Novelty phone handsets

01.Introduction

Here's a selection of quirky ways to connect to your smartphone.

Along with the somewhat gimmicky Hi-call Glove Handset, we've sounded out five retro handsets:

• Native Union Pop Bluetooth Retro handset
• The Novelty Shop Bluetooth Retro Phone handset
• Swissvoice ePure Corded handset
• Kogan Retro handset and
• Gottagetit Retro handset,

checking out their controls, and the sound quality they produce.

Retro appeal?

For those of us who grew up with heavy and clumsy Bakelite phones, the attraction of the retro phone handsets may be a mystery. Sure they come in funky colours, but the tethered models (the Swissvoice, Kogan and Gottagetit models) have little else to recommend them. 

The Bluetooth models at least have the convenience of no cord and all managed their claimed operating distance indoors (around 10m), so they could be handy if you find a smartphone too small to hold comfortably. However, you’ll still have to manage some controls on the smartphone for “pairing” (getting the Bluetooth connection set up) and actually making a call. All the phones (including the Hi-Call glove) can pick up an incoming call and hang up an existing call.

You can see what we thought of each handset on the product review pages that follow.