Customer Reviews

GE Corded Bedroom Phone with Call Waiting/Caller ID

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

The previous reviewer thought the backlight was too bright but it has three settings so I have not found that to be a problem. The radio is clear and the phone quality is excellent. The contrast on the caller id can be set for easy reading at a glance, even without my glasses. I also like that I can turn off the ringer on the phone. The delivery from Amazon was quick. And I got free shipping. All in all I'm very pleased.

I read reviews on several of these types of phones and they weren't real good so, I admit I was leary of the fact this one hadn't been reviewed. But I have usually had good luck with anything that has the GE name. I've only had my phone a week, but I'm basically pleased with it. The main reason I got it was to have an all in one unit and free up some nightstand space and it does that quite nicely. There are only 2 minor things:(1)the backlit blue is kind of bright and it can make the numbers a little hard to read,(2)it's a little tricky to find the alarm off button when you're just waking up. The radio seems to track well and the sound is good and clear. I would recommend this product.

This is one of those units that had potential but I guess when you build it in China and get it for less than $30, you get what you pay for.

Pros:
1. Compact unit/phone clock/radio
2. Can set two seperate alarms

Cons:
1. Screen lighting is too bright--no way to adjust the intensity lighting.
2. Unit allows you to adjust screen contrast using 5 settings but if you try to change it (more/less contrast), the text on the screen becomes pretty much unreadable/useless.
3. Manual fine-tunning for radio stations is difficult.
4. No automatic radio tuning! You can get this feature in those cheap $3 miniture/pocket radios.
4. Radio reception is very poor. This unit doesn't pick up many local radio stations even if those stations are the main ones in town.

Update: I'd like to edit stars from 4 to 2, but not able: Now I've had this GE phone for nearly a year, the blue light fades (maybe it's LED? I hear LED fades w/time). It's now harder for me to see the blue screen and the LCD letters and numbers. If lit from above, either day or night, by my Daylight Fluorescent bulb, 6400 Kelvin ($5, Target which works in most any lamp), suddenly the LCD shows up clearly. However, I don't need this lamp all the time, so, most of the time, I can't see the darned caller ID info anymore.

Only discovered the problem with the fading light after buying a second GE phone, exactly the same, a little cheaper at walmart.

In addition, the original GE phone, originally reviewed Jan '07, below, no longer holds onto any radio station in FM. FM is easier, less staticy, includes commercial-free public radio, than AM for which stations are too rare here, staticy, unpleasant. The FM dial always goes to 108 FM, no matter what I do. It used to occasionally move if I fussed with the station dial, but no longer, no matter how much fussing I do.

Emerson makes a SmartSet caller ID Phone/Radio, $75, nicer in several ways. I ordered 2 BUT neither worked "out of the box." Brookstone, where I bought them by phone from their catalogue, had some trouble understanding why I was so upset that neither phone worked out of the box. They didn't understand why I didn't know whether I wanted an exchange for a "working" radio phone with caller ID or a refund, but, maybe you all will understand - If the caller ID function does not work, how do I know whether their caller ID info window is going to work for me when they send me their working phone? Plus, customer pays shipping both ways, a lot for shipping for a phone I may not want once I have one which actually works.

So, ya'll be careful out there.

My former review of this phone:
Great phone/ Caller ID/ Waiting/ Radio Combo for people of a certain age and certain vision problems, in my case: minor cataracts and age related far sightedness (need reading glasses).

Love this phone for the large, blue, well lit, information screen, which is well placed for seeing from bed, or, as I use it, from a chair, or from across the room. Other handy uses are caller ID and call waiting ID, so much easier to read while using it, thanks to the large, well placed, well lit, blue screen. Amount of screen light is adjustable at 3 levels, as is the contrast. Higher contrast produces more visual static, harder to discern info, so, had to use 3 out of 5 levels, when 4 or 5 would have been better for me. 3 is ok.

I have 3 other Caller ID/ Call Waiting phones, and cannot see them under any light without removing eyeglasses and holding the whole phone, not just the receiver up to my face. Those phones have to be on a wall in greatly lit space to discern the caller before picking up due to LCD screens on receivers-only with no backlighting, even when backlighting was advertised. curses! Thank goodness for this GE corded bedroom phone!

