The Colombo Centre, Lisbon's Trafford Centre

Advantages: Very clean and plenty of variety.
Disadvantages: Approximately 15 minutes outside the City Centre.

...The Colombo Shopping Centre is located on the Avenida General Norton de Matos, Benfica, Lisbon. It is accessible by both metro and bus, and just a short taxi ride from Lisbon’s city centre. Opened in 1997, the Colombo Centre is Lisbon's newest mall, being the largest in the Iberian Peninsula. As well as a shopping centre, it also houses a leisure complex, with a multiplex cinema, health club, driving range, and bowling alley to name a few. The shopping centre itself comprises 420 shops, including a large Marks & Spencer and a Fnac superstore selling almost everything from food to large electrical appliances – I found this store to be extremely inexpensive, especially on alcohol. The large stores are punctuated with speciality shops, selling goods such as local porcelain, jewellery, shoes, (leather items are very...

Shekera 14.10.2001 (15.10.2001) · Read review
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Review of Colombo Shopping Centre (Lisbon)

iDECT X3

Advantages: Beautiful design. Superb sound quality. Quality look and feel. Wide range of features.
Disadvantages: No common phone book. When reading or deleteing lists (call, SMS) it only applies to that phone.

...The iDECT X3 differs from the X3i in that it does not have a built in answer phone. Apart from that they are identical. We have both; we simply re-registered the X3 phones to the X3i base making it see 6 handsets. Firstly, forget any preconceptions you may have about these being Binatone phones, they leagues apart from what they used to produce in the past. The phones themselves are very stylish being only 15mm thick and have a lovely clean modern look about them. The keypad is of the membrane type that helps with keeping it clean if sticky fingers get at it! There are two colours of keypad available, a limited edition silver colour and a black. We have both but to be honest we prefer the black. The keypad is backlit as is the phones colour display. Despite this, standby life and talk-time are more than ample for the home...

chuckylover 17.01.2008 (07.05.2009) · Read review
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Review of Binatone I-DECT X3

Never lose that phone again, Buy the I-Dect X1 Quad Set

Advantages: Four handsets. Excellent range
Disadvantages: Nothing new, need to set up numbers for each handset

...Background We were on the lookout for a new set of phones as our old ones had seen better days. For some reason, my wife decided we needed a set of 4 so that we could have them placed strategically around the house so no matter where we were, we wouldn?t be too far away from one. We came across the iDect X1i series although, the asking price of £90 was far too steep for me. My wife, not to be beaten got onto eBay and managed to pick up a brand new set for what she described as a bargain £45. Personally, I still thought this was too much for a set of phones so I was very skeptical when they turned up at the door. In the box The box was reassuringly unopened. I say this as a few things that I?ve bought off eBay which have been described as new have turned out to be factory seconds. In the box were four neatly packed...

craggybuk 05.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Binatone I-DECT X1 QUAD

Is Asia Ancient... Airport Tour Part I

Advantages: Sometimes good
Disadvantages: Sometimes bad

...*The first in a tour of air travel around five continents I say Asia. Then I say airport. Then you say ‘gross’. Why is it that we automatically assume that every airport that is not Heathrow will be the most revolting dump in the world? And why is it that if I say Asia you will think of dirty, basic, antiqued airports? Because, you see, this is very unfair. I’m going to tell you the stories of two wonderful Asian airports here, Singapore Changi and Colombo Bandranaike. Sure, many airports around Asia will be pretty nasty, but it’s the same in Europe. Ever been to Heathrow? Why we assume Asian airports to be dirty... If we’re going on holiday to Asia, we could well end up at Chennai airport or perhaps in Bangalore (opinion coming after Christmas). In these situations, you will end up at a dump...

danieletheridge 13.10.2001 (27.10.2001) · Read review
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Review of Colombo International Airport CMB

iDECT X3i

Advantages: Beautiful design. Superb sound quality. Quality look and feel. Wide range of features.
Disadvantages: No common phone book. When reading or deleteing lists (call, SMS) it only applies to that phone.

