The e-mailerplus is the most versatile and user-friendly home phone on the market today. With the ability to send and receive multiple email worldwide, send SMS text messages to mobiles, access the internet and play games, it really is the ultimate in home communication. We have even built in a SMARTCARD reader to enable Secure Credit Card Transactions in the future! Manufactured with only Amstrads know-how, it offers the most cost-effective and easy way to stay in touch with friends and family.
LIke (I dare say) a lot of you, When I saw the Adverts for the Amstrad E-mailer Telephone, I smiled a little and thought to myself .... Who would want that?
Well after all most people Now-a-days have mobile phones, Computers etc. Why would they also want this little creation. Retailing at around £99 (Currently half Price at around £50) It is certainly affordable, But still quite a bit of cash to spend IF you already have Internet access.
However my Wife has a love of Gadjets and the E-Mailer had caught her attention, Plus we really needed a new Telephone. So off we went and Bought the E-mailer, Now after exploring it for a few months, I have to admit I am quite taken with it, It is an all in one Communications centre, Lovingly displayed in our living room.
The Amstrad E-Mailer Plus comes in a Brushed Aluminium Design case, Slightly Larger than a standerd Dest top telephone. Of course the Extra is the LDC screen at the Top of the Base unit. The Telephone handset is confortable to hold and use. As seen in the Photo above a Small "qwerty" keyboard slides in and out of the Front of the Base unit.
The Amstrad E-mailer comes with a lot more buttons than your standard Telephone unit (More about these later) and also has a "Cut down" version of the "qwerty" Keyboard along the Botton end of the Base unit.
As I have already said the handset is light and comfortable, Apart from your standard Telephone, E-Mailer also incorperates
(a) Answer machine
(b) Mute Button
(c) Last Redial
(d) Hands free setting
(e) Caller display (if your telephone company has this feature)
(f) Call logs
While the fisrt four of these are pretty standard in telephones, The Call log is an excellent Function (If you have Teenagers) Allowing you to display the last 12 Calls "Either" Received or Transmitted.
HOI ...Have you been using the Phone?
I was only on 2 minutes!
PRESS CALL LOG
LIER ...You were on 22 minutes and made 3 calls.
Catch my drift ...Kiddy Winks can't get off with it any more :)
The E-mailer telephone unit comes equiped with an In-built modem, Press the e-mail button and the modem starts dialing and you go on-line to send/receive emails. To write e-mails you use the small "qwerty" keyboard under the base unit.
You can send various attachments with your e-mails, Including "gif" ,bmp & "jpg" pictures, Or Voicemail.
Users can set up seperate e-mail accounts for the Family, and instruct the E-mailer to check for mails on a daily basis, or not at all (if you prefer to check yourself)
Note:- If you are typing an e-mail and the telephone rings, the mail message you were typing is saved until you answerthe call, so you can start where you left off.
The Costs.
Each time you go on-line with your e-mailer, you pay a flat rate of 12p + the standard local call rate for your telephone service.
With the e-mailer you can surf the Internet, However the mailer is designed to view "WAP" web-sites, and various graphic intense sites might not display properly.
An example of this ...I tried the CRYPT website, The lefthand selection of "link" buttons did not show up, however I was able to enter the latest issue of the CRYPT and view and read the various pages (Including "gif" animations). Problem site might be better displayed if you configure the E-mailer, not to display graphics.
With your e-mailer you can go to the web-site and download a varied selection of Spectrum "Classic" games (Space invadors/Pacman etc)
It should be noted that in fact, you HIRE these games at a cost. Anygame selected can be downloaded ( up to 16 games) the current cost is 25p for 1 hour OR 50p for 3 days .. After the time has lapsed the game is automatically deleted from your mailer.
Games are viewed on the small LDC screen, and controled via the "qwerty" pull our keyboard. The games run well and the graphics are clearly visable on the small screen.
Note:- once downloaded there is no extra cost for playing the game, and should the telephone ring while you are playing, the game automatically pauses to allow you to answer the call.
Using your E-mailer untit you can send SMS Text messages to Mobile phones, Press SMS on the Unit, Type your message, Type in the mobile phone number and the message is sent.
