Review: GE DECT 6.0 Cell Fusion

NEVER USE YOUR MOBILE AT HOME AGAIN.

November 2007 By —Brian Ploskina

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There’s a seen near the end of the film Contact where a man hands a cyanide pill to Jodie Foster’s character and tells her that there are numerous reasons they can think of that should give her reason to use the pill but mostly “it’s for the things we haven’t thought of.”

After getting a hands-on experience of the Cell Fusion cordless DECT 6.0 telephone from GE, I had the same feeling. No, I didn’t want to kill myself. What I mean is I could think of several reasons someone might want a phone like this, such as:

• a small office or home office, where you don’t want to have a separate phone line but still want to use a “normal phone” for business

• a college dorm room, or

• a house or apartment where regular phone service isn’t available.

But deep down inside, I think most people who want this phone, want it for reasons that I can’t really think of. And that’s OK, because not matter who uses it, the Cell Fusion is a pretty nifty device.

Using Bluetooth technology, the phone sinks with your cell phone, allowing you to use the network and minutes you already pay for. But with the Cell Fusion, you get a list of features that you wouldn’t normally have using the mobile device, such as a premium speakerphone, a digital answering system with three different mailboxes, and the ability to have your phone in up to seven different rooms, because by purchasing more handsets (the Cell Fusion comes with one in addition to the base station), the GE DECT 6.0 technology means you maintain a confident RF connection to you cell phone, no matter where it’s stowed.

The unit allows you to sink up to two Bluetooth-enabled cell phones. One thing I was a little confused about at first was how I was going to call a contact that I have on my cell phone from the GE handset when I don’t have the number memorized in my head. Aside from dialing the number from the handet, the unit allows you to manage contact via PC software that comes with the unit. There are also downloadable ringtones and built-in battery back-up.

While the PC software isn’t necessarily difficult to use, I still think a more desirable model would be to have your contacts from your cell phone simply appear on the GE phone. Perhaps has Bluetooth technology becomes easier to adapt to these devices, that features will become available.