Novophone Retro Cell Phone Handset

by Novophone

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• ASIN: B000GQ0TBS
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,719 in Cell Phones & Accessories (See Top 100 in Cell Phones & Accessories)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 9, 2007

Product Description

Size matters, and in a world of small-and-getting-smaller-cell phones, this retro handset converts your tiny phone into something more healthy. Simply plug the handset into your mobile phone and enjoy the rugged comfort of 1960s telecommunications. The retro handset brings back those good ol days of slamming the receiver and resting the phone on your shoulder... and it looks slick while doing it too. The 2.5mm jack works with most phones directly or via an adapter. Cell phone and adapters not included.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sound quality is fantastic September 21, 2007

By Stephen Rivers

I bought this handset strictly because I thought it was cool and I could have some fun with it. As it turns out, it has become an invaluable business tool. The handset is very well made and the sound quality is fantastic. Not only can you hear the other party much more clearly than with a standard cell phone, but they can hear you much better as well. I have had many customers think I was on a land line. (And I've tried it with many cell phones). As a result, whenever you make or receive an important call (say, a conference call with your best customer), this handset is a must-have. I am now going to have to order my fourth one, because often when you're out in the field and a client sees it and tries it, they will covet it. And as a bonus, I can promise you that you will get some truly strange looks from passersby when you use it.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars get that cellphone away from your head March 8, 2007

By S. Rice

Amazon Verified Purchase

Really like the retro cell phone handset - not because it's cool - but because now I'm not holding my cellphone right next to my brain. What happens when you continually have electromagnetic frequencies coming in directly next to your head? Nobody really knows. So, why take a chance on something that could 'bite' you down the road. It's also convenient when you want to use both of your hands and be on the phone at the same time (and you don't want to use a headset). You can do the old 'hold the phone between your ear and your shoulder'. I like it and would definitely recommend it for anyone who is concerned about the EMF's that may be doing harm from long term cellphone usage.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Read these comments in full before buying! April 24, 2010

By Penny Pincher

My father has difficulty holding onto his Nokia cell phone, and his hearing is not great. I thought I had finally found a product that would help, but it doesn't. I don't know if the problems he is having are because his phone needed to use an adapter or if they are a part of using this device in general. First, there is frequently a beehive like buzzing when you try to hold a conversation. If you play around and play around with the cord, the buzzing will disappear until the cord gets moved again. Even when the buzzing has stopped, the volume for hearing the conversation through the handset is half as high as it was through the cell phone alone. Since the phone was suppose to be used by a person with poor hearing, this makes the handset pretty worthless for my intended purpose. If you visit the Novophone website, you will not find any company address listed. You don't find the address until the box arrives with a return address. Communication has to be done through submitting a website comment. Before you make the purchase, the guy is Johnny-on-the-spot about replying to questions you submit. After you make the purchase, you never hear from him again. The are NO instructions or troubleshooting ideas that come with the handset.

5/09/10 I stand by what I wrote earlier. Contrary to the comment Novophone gave my review, they still have not responded to any requests for support I have sent to them since purchasing the phone. I wrote to them again, as they suggested in their comment, with my concerns a week ago; and I have not gotten a response. Before I purchased the phone, they responded in one day. The handset and adapter was purchased from them directly so they have no excuse that I should be dealing with a third party....

5/18/10 Novophone still has not responded to my last two requests for support. They are listed as being processed. One is 15 days old and the other over a month. I'm advising you to stay away from doing business with this company. I had my brother take a look at the handset. He said it acts as an antenna and is never going to work for my father because he has far too many pieces of electronic equipment around his apartment. Under the circumstances, what I am left with is an expensive piece of junk.

6/15/2010 Contrary to Novophone's comment that they would support their phone, there has not been a response.

12/11/2010 Still no help or response from Novophone support. Decided I might as well use the handset as a paperweight. Sadly, that use doesn't work either--too light. Maybe next spring I will hang it from the tree in my front yard. Now THAT will be a conversation piece! Read more ›

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost great November 3, 2007

By L. Stewart Hearl

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a very cool phone and it works perfectly. It's getting 4 stars instead of 5 because I dropped mine and it broke. What broke was the the button that sticks out of the phone about a half inch on its side. This is the button that you push to answer your phone with. This is a design flaw in the product. If the button was recessed into the ample sized handset, it would have been fine.

Shipping time from the vendor was within the range published.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Feels great in your hand, but doesn't sound as good as it looks. January 23, 2011

By Ben Gregg

What I like most about the Novophone, is how well they've managed to reproduce the look and feel of the classic Henry Dreyfuss "G" series handset (which was the most common handset found on Western Electric phones back in the '50s, '60s and '70s, and is still the standard handset for payphones in North America). The weight and balance in your hand feels perfect, and even the phone cord feels like the genuine article.

Unfortunately, looks aren't everything, and the sound quality of this handset leaves a lot to be desired. Although people on the other end of my calls could hear me (they typically seemed to think that I'd put them on speaker phone), the real problem was on my end, where I found that even with the volume all the way up, the sound coming out of the handset's speaker just wasn't loud enough; there was a mismatch between how loud I sounded to people on the other end, vs. how loud I sounded to myself. Basically, you don't hear your own voice the way you do on a regular phone, which just doesn't sound right. I also know this wasn't just because I had a bum handset because I actually bought two Novophones--one with the "Multi-Function button" and one without (because I actually found the button's placement to be annoying).

Things were made worse in my case because of the fact that I wanted to use it with my iPhone 4. The Novophone ships with a 2.5mm plug (designed to fit the standard jacks on older phones), which means that to use it with most newer phones, you'll need an adapter. In my case, I had to get a 4-pole 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter so that I could plug it into my iPhone's standard 3.5mm jack. Besides the fact that it cost me $8....95 + shipping (from Novophone), the worst part was that the adapter doesn't fit into the jack very snugly , with the result that any tugging or movement on the phone cord generates static and audio feedback. One person even said "bless you" because he thought I'd sneezed! So basically, not a good experience.

However, my story does have a happy ending: Despite my disappointment, and because I still loved the concept of using a handset instead of holding my cell phone against my head (or dorking around with a bluetooth headset or annoying people by putting them on speaker phone all the time), I ended up buying a Moshi Moshi handsetNative Union MM01H Moshi Moshi Retro Handset for iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Mobile Phones (Soft Touch Black) which although not as "retro"-looking as the Novophone, has fantastic sound quality and a snug-fitting 3.5mm plug that fits perfectly in my iPhone 4 (even with the bumper case on). So if you're thinking of getting this for any phone with a 3.5mm jack, I definitely recommend going with the Moshi Moshi instead. Read more ›