Product: Olympia CDP-24 201 cordless phone Price: Less than US$199 Pros: Simple, low cost way of setting up a wireless network at home. Very versatile product with multiple functions, this is the way home phones should go Cons: A memory boost and a Wi-Fi version would be nice
The CDP-24 201 cordless phone from Olympia is the most exciting gadget I have seen in months. It looks, feels and weighs just like any one of the many cordless phones you can buy from Broadway stores but it is more than just a phone.
It has integrated high-power Bluetooth and can communicate with up to four Bluetooth devices at the same time, turning your phone into a wireless network.
The CDP can take two phone lines and has an integrated 56 kilobits per second modem. If you have a portable device with Bluetooth, you can wirelessly connect to the CDP's modem and get on the Internet. The company will be releasing a DSL version with an Ethernet port later this year or next for broadband connection.
The handset unit can double as a Bluetooth dongle if your laptop does not have Bluetooth. The product comes bundled with a short USB connector which you can use to link the handset to your laptop. It has a working distance of about 300 metres.
Capable of transferring data, it is also an Internet protocol phone, but do not expect a reliable connection over narrowband. With fixed-line short-messaging services (SMS) entering many markets, the new Olympia phone, which has a large monochrome display on its handset, also has SMS capability.