Brief jog through what this has got.
Digital answering machine (12 minutes), Remote access, Visual message indicator, 10 number quickdial, loudspeaker volume control, call screening
It is only recently I reinstalled a land-line phone in
my home and quite frankly I didn't miss it and had been happy using my mobile. After having my daughter though I thought it would probably be useful to pop a phone on the line so when I have people in to
baby-sit (those rare occasions admittedly) I can constantly ring and ask what she is doing. This is the phone I purchased from my local shop. I did not allow myself long to choose because I get rather excited by
phones, so I pretty much grabbed the first thing on the shelf in a price range that looked very good. £24
You don't find people buying
answer phones much now because you can switch on free network ones - but I like this and find the old call screening thing a pure joy. With call screening I can
pick up the phone as soon I realise it is a very welcome call from Aunty Dot. Furthermore the free network answer devices indicate a message by messing with the dial tone which means you are no longer able to make a
dial-up connection with a
modem. Very annoying too! This means that you are forced to deal with messages that you may wish to leave until later or you already know are for someone else.
Caller display is all very well for screening but it is unable to make the distintion between my ex-directory Aunty Dot and your three-times-a-day
double glazing salesman. You also have to pay for
Caller Display. I am happy with this phone and it seems to be very good value for money.
The main disadvantage I have found is that the hand set is a poor shape for the traditional multi-tasking shoulder and chin clench this action invariably puts your chin directly over the one small hole to pick up your voice. This leads to one sided frustrating conversations where you acuse another person of being deaf a lot - but of course it isn't really their fault.
Moreover I find even more frustrating that this does not have a hands free function built in when the hardware required for it is in the phone. It has a loudspeaker for your messages and it has a mic to record messages. Surely the thing to do was just take the next step - especially if the phone is to be designed with a non shoulder-chin grasp handset.
Its just as well no-one rings that wants to talk to me for ages!
Friend or foe - now you know. 
