Home phone News

Philips unveils phone that links your mobile and landline

Monday 5 September, 2011

By Kelvin Goodson

Philips ThinkLink integrates mobile and home phone using Bluetooth.

Philips has unveiled a new home phone that links your mobile and landline handset together, allowing you to make and receive calls from the same device.

The ThinkLink is aimed at those who wish to use both their mobile phone and their landline when at home, or those who require better mobile sound quality or live in an area with weak mobile reception.

Introduced by Dutch electronics company Philips at the consumer electronics trade show IFA 2011 in Berlin, the ThinkLink allows up to two mobile handsets to be connected to a home phone using Bluetooth.

Once linked up, users can access their mobile contacts via the ThinkLink handset or download them to it via PC, removing the need to search for contact details on their mobile before making calls.

One thousand numbers from each mobile it is connected to can be downloaded to the ThinkLink, and it also has a 200-entry landline phonebook.

The ThinkLink can charge the battery of the mobile handset it is linked to and features its own long-lasting cordless handset, which allows up to 22 hours of talk time.

Other features include a 2.4in high-resolution TFT colour LCD screen for improved image quality and MySound technology, for users to fine tune audio settings and personalise how they hear calls.

Home phone is still the main way of making calls in the UK, despite the continuing decline in fixed line connections and nine out of ten people now owning a mobile phone, research from telecoms regulator Ofcom revealed last month.