I just finished a fun little DIY project. Bought a $19 bluetooth retro handset and a old rotary phone off ebay. I ran the wall charger into the phone and rewired the coiled wire to part of charger. Looks just like the original (but handset needs to be disconnected from the charger for it to work).

1. I just bought one of these. They're built great. Solid with weight like a "real" phone.
2. They work on a land line/VOIP or cell phone. You can use either.
3. The point of getting a handset adapter is to take the cell phone off your face for extended calls. My wife talks to her folks for at least an hour and complains that the cell phone gets hot.
4. You can use it with any phone via bluetooth. It's a 900mhz cordless after it's sync'ed to a cell or connected to a landline/VOIP line.
5. The area where you put your phone will fit a phone in its case, but it won't meet up with the charger. My roomate's iPhone4 in his otter box won't touch the connector, but it fit in the area.
6. Remember, It's bluetooth. You don't even have to put it in the base at all. That's just convinient if you can use the iPhone charger. My phone in its case fits, so it's now my charge point in the house.

I like it. I paid $50 for it last week and thought it was a steal.

adam113089 wrote:For this to be a true retro experience, it needs to be corded and disconnect you from the internet every time you use it.

If your on a Verizon iPhone it does disconnect you from the internet every time :D... ZING!!!

I was just wondering if anyone owned one. I think it would look better then just having my phone laying on the table! Anyone out there have one?

englishwades wrote:I was just wondering if anyone owned one. I think it would look better then just having my phone laying on the table! Anyone out there have one?

opps!

Does the headset part charge itself on the body? What type of battery does this use?

Also will it work on 220 volts?

Atwes2000 wrote:1. I just bought one of these. They're built great. Solid with weight like a "real" phone.
2. They work on a land line/VOIP or cell phone. You can use either.
3. The point of getting a handset adapter is to take the cell phone off your face for extended calls. My wife talks to her folks for at least an hour and complains that the cell phone gets hot.
4. You can use it with any phone via bluetooth. It's a 900mhz cordless after it's sync'ed to a cell or connected to a landline/VOIP line.
5. The area where you put your phone will fit a phone in its case, but it won't meet up with the charger. My roomate's iPhone4 in his otter box won't touch the connector, but it fit in the area.
6. Remember, It's bluetooth. You don't even have to put it in the base at all. That's just convinient if you can use the iPhone charger. My phone in its case fits, so it's now my charge point in the house.

I like it. I paid $50 for it last week and thought it was a steal.

What's the quality like...can both ends of the call hear clearly? It claims 'long range and excellent quality' for the handset...so I'm just wondering if that has been your experience. I'm debating between this woot and one of the plug in versions of this idea.

Could actually be useful if you have reception problems in your place, and find yourself standing near a window or something while on the phone.

I LOVE this. It's perfect except for one little thing..... The new iPhone 5 will be coming out soon and I understand it will have a new pin system and will be slightly longer than the current phone. This means, if I were to get this phone, it would be useless when I upgrade to the new phone. That makes me sad, because otherwise, it's brilliant!

loopydloop wrote:It's perfect except for one little thing..... The new iPhone 5 will be coming out soon and I understand it will have a new pin system and will be slightly longer than the current phone. This means, if I were to get this phone, it would be useless when I upgrade to the new phone. That makes me sad, because otherwise, it's brilliant!

If by useless you mean you could completely use it for almost all functionality as you were before except that you couldn't charge your phone, then yes I guess it would be useless.

jrpigman wrote:I'd love one if they made if not iPhone specific.

Last time I checked Bluetooth wasn't iPhone specific. The charging portion of this is iPhone specific but the phone use part certainly is not.

I guess you can pay a ton more to get one with the micro USB adapter, rather than just run a cable. I get that part of the nice is having a charger built in, but I would target this at those few people that use their phones to actually talk on. The charging part is just a bonus or for making it the 'cool, retro looking' charging station; if you need that kind of validation. ;p

rom wrote:Does the headset part charge itself on the body? What type of battery does this use?

Also will it work on 220 volts?

The handset charges when placed back on top of the body. There are little contacts on top of the posts that it sits on to charge the handset. Its just like any other cordless phone; you put it back on the base to charge. There is a small battery pack (like any other cordless phone) hidden inside the mouthpiece of the handset.

It uses a wall wart to run the base. It runs on 110AC.

AwesomeDale wrote:It might be nice to have, but I don't want to peel the Otterbox case off my iPhone every time I want to use it. Doesn't look like the dock area leaves quite enough clearance to dock with the case on. Anyone have experience with this?

Yeah. The first thing we did was try all the iPhones in the house. I have a rubber case (simple), and it fit fine. My wife has a slim hard case, and it didn't fit. Our roommate has an Otter case on his, and it too didn't fit.

Since then, I've found out about dock extenders. I've found then cheap on eBay and assume they're available everywhere online. For ~3 dollars, you can fit a cased phone to a dock. There is some headroom between the top of the phone and the handset. I'm buying dock extenders for my wife's phone (right after I order another one of these)

So, I like it enough to buy another one today!
(I'm in for 1 plus ordered dock adapters from eBay)

SumDuud wrote:Last time I checked Bluetooth wasn't iPhone specific. The charging portion of this is iPhone specific but the phone use part certainly is not.