...The iDECT X3i differs from the X3 in that it has a built in answer phone. Apart from that they are identical. We have both; we simply re-registered the X3 phones to the X3i base making it see 6 handsets. Firstly, forget any preconceptions you may have about these being Binatone phones, they leagues apart from what they used to produce in the past. The phones themselves are very stylish being only 15mm thick and have a lovely clean modern look about them. The keypad is of the membrane type that helps with keeping it clean if sticky fingers get at it! There are two colours of keypad available, a limited edition silver colour and a black. We have both but to be honest we prefer the black. The keypad is backlit as is the phones colour display. Despite this, standby life and talk-time are more than ample for the home environment...

chuckylover 17.01.2008 (07.05.2009) · Read review
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Review of Idect Idect X3I

Panasonic DECT brilliance

Advantages: Easy to use, excellent sound and build quality
Disadvantages: SMS can be fiddly to type and polyphonic ringtones aren't the best

...My review is about the Panasonic KX-TCD 505 Digital Cordless Phone. Some while back I bought my parents some BT cordless phones, they weren't digital but at the time they were perfect for the job. I then decided that I wanted to get an extra for my own room but being as it was around a year later I couldn't find the same phones for sale anymore so I decided to look for an alternative. This is when I discovered the Panasonic 505 DECT with SMS. The phone itself is very small and compact (compared to lots of other DECT phones), has easy to use and see buttons that are illuminated by a green back light and the LCD screen is also large and clear being illuminated in blue. The sound quality of the phone is fantastic being as it's a DECT phone and reaches around 100m from the house without losing signal, the phone is also...

Hsaxo 27.03.2008 · Read review
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Review of Panasonic KX-TCD 505

Cheap and cheerful DECT

Advantages: Value, performs as advertised
Disadvantages: For this price, none!

...If you're looking for a basic but functional DECT phone, then this could well be the one for you. I bought mine for £15 from Argos, and it's a perfectly functional device, without being packed with features. Setup is reasonably straightforward, although installing the battery is a little awkward. The instructions call for a charging period of 15 hours, which seems excessive. Unfortunately, the manual doesn't describe how to tell when the battery is fully charged, so most prudent users would observe this frustrating period before using their new toy! (If you're interested, the indication of a fully-charged battery is a flashing battery symbol on the handset). That's all the preparation that there is to do, apart from plugging the base station to mains and phone sockets. After that, use is intuitive and logical. Dialling, as...

SuperCharlie 19.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Binatone VEVA 1200

It's not just another crowded Asian city

Advantages: Relatively modern, decent facilities, reasonably clean
Disadvantages: Chaotic traffic, little night-life

...Colombo is probably the only very "big" city in Sri Lanka. However, it still has only a population of half a million, which is quite small when compared to the metropolises of India. Its relatively small size does have its advantages : it's reasonably easy to get around the city, and most parts are quite clean. Many of the major hotel chains can be found in the city, with many of the big hotels clustered together in the commercial heart of the city near the sea-front. These hotels have fantastic views of the Indian Ocean and ships coming in to Colombo habour. Some great bargains can be had especially when it comes to clothing. Shops like Odel unlimited and House of Fashion offer great quality original designer clothing (much of it made in Sri Lankan factories) and amzing prices. Other good places to shop are the Majestic City...

mahesh_f 20.12.2002 (22.12.2002) · Read review
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Review of Colombo (Sri Lanka)

Location, Location, Location!!

Advantages: Clean and tidy
Disadvantages: Poor location, poor staff, poor amenities

...I chose to stay at the Cristoforo Colombo Hotel for a weekend away simply because it was fairly cheap and was one of the few hotels in Rome that had a swimming pool. Looking back, this was a foolish decision to make. As the hotel was a long distance from the centre of Rome, i spent much of the weekend on buses and underground trams trying to reach the main attractions, and did not even get to use the pool (which it should be noted, looks triple the size on the photo's provided by some websites). Location and Transport Problems: The location of the hotel was not a problem that we couldn't overcome, as Rome has an extremely good public transport system, however the staff at the hotel were not very helpful and it took a while for us to figure out how to reach the public transport, and how to use it. The nearest bus stop is only a ten...

karlijay 11.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Cristoforo Colombo Hotel, Rome

  Reasonable phone for a reasonable price

Advantages: Feature-heavy phone at a very reasonable price
Disadvantages: Display not backlit

...on the replacement phone. The 215 has a 40 number memory - split between two phone books (family with two skittle like bodies for the icon and a smiley face somewhat reminiscent of Mr. Sneeze). It is possible to save numbers from the received calls list which is quite useful - the received calls list being denoted by a scroll icon. Stored numbers can be up to 16 digits long, and the names up to ten characters long. It is possible to assign different ringtones to each phone book and to other calls ? seeing as I have chosen to use one book for business and one for pleasure it is quite nice knowing when you are expecting a business call. The phone is a DECT unit ? I'm not going to blind you with science - but basically that means that the technology it uses is suitable for a heavy concentration in a confined space - i.e. multiple handsets in a flat...

Morgenhund 16.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of Philips DECT 2151