The Evolution Of The Telephone: New Uses And Etiquette (NAPSA)—What’s new with cordless phones? More than you might expect. They’re no longer big and bulky—they are compact, sleek and multifunctional, letting you do much more than simply make a phonecall. Not quite sure what all the new phone features mean and which ones can really make your life easier? Below are a few highlights of today’s offerings, along with explanations of how these features benefit you: e Personalization: Many cord- less phones offer sound and graphic options—show your personality through downloadable musical ringtones and pictures that you can display on color LCD screens. e Storage: With built-in direc- tories, you can store numbers for everyone in your extended family, as well as numbers for your favorite pizza service, your best friend and more—some models offer 100 slots. e Expandability: With expandable phone systems, multiple New cordless phones are as sleek and high-tech as today’s cell phones. check e-mail and access the Internet. AT&T’s EP5632 uses Blue- tooth technology to receive cellu- lar calls with the sound quality of a landline. Fashion fans will love the metallic VTech 6042, which operates on DECTandreflects the slim look of today’s cell phones, portable music players and other electronics. Today’s Phone Etiquette New cordless phones such as handsets can be used with only one phone jack needed for the these haven’t just changed the phones throughout the house. should talk to one another. base unit, making it easy to set up e Frequency: Choose a phone running on the latest DECT (Digi- tal Enhanced Cordless Telecom- way people talk, they’ve raised questions about how people For instance, a voice-to-voice conversation is very personal, but if your phone offers e-mail, is it and range, and enhanced security rude to communicate this way? Is it inappropriate to multitask—to use a Bluetooth wireless headset e Transfer and Intercom: Don’t yell at your son or daughter to pick up the phone. Take advan- your hands free for cooking or folding laundry? Experts say no, as long as you munications) technology for interference-free calls, great quality against eavesdropping. tage of handset-to-handset intercom and transfer capabilities found on the latest models. New Technologies In addition to the cool features noted above, new phones such as VTech’s ip8300 infoPhone”™let you to talk on the phone and keep give primary attention to the person with whom you're talking—oremailing. It’s about deciding the best form of communication for you. For more information, visit www.vtechphones.com or tele phones.att.com.
