Marti's blog

I got tired of our old phone: it's a fancily designed corded phone that looks good but is totally impractical. At the time I bought it I didn't feel I'd use the phone much anyway (having a cell phone and that wonderful thing called the Internet) and it looked good. Well, turns out that I really need a cordless phone and that this one keeps dropping on the floor because of its shaky balance.

Since the price of cordless phones has been falling through the roof in past years I decided to get myself two of these. Siemens conveniently sells a two-pack with one base and two phones called C450 Duo, and when I say "two-pack" it's really just that: a box that holds two boxes, a C450 (phone and wireless base) and a C45 (just a phone), just as if you bought them separately.

What got me into this model is the color screen that it sports: it's nice and easy to read, but not of much use otherwise. You can pick a screen saver but you have to choose between those installed by the manufacturer, as there's no way to add any content to the phone (as you would with any modern cell phone). Same thing for the ring tones... so much for customization. Otherwise the thing is very user friendly and convenient to use (one key for accessing the directory or to call the voice mail). Setup is a snap, tying up the phone to the base is as simple as plugging them together, and then you are good to go.

The batteries are two standard AAA Ni-Mh batteries, which mean that it'll be easy and cheap to replace them when they wear out.

Overall, it's a nice (and cheap) phone that gets the job done, with a straightforward user interface. I just wish they would add a USB plug somewhere so you can tweak the phone to your liking.