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back to article Archos 35 Smart Home Phone

The last Android-based home phone that landed on my desk came from iDect – that’s Binatone to the rest of us. Frankly, I was less than impressed by it's lack of integration with Gmail contacts. Now, Archos is out to crack the same nut with its 35 Smart Home Phone which adds quite a few refinements. Archos 35 Smart Home Phone …

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  1. Gordon 10
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    Lack of BT

    Lack of Bluetooth seems a missed opportunity as the Dect incumbents tend to charge through the nose for it.

    I presume its due to BT usally being provided by the radio chip, and dect chips with BT are few and far between.

    Shame though.

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  2. tmTM

    It's the mobile........for the home.

    To quote Ali G

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mmmm...

    If more TVs, set-top boxes, streamers and players support remote control by WiFi, not to mention music playback to your main soundsystem over the same or bluetooth, this Archos makes sense. A landline handset + TV remote is a more natural pairing than mobile phone + TV remote. One less uncomfortable object on the sofa!

    In a limited way, Bang and Olufsen did this- their dect handset would have Beocentre audio controls, and IIRC would tune down the tv volume if you took a call.

    Obviously having DECT on mobile handsets could be handy, too.

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    1. Danny 14
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      XBMC have an app for remote control. its pretty useful.

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  4. Alan Edwards

    Not sure about this...

    Very low res resistive screen, and you're not going to get much in 256Mb RAM - my Monte Carlo uses more than that doing nothing.

    If you want Skype calling would you not be better off with an Orange San Francisco, even if it never leaves the house? More power and RAM, and an 800x480 capacitive screen. Also, Android 2.3-upwards (San Fran is 2.1 out of the box) has a built-in SIP internet call client

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Why?

    OK, so, why have a phone that uses DECT to make voice calls to PSTN, and has WiFi? Why doesn't somebody just make a simple plug-in that goes from PSTN to WiFi - e.g. Asterisk-in-a-box? Then I could use my normal smartphone, or my tablets, or my desktop, or my laptop, or ...

    I could understand if this phone somehow ran data over DECT, so that you might have more range than WiFi, but it doesn't.

    I just don't see the use case here.

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  6. Blacklight

    No SIP?

    Asterisk (in one of it's "lite" forms) could either run on the phone itself, or a suitable base station - configurable via a web UI using the phone itself....build a combi-unit and I'd be interested...

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  7. hokum

    Seconding the why

    I'd rather have someone come up with a universal cradle and/or interface which allows any smartphone to use PSTN...any smart arse engineers out there interested in a new business venture?

    Of course, if we weren't forced to have a landline phone just to get broadband we could all just use a mobile as a home phone. Can get basic Android handsets for £50 that do more than this device.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      virgin

      cable broadband doesn't require a land line, but its cheaper to take one in a bundle,also cheaper to call 0800,0845 & 0870 numbers from them.

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  8. Neill Mitchell

    Is it GAP compliant?

    Did you try registering it with an existing BT or Panasonic DECT setup? This is important information. DECT is supposed to be a standard, but there are a lot of compatibility issues between manufacturers.

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    1. SteveK
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      The article did say:

      "The handset connected immediately to the supplied base station as well as to my own cheap-as-chips Tesco branded unit."

      Ok, not specifically tested with a Panasonic or BT base station, but presumably if it worked with another 3rd party cheap DECT base station that shows its not locked to only working with the provided one and it should work with a BT one (or if it doesn't perhaps it's the fault of the base station?)

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  9. Gary F

    Surely an overkill?

    Some domestic electronics should be left alone, keep them as simple devices that just do 1 thing. I don't want Android built into my toaster either. I will not be installing apps on it or playing games on it. I just want the toaster to make me some smegging toast. (Cue Red Dwarf talkie toaster scene)

    Surely you only need 1 all-singing all-dancing personal device, and that tends to be your mobile phone. I would just like my DECT phone to be cheap, reliable, and to have 2 or 3 handsets around the house. Does the Arcos one support multiple handsets? Probably not. And at £140 each it's not very economical. Apart from all that it looks like a nice device.

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "something that will spend its life indoors and sat in a charging cradle"

    you obviously don't have teenagers in the house who find the distance to put a phone back in its cradle rather than leaving it beside where they are sat too much of an effort!

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    1. Jean Le PHARMACIEN
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      Holmes

      pfft......... according to my teenager, house phones can make it to the cradle and recharge on their own...actually I think that's "I found it still working again [after parent searched through sofa/teenager bedroom detritus and replaced on cradle by living room sofa] in the living room...

      Interestingly; the recharge/nocharge problem seems to affect his fruit based mobile as well

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  11. Tech Hippy
    FAIL

    Nearly..

    So close...

    Add

    - capacitive screen

    - Vanilla Gingerbread (with it's built in VOIP)

    - native Market support (not through ArcTools please..)

    - Bluetooth

    and I'll take it.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Seem quite a bit far then...

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  12. Ben Rosenthal

    Android 2.2

    stopped there, plus I never use the land line, wouldn't have one if we were not on ADSL.

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Why?

    I'm struggling to see the point of this device.

    Most people under a certain age - probably as much as 30+ - don't have or want a landline.

    Then there's the 40 somethings considering giving up the landline, or having already done so, opting for VOIP instead.

    At the cost of £140 most people in the market price bracket would have a smart phone (if they wanted one) already.

    That leaves my Mother. She may like one.

    Ultimately, this device is just an expensive home phone that is complete overkill for pretty much anyone who would actually need one.

    Then again, it's probably more useful than an android touch screen built into my fridge...

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