Faux retro telephone

I grew up using the old-fashioned Bakelite rotary-dial telephones - in fact, they were in use in my home well into the 1970's.




They were heavy and clunky (if you dropped the handset on your bare foot, the odds of breaking a metatarsal bone were fairly good!), and if moisture got anywhere near them, they tended to snap, crackle and pop like an electronic imitation of breakfast cereal. (Drinking anything while using them was contra-indicated, for fear of spills.) Adventurous children soon learned that the membrane over the speaker inside the earpiece could be removed, rendering the caller inaudible - to the baffled fury of adults answering the phone, until they learned what we'd done!

Now SagemCom has introduced a 'retro'-design modern digital phone that vaguely resembles the old clunkers, but incorporates the latest technology. They call it the 'Sixty'.




According to the manufacturer's press release, it has all the modern features we expect in a telephone, including a wireless handset, answering machine, and so on.




However, its operation doesn't follow the classic lines, as this video clip illustrates.

I don't have a landline any more: but if I ever get one, I'll be sorely tempted to install one of these, just for the memories it'll bring back! Looking at that modern lightweight handset, it's also probably a lot less likely to break my foot if I drop it . . .





Peter