The marriage of cellular technology and plain ol’ telephone handsets continues with this new wireless telephone from Uniden. The ELBT595’s handset looks like a clam-shell cellphone and even has built-in Bluetooth so you can use wireless headsets and other compatible Bluetooth gear. And since the system is expandable, each additional unit can communicate using a ‘push to talk’ system called DirectLink, bypassing the phone system altogether. You can even place a handset in a child’s room and use it as a baby monitor (recommendation: use your own children).
No idea on price, as it’s still a ‘coming soon’ bit, but it’s sure to be a bit spendy. With a built-in answering system in the base station, the ELBT595 and a Vonage box could make a pretty potent small office communication system. (Thanks, Larry!)
Product Page [Uniden]
Valor writes:
I just wanted to let you know about another cool feature of the new Uniden phone that you mentioned in the post above.
According to the ad in Wired (p. 120, Dec 2004 issue, [vol. 12, issue 12]), if you have a bluetooth enabled cell phone, you can make calls from the Uniden cordless phone(s) through your land line or “tap into your cell phone minutes to take advantage of free long distance.” This may be a different model, as the Uniden website mentions that the phone is 2.4 GHz, whereas the model in the advertisement mentions that it is 5.8 GHz, but the rest of the features look the same, as does the picture.
Cool!
