BT has launched the second generation of its landline home phones, and there’s a new feature that sets it apart from rival handsets.
The Home SmartPhone SII offers access to the Google Play store, a luxury that’s usually reserved for mobile smartphones.
BT’s Director of Wi-Fi and Devices Erik Raphael said he hopes the feature will make ‘the home phone central to family life again’.
Like conventional smartphones, the SmartPhone SII has a built-in touch screen and can download apps from the Play Store.
You’ll still be able to make landline calls, of course, but you can get a few games of Crossy Road in on the handset mid-natter.
Users will also be able to tweet things like ‘this convo sucks’ and ‘how do I download Flappy Bird?’, all while enjoying landline rates.
“We are extremely pleased to be adding Google Play to our Home SmartPhone SII which opens up access to the biggest app store available,” said Raphael.
“The home smartphone provides an excellent solution for getting everyone in the family online whenever they need access.”
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There are a few bonus features on the SmartPhone SII, including BT’s Nuisance Call Blocking technology.
This lets users block up to 80 per cent of ‘unwanted calls’, as well as allowing customers to block incoming calls from 10 specific numbers.
BT didn’t go into great detail about the specs, but we know it has a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 2GB of expandable memory, and runs on (admittedly archaic) Google’s Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OS.
The phone costs £169.99, and is available to buy on BT’s online store.
Just don’t forget that it has a 50m indoor range and 300m outdoor range, in case you mistake it for your actual smartphone and try to take it to work with you.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