I guess you can pay a ton more to get one with the micro USB adapter, rather than just run a cable. I get that part of the nice is having a charger built in, but I would target this at those few people that use their phones to actually talk on. The charging part is just a bonus or for making it the 'cool, retro looking' charging station; if you need that kind of validation. ;p

You folks I right, it could still be useful through Bluetooth. Thanks!

Atwes2000 wrote:It uses a wall wart to run the base. It runs on 110AC.

Thank you! I wanted to get this but unfortunately I need one that can support 220v since I'll be using this overseas.

rocdragon wrote:Hmm.. I actually kinda want this, but the reviews (ok there's only 2) sound awful. Here's a link to a previous woot and the product on Amazon.

Thanks for looking up the reviews. I was actually tempted to get this for my office, but if it doesn't work right with a minimum amount of fuss then it's not worth the price even at this steep of a discount. I'll wait for something more plug-and-talk.

Though it may mate mechanically, don't expect to use this with your 110 or 300 baud acoustic coupler modems.



You can't haz ProtoVision now.

jrpigman wrote:I'd love one if they made if not iPhone specific. I have a phone with bluetooth and a MicroUSB charger, and if they could only make charging via MicroUSB a thing, I'd be all over this. I miss a lot of phone calls when I forget to change my phone off vibrate after a long day of meetings.

I can think of a couple of people who'd love this as a gift -- if they had a micro USB version..... ah well.....

Says it connects to a landline (POTs) and a bluetooth phone.. Photo of handset is not detailed enough to see whether you can answer or select for dial out, which line to use... If I understand the description, this means I can leave my cell in my backpack and answer the phone/cell via the handset using DECT without having to scramble to unpack my cell phone (from backpack). Am I understanding this correctly? Anyone have experience with both POTs and Cell connectivity..?

Ugh! I'm agonizing over this. It would look great on my vintage 1940's-era desk. But, on the other hand, I could spend that $35 on a bottle of booze (which would also look great on my vintage 1940's-era desk).

What to do?

If only it came in gloss red, I'd be all over this.

iPod touch + pinger(text free or gvoice) + this = Landline for those of you who still have a house line.

Does the handset charge when it's on the holder?

Only reason I can see to get this is so you can slam the phone down and hang up on someone if you are mad!

slh7d wrote:Only reason I can see to get this is so you can slam the phone down and hang up on someone if you are mad!

Telemarketers.

The iPhone dock ruined it for me. What a piece of krapp that is.

gig103 wrote:If only it came in gloss red, I'd be all over this.

That would be epic.

SumDuud wrote:That would be epic.

I will paint it red for you, easy peasy.

myndmelt wrote:Really, who wants this? Just use your iphone and save the 30 dollars.

Well, when I talk to my girlfriend for three hours every night the handset is way more comfortable.

cjpowers wrote:It needs an app that will display wallpaper while charging - wall paper that looks like an old dial phone.

There is that exact app for that! AND it is functional(rotary dial) with authentic sounds!

This came in the mail yesterday. Does not work at all. Headset battery will only charge half way, and all the display says is NO REG. I try to register the headset according to instructions, but it just sits there. Piece of JUNK! Also there does not seem to be any indication of the manufacturer on it, or anywhere in the manual. RIP OFF!

I just got mine yesterday. Is anyone else finding that the handset doesn't seem to be charging?

1ManInAllThisMadness wrote:I just got mine yesterday. Is anyone else finding that the handset doesn't seem to be charging?

My wall wart power supply was DOA...

And I did send of the requisite email to service department at Woot!

Thanks

Jay

Received the two I ordered, today. No one in the family has been able to remove the mouthpiece cover, in order to install the battery. We're suspecting that they're both glued shut, at this point. Has this been a problem for anyone else?

kerrym3 wrote:Received the two I ordered, today. No one in the family has been able to remove the mouthpiece cover, in order to install the battery. We're suspecting that they're both glued shut, at this point. Has this been a problem for anyone else?

OK, found the problem. It's not right=tighten left=loosen...for this it's opposite.

So after an hour of screwing with this when we got it today we could NOT get it to answer a call with the iPhone 4S. however worked golden with the iPhone 4. So question of the day. Anyone else having the same problem because the description lists the iPhone 4S as a device? Really wanted this to work but I am the one home all the time that needs it and have the 4S.

PS already emailed customer service.

Looks like the charger or batteries on these phones are defective. Neither battery for the 2 phones I received show a full battery icon on the LCD screen even after leaving on the charging base for a full 24 hours. One battery shows 2 bars the other only one bar on the icon. Anyone know where to find replacement batteries??

Accidentally unregistered the handset from the base. D'oh!

I figured out how to get the base and handset to go into "search mode" but I keep getting a wrong pin error.

I've used my set pin and also the standard "0000" pin and nothing.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Mine took 2-3 days to fully charge.

dliidlii wrote:Looks like the charger or batteries on these phones are defective. Neither battery for the 2 phones I received show a full battery icon on the LCD screen even after leaving on the charging base for a full 24 hours. One battery shows 2 bars the other only one bar on the icon. Anyone know where to find replacement batteries??

elrefri wrote:Accidentally unregistered the handset from the base. D'oh!

I figured out how to get the base and handset to go into "search mode" but I keep getting a wrong pin error.

I've used my set pin and also the standard "0000" pin and nothing.

Has anyone else had this problem?

I did the same... ::blush::

There is a section in the manual about it. But I just unplugged the power from the base and then turned it back on and it re-synced.