Picking up the Philips 515 DECT phone is not the plastic ridden experience of so many handsets, instead there is a definite feel of quality about it and this is also present in the keypad which gives good tactile feedback during use. The 40mm LCD screen is very clear and bright making it much easier to use than many older generation mobile phones, but it still isn't quite on the level of Philips own mobile products.

That said the handset is easy to use with a clear menu system and on screen icons making navigation of the basic features and the 50 name phonebook simple. This is just as well because inside the shell there are a number of features which make the £60 price tag seem quite a bargain.

First up the predictive text messaging works just like a standard mobile phone and with a capable network provider this gives you the ability to send and receive texts from the comfort of your armchair on your home phone number. The SMS feature is accessed through its own dedicated button on the bottom left of the keypad and you'll soon have lost control of at least one handset to anyone under the age of 15 in your household!

The DECT functionality works very well with clear fuzz free calls even through multiple walls and even at the end of LP's garden. The 515 has an intercom facility feature ideal for paging an errant member of the family who could be using a second handset, plus the base station can also be expanded with up to 6 handsets making it suitable for a small office.

Ansaphone functions are handled by the base station which contains enough memory to record up to 14 minutes of messages and can deliver 2 greetings pre recorded by the user. Again Philips have made the answer phone easy to drive and the recording quality is more than acceptable if not MP3 quality.

Philips have blessed the 515 with an older generation battery using  NiMh technology. This gives a creditable 292 hours standby and 17 hours talk time but it does take some 14 hours to charge and will be susceptible to the memory effect something we have long since forgotten about in the mobile world.

The polyphonic ringtones really do the job and a great improvement over the standard DECT fare, instead of the basic ring ring there is a selection of tuneful and loud melodies, plus you can use downloaded polyphonic tunes on the headsets (up to 3 can be stored).

Our tests found that the 515's RF performance even on the margins of reception were good although there was some digital drop out and splats the further away from the base we travelled. Battery life did meet the stated times however repeated charges and discharges could well shorten the talk time, but replacement batteries are available and can be fitted by the user.

Overall the Philips 515 Dect system proved reliable and a very capable cordless system, the addition of SMS and the polyphonic ringtones manage to lift this handset above the competition and nearer to our holy grail of a fully featured mobile handset with DECT.

Published - 03/05/2005

More DECT Phone Reviews -

[ Up ] [ Panasonic KX-TCD 517ES ] [ Siemens A245 ] [ Philips 515 DECT ] [ Siemens Gigaset S44 ] [ Philips 1211 VOIP ] [ JJT-6 Dect Handset ] [ Plantronics CS60 ]