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Handsets are 165 x 50 x 25mm approx. and fit comfortably in one’s hand. They are black in colour and the white characters on the keys are easy to read. The matt rear surface of the handset makes them easy to grip. Doro has taken a very practical approach in the design of these phones with the handset using two standard AAA rechargeable batteries rather than specials. The claimed standby and talk times are respectively 100 and 10 hours.
The base-station/answerphone is roughly 120mm square while the charging docking station for other handsets (in the multi-handset configuration) are 90mm square hence they don’t take up an excessive amount of desktop “real estate”. In both cases the handset stands vertically in the desk stand so that it is quite easy to see the display. However, even though the display contrast was good, I feel that the 8-segment display could have been improved to make it more readable.
As well as the display showing the number being dialled, it showed information on status such as answerphone on/off and whether any messages have been saved. When caller ID has been activated (the user having signed up for the service with their telco) incoming phone numbers are shown in the display and one can scroll through previous ones (20 max.) Where that number is in the phone book of up to 50 names, the caller’s name will be displayed. In addition, one can select a number to redial from the 10 most recently dialled numbers.
The answerphone, which can be set up and access from both the base station and the handset has a maximum recording time of 30 minutes. As it can be accessed remotely, there is a warning note in the small instruction booklet reminding users to change the PIN from the supplied default value.
The claimed free-space range is 300 metres. While I haven’t been able to test this, its range certainly extended to the far end of my garden. The single handset can be paged from the base station. This is particularly useful when one has mislaid the handset. However, with the multi handset options one can both have paging and intercom between handsets.
Even though the instruction booklet indicates that the Doro Comfort 1015 is made in single, double, triple or quad variants, I could only find the single and duo versions on offer. This I feel was not ideal as there are many families which would opt for the 3 or 4 handset options. Nevertheless, the duo on Amazon at about £55 is a reasonable price for a very useful DECT phone which has a quality feel.
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