Note:- The E-mailer cannot receive SMS text messages.
Send a FAX using your E-mailer, Again this is a SEND only feature, You cannot receive Fax messages via the Mailer.
With the Amstrad E-Mailer you can store up to 700 peoples details (phone number/address/e-mail). The address book function of the E-mailer is excellent. You enter the persons name ...Phone numbers (Home-Mobile-Office). Their postal address and their e-mail address.
A small point here ...You MUST include an e-mail address before the entry will be saved, Now if the person doesn't have an e-mail address, You have to fabricate one :- JohnSmith@John.com - Will allow you to save the details (Even although it is a non existant address)
Once you have a persons details logged in the Address book, Life becomes very simple, For an Example say you wanted to contact "John Smith" ..simply type in (Phone body keyboard) "Jo" ...All the entries starting with this 2 letters will appear on the screen ...Using the keyboard scroll through them until you find John Smith ...Then select From HOME-MOBILE-OFFICE, The Mailer will then dial the relevent number and connect you.
The AMSURF web-site has a large collection of greetings cards available (up-dated on a regular basis), Select the card you wish to send and it is e-mailed to the person.
Yup ..You can connect a printer to your Amstrad e-mailer and print out important mails. The mailer has a built in UBS port at the back of the telephone base.
Not only can you SEND voice mail via your Amstrad mailer, You can also use this function to Leave voice messages to members of your family.
When not in use your Amstrad E-mailed display a Date and clock screen (digital or normal). It also boasts an in built Calculator.
Printer
A well featured B/W printer is available, so you can print all your messages for safe keeping. There is no complicated set up, just connect the printer cable (which comes with the printer) into the back of the e-mailerplus, connect the power lead and youre ready to print.
Pocket Dock-it
The Pocket Dock-it is a handy-sized electronic address book and calculator which can be purchased for use with the e-mailerplus. When plugged into the docking station at the side of the e- mailerplus, the names, phone numbers and email addresses stored in the e-mailerplus Address Book memory can be transferred to the Pocket Dock-it for you to take out and about with you. Additionally, when you're on the move, you can use the Pocket Dock-it to take down new names, numbers and email addresses for later transfer back to the e-mailerplus.
The Pocket Dock-it also protects against the accidental deletion of Address Book* entries on the e-mailerplus - in such circumstances you can simply transfer the data back to the e- mailerplus from the Pocket Dock-it. What's more, if your e- mailerplus ever needs to be replaced by another unit, you can use the Pocket Dock-it to transfer your existing Address Book* entries (as well as email account details) to the replacement e- mailerplus. *Postal addresses are not transferred to the Pocket Dock-it from the Address Book Databank
Smart Media Cards
Smart Media is digital solid state (no moving parts) memory, and is used as a data storage medium in items such as digital cameras. It enables the user to add to the existing memory of certain digital devices. By inserting a Smart Media card in to the side of the e-mailerplus, the user can store more email, fax and VoiceMail messages for later retrieval or archiving. Received and sent messages actioned whilst the smart media card is inserted will automatically be stored on the Smart Media card instead of the internal memory of the e-mailerplus.
SmartCard
A slot is provided at the side of your e-mailer to insert a Smartcard, (New generation of Bankcard) This allows you to Shop on-line or access your accout on-line.
Camera
Amstrads e-sn@p Digital Camera (soon to be released) will interface with the Mailer, allowing you to send Digital Photos via the Internet.
Well to be honest we have just scraped th surface of the functions of the e-mailer, Almost everything can be "tweeked" or set up to your liking. However is it a worthwhile Purchase?
Well if you do not already have internet/e-mail access then YES a very simple way to get on line and have e-mail, But slightly costly (12p a session + your local calls per minute ..Although you do not have the hastle of ISP's ..setting up accounts ...Monthly standing charges)
If you already have an on-line PC, Then of course you would use that for most internet work (browsing-mail). However the Amstrad e-mailer is a fantastic little gadjet to have in the home, An excellent telephone unit (with all the extras) and a very handy back-up, Should (a) your PC decide to die (c) Your ISP suffers problems.
At the special price (offer) of £50 it is an excellent buy and well worth concidering.
Right I'm off to play PacMan :)
