ve now found my perfect pair of phones.

First, for a simple answerphone that does the basics without drowning me in unused extras, there is the BT Freestyle 750. It sticks to the basics and therefore makes the features it does have easy and quick to get at and use. Simple big buttons also make it very easy to use, even if you fingers are still slim and nimble. Easily the best answerphone I’ve owned.

Second, for the phone extension in my office, there is the Wild & Wolf Trim Phone in red. Its stylish design evokes traditional phones, but with push buttons making the rotary look rather more convenient to use than those old phones actually were. Also, despite the angular look of the handset, it sits comfortably and easily in the hand. The weight is just right: a moderately heavy base unit which therefore stays in place and a light handset which is therefore pleasant to use. All in all, an attractive, functional phone at a decent price.

Now, time to wonder whether I should break my Blackberry loyalty…

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