Good cordless phone for the price

Background
My wife & I had a Vtech 900 MHz cordless phone that *had* been working fine in our old house. But when we moved into our new house, the Vtech stopped functioning -- it couldn't find and hold a channel (I have reviewed that Vtech phone elsewhere on Epinions). So we wanted to replace the phone and decided to buy a 2.4 GHz because the sound quality and range were supposed to be better.

The Price Is Right
This Siemens was regularly priced at my local Office Depot for $49, and, based on my casual research, for a 2.4 GHz phone, that was a good price. It's a *great* price if you consider it against the manufacturer's suggested retail price of a hundred bucks.

Hold It
The Siemens is built of nice-feeling plastic and is lightweight but not fragile. The cradle/recharging base has a tiny footprint (good) and runs only one single cord into it (also good). How does it do this? By running the power and the phone line both through an included RJ45 cable, you only need plug that single RJ45 cable into the base. So your base has a nice neat clean appearance wherever it sits. (The RJ45 cable connects to the AC wall adaptor, and that adaptor has another separate phone line cord -- RJ11 -- running out of it into the phone jack. This "Y" cord set-up may sound strange as I describe it here, but trust me, it's clever, it works fine, and the resulting single-cable-going-into-the-base is a great product idea.)

The handset can be placed either buttons-forward and buttons-away from view on the base. The phone feels good in your hand and against your face. Because the phone is fairly flat, if you roll or press the phone tightly against your cheek or head, you *may* inadvertently press a key. I like the way the handset feels. It sits fine on a desk or couch surface and could be slipped into a large pocket.

The base does allow for wall-mounting but it sits at an angle and sort of projects outward from the wall, so it's not quite as elegant-appearning as some wall-mounted bases on other cordless phones.

The buttons on the handset work fine but the contact points aren't as "German" as you'd think. I've owned a BMW and what I mean is that solidity and confidence of sensation between machine and human. I'd have thought the Siemens would feel Germanic but it feels more Japanese -- light.

Sound
The audio quality and reception are good in our house. Receiving voices come in loud and clear. The only negative is a slight "echo" in the earpiece when you are talking: You can sort of hear your own voice when you talk into the phone. I don't want to over-emphasize this negative quality because it's very faint and I got used to it very quickly [and almost don't notice it anymore].

Our old 900 MHz Vtech would often skip around for clearer channels while you were on the phone, but if this Siemens is doing the same thing, I cannot tell. It simply sounds steady and clear all the time.

Features
For fifty bucks, I wouldn't expect a ton of features and you don't get many with this phone. There's mute, Caller ID, memory dial for 10 numbers, Flash, redial, and that's about it.

The memory dial is not the greatest. You have to hit two keys to get to the programmed number you want, and they're stored numerically and not alphabetically, so you either have to remember that Grandma is #4 or actually read #4's telephone number on the display and recall that "yes, that's Grandma's number". There is a little stick-on label that you can crib the numbers onto and adhere to the phone or the base where you can jot down "Grandma = #1" and that's what I did.

The most negative feature is that neither the display (one line of LCD characters) nor the keys are backlit. In good lighting, obviously this isn't a drawback, but when you're trying to use the phone in a dark or dimly lit area, then it's not the easiest manipulation. I didn't design or manufacturer the phone, but Siemens really should've upped the price by, say, $15 and included backlighting.

Charge It
Battery life and recharging time are two other very important considerations when it comes to cordless phones. We aren't marathon talkers so we never max out a battery's talk time. So far, never had a problem with this phone's battery. The owner's manual suggests you place the phone on the base for recharging whenever you can, and that's what I tend to do, so it's holding a near-full charge whenever we're using it.

The battery is replacable but it's one of those oddly shaped and corded rechargable batteries, so you have to order it from the manufacturer directly (or find a battery store that carries esoteric rechargable batteries).

The owner's manual recommends a full 8-hour charge before first use (and don't plug the RJ11 cord into the phone outlet during this first charge!), so that's what I did. As I said, subsequent recharging happens often in our household, so we've yet to drain the unit or test the full limit of the charge/talktime. I deem it more than adequate, but maybe you've got a teen-aged daughter at home who talks for 5 hours at a time on the phone... :-)

Overall
For the price, this has been a very good purchase and we're happy with the Siemens. The only really serious problem is the lack of backlighting, so if you tend to use the phone in spaces where you need that, don't buy this unit. But if you're on a budget, want clear sound, don't need lots of features and doohickeys, and appreciate smooth clean looks and a good feel in your hand, the Siemens will do just fine.