Amstrad Emailer 1000 > Reviews (6)

I hate computers! Well okay there great when they work and all is fine, but when anything goes wrong and you have to ring a technical help line to be made to feel like some thicko, THEN I hate computers!

Recently my pc packed up working properly, and despite my efforts of reloading WXP over the top of the pre-existing WXP it still failed to work. I saw no choice but to reformat my hard drive and reload WXP on a fresh ‘new’ disk. I truly hate ringing the help line, and not only due to being made to feel stupid, but also the cost. Anyhow, all went well and my pc was up and running! I felt well chuffed I tell you, if only everything was as reasonably easy as that.

So with WXP up and running I had to sort out my Internet, so headed over (via the service installed on my PC) to my ISP to download the necessary software. Before doing this however, I loaded on my Norton’s Anti-virus and clicked to update the definitions.

During the time it took to update my Norton’s AV I had got a virus! I was devastated, especially when Norton’s told me it couldn’t get rid of it. Instead the advice was to head over to the Microsoft update for XP and download a patch, which would fix the security issue that had allowed the virus to penetrate my pc. I then headed to Norton’s web site to check for further advice. I found a link to download a removal tool which I promptly did and run. All is okay now and my pc is working great and no longer logging off!

So what has all this got to do with the category I’m writing in – I hear you cry! Well a lot actually. You see I didn’t sort my pc out for a week or so, due to feeling very stressed, washed out, and generally under the weather though not ill. So missing my Email desperately I invested less than £25 at Sainsbury’s for an Amstrad Emailer phone (luckily (or unluckily) we actually needed a new phone. I could hardly believe the price when I saw it and had to retake and check the little shelf label to confirm. I recall seeing them in Dixon’s last year for around £50 and thought that was a bargain at the time – so half that price is practically giving it away!

As you might suspect with a phone that claims to do so much it is slightly larger than most conventional telephones, and can only sit on a table (not wall mounted). There is a large display screen, on which you can read email, surf the internet etc. It’s on here that you’ll also sort out your address book – another handy feature of the phone (more later). There is the standard dialling keys and below that a mini set of lettered keys for quick access. Set in the phone is a mini keyboard, which you pull out to use. The phone is grey in colour and I’m sure it doesn’t come in any other colour.

To set up your address book simply press the ‘store’ key on the mini hideaway keyboard, enter the details (which can include Name, full address (inc postcode), fax number, email address, and phone number). Then simply press store again to keep your entry.

To use the address book simply type in the first letter or two of the person (company) and you will be presented with a list of people starting with that initial.

Simply select (by use of up and down arrows) and press the button corresponding to the number you want to dial up (i.e. their home number, office number etc), and hey presto your number will dial automatically, on the hands free mode. Once answered (or before) if wished. If you wish to hold the phone to your ear while it is dialling, simply pick the phone up!

Using email is easy to, though you need to register your phone online via the phone. To use the email mode simply press the email button and up pops a new empty email for you to fill in, simply press send when you finish.

To read an email, press the ‘read button’ and your emails pop up in a list, highlight the one you ant to read and then press the ‘read’ button. Deleting is similarly easy by pressing a highlighted selection.

To surf the internet press the ‘Amstrad’ button and type in your web address.

Texting is something I haven’t tried but I should imagine it is as straight forward as the emailing.

You can download tones for your new phone and assign them to different people, should you wish. I admit I downloaded a tone – well two actually – just to see. The ringing tones are definitely recognisable; I currently have my hero’s theme on it! (Scooby Doo in case you were wondering).

Okay now you get the drift on how to use it, what do I actually think about my new phone?

I was totally amazed by the low price and thought I was getting a real bargain, but upon viewing the Amstrad web site I found the price had in fact dropped nationwide from around £50 to £30. However, I was extremely pleased with my new phone and despite my impatience I read the instructions and managed to get my phone registered and up and running with no real hassle.

However like all good things – all is not paradise: For a start you get adverts on the display screen, something you cannot get rid of. However in all fairness how many people sit staring at the phone all day? Obtaining ring tones is a costing idea too and at around £1.50 per minute and with a duration of about 2-3 minutes it’s an additional bill recommended for high days and holidays only.

You can get your email from other accounts such as BT by visiting their web site on the surfing mode and logging in to your account. But again, due to page restrictions the pages rarely show as they do on a pc. Another aspect of the phone is the answer machine, which also allows you to vary the amount of times your phone rings before answering.

You know you have an answer phone message or email by a little green or red light on the screen. And one thing I am not struck on is that the phone accesses your amserve email account without your permission to check for email, which it then delivers to you telephone. I’d much prefer a simple click to log on and check at your leisure and not Amstrads. If you have teenagers you can set a password to stop them using these facilities on the phone, which I have done!

You can if you so wish play games on the phone too, though again I haven’t bother with this.

To retrieve an email costs about 15p, surfing costs about 5p per minute, downloading ring tones £1.50 per minute. So using the phone isn’t cheap. However it is a good alternative and handy to have if your pc isn’t up and running for some reason.

So would I recommend, in a word yes! I have found it a very useful additional tool to have in place. And I’m not alone with over 300,000 telephones in use in the UK I’m in good company. The screen is quite bright, bright enough almost to act as a lamp in a dark room. But Amstrad have fixed it so it goes off about 11pm and comes back on at about 7am.

Thanks for reading – Dave