I'd read Customer reviews complaining about the GE's blue light at night, but notice no glare in the night, or it doesn't bother me, maybe due to my vision problems. In fact those complaints convinced me I'd found a solution to the caller ID/waiting screens I couldn't see, described above.

Radio picks up all my favorite stations, but placement of the cord, which is extra long, is essential for alleviating static. Directions about this and setting time, call waiting information, etc., are fairly easy to follow, easy and quick to do.

There are some strange sounds, which may be related to my phone service rather than the phone itself, or a combination, since most of my phones don't sound this way: when call waiting beeps, there's a short, but loud coppery crunching sound; and I often hit the keys w/ my cheek, producing odd, new, unpleasant sounds.

While less than perfect, this GE bedroom phone is the first of 4 different brands of caller ID/Waiting phones to actually offer information I can actually EASILY see, with a radio, and corded for reliability (so hard to find these days) to boot! 4 stars!

Well, somebody had a good idea but I get the impression that the same product managers that brought us the Pontiac Aztek worked on this one.

The good:

-Small footprint - it fits on my tiny nightstand
-Radio is clear with reasonably strong signal
-2 alarms
-battery backup

The bad:

-The display is as bad as everyone says. Somebody in China or at GE needs their eyes examined.
-Phone is hard to grasp, especially when you're bleary eyed.
-Battery backup does not remember radio tuned location

The ugly:
-The stupid flashing blue light when the alarm (radio or buzzer) goes off.

The sad thing is, this was about the best corded unit I could find on Amazon.

This little unit is quite nice. I purchased it from Amazon.com for my mom over the holidays. It works very well, and has a very sleek design.
The one draw-back to this phone is that it was really intended for those of us who subscribe to Caller ID service. Normally this feature wouldn't mean much either way! If you had the service great. If you didn't, what's the difference. However, with this GE Bedroom phone/clock/radio, it is designed so that the caller ID service actually sets the time on the clock. Don't worry; you can set it manually, but that's where the pain comes in. Getting to the time setting in the menu is easy, but setting the time manually requires that you set the hours and minutes - minute by minute. This means, if you set the clock up at night at say around 9:00pm; you must use the one button to set the time starting at 12:00am and press the button to skip ahead each minute of twenty-one hours. This means you will have to press the set button approximately 1,260 times to reach the correct time which I can tell you will take about 15 to twenty minutes just to set the time. And don't think that you can just hold down the set button to rapidly skip through to the correct time like you can do with some electronic items! (Ne ne!) If you hold the set button, it just stops on whatever the current minute is that you happen to currently be on when you pressed the button.

This is a very annoying design flaw to say the least. Would it have really been that much more difficult to have designed the clock with individual minute and hour adjustments?

As I said earlier; other than this flaw, this item is top notch. But I had to give it four stars because there are still many people, (my mom included) who do not have caller ID; and who will have to set the time manually. And that process is a time consuming, mind, and finger-numbing experiance.

This imem has many nice features. The constant "new message" light is irritating, but the battery back-up and ability to receive calls even during an electrical outage is very nice.

I ordered this phone because I wanted a lighted keypad for night-time use. Now I see that the keypad is "backlit" (not the same as "lighted keypad" which it advertised) and has only a small circle of light around each key that is not enough light to see which number I am dialing. Very disappointed! Also the online descriptive features says it has a speakerphone which I have yet to find, and it is not even mentioned in the instruction booklet. (FALSE ADVERTISING ?)

Pros: The product works great and is a wonderful spacesaver. The snooze is illuminated and is very easy to find. The information is easy to read and simple to use. Cons: You have to wear blinders at night because the illumination is so bright that it lights up the entire room! I like sleeping in the dark, not in a blue light. If the maker could place a dimmer on the display, it would be a great product.

Even at the lowest setting this unit will light up the room and make it difficult to sleep. Unless you want the equivalent of someone shinning a flashlight in your face all night, stay away from this unit.