Fisher-Price Launches a Working Chatter Telephone For Adults (engadget.com) 87
For its 60th anniversary, Fisher-Price announced a special edition Chatter telephone that can make and receive real phone calls. Engadget reports: Before you start planning on where to display it at your home, know that it doesn't work as a landline unit. It connects to your iOS or Android phone via Bluetooth instead and has to be within 15 feet of your mobile device to work. You'll get nine hours of talk time on the Chatter phone on a single charge, and it comes with a speakerphone button. Other than the features that make it a working device, this Chatter for grown-ups looks just like its toy counterpart with its rotary dial, red handset and wheels. [...] You can get the fully functional Chatter for $60 exclusively from Best Buy's website, starting today until supplies last.
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I could appreciate your comment more if it was not prefixed with some simpleton meme.
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I'm a boomer and I forgot what I was about to say...
Re: OK Boomer (Score:2)
Does it let you talk to dead people? What, we can't have creepy children's toys or horror movies? Lol.
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I weep for the infantilized adults who are in a perpetual state of pre-puberty. We are fucked if this shit continues.
Too complicated and expensive (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Too complicated and expensive (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Too complicated and expensive (Score:5, Funny)
installed it and tied it into the house line.
Well, that's an issue, unless you want to shell out for home phone service.
a real conversation piece.
Well, it is a phone.
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They make a bluetooth POTS bridges that can even ring the phone and make outgoing (touchtone only) calls. I used one for a while several years ago when we ported our home phone number to a cell phone number. We used the new line of service to get an out of cycle phone upgrade, and the "old" phone got switched to the former POTS line.
At the time, we still got some number of legit phone calls on the landline (we'd had it since the 20th century...) and since we had POTS phones around the house, the bridge ma
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They make a bluetooth POTS bridges that can even ring the phone and make outgoing (touchtone only) calls.
XLINK: https://myxlink.com/ [myxlink.com]
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> a real conversation piece.
Literally. Am I using is right this time?
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I have one waiting to install right now.
Well, to hang, for the moment.
I'm thinking to put an old iphone inside it, along with the needed voltage adjustments.
And have the crank poke the button somehow (solenoid?) to activate siri to make the calls . . .
Or maybe an iPad would be better, to tie it to my actual iPhone.
Or even tear the guts out of this ugly toy . . .
hawk
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Doesn't your mobile phone have Bluetooth and a battery? Do you use it? Keep it charged?
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Of most of the people that really wanted this product and would be willing to leave it plugged into a landline, I imagine they would also be willing to leave it plugged into a charger most of the time.
On the flip side, as one person commented elsewhere, they may consider this as a cubicle toy, in which case it would be less interesting if it was a non-functional prop (almost no one has a normal land-line at their desk), so bluetooth handset capability is more appropriate. Combined with land lines in genera
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If it was a plain old phone, I would really consider getting one, but I don't see why anyone would want it at this price and with Bluetooth and a battery. Would you really use it? Keep it charged? I could see bringing a wired version of it instead of a lineman's handset when I go to some of my customers.
Too complicated and yet not the right features. Now, if this were a DIY retrofit you would:
spring-load the wheel and add appropriate feedback to only the earpiece
back-end generates tone with right number
take standard handset and wall cable, but
-provide a special-edition 20-ft super high quality RED round to-wall cord
-provide a special-edition 6-ft appropriately colored hand-to-cord set that's nylon-braided with the '30-degree' bend without breaking straight cable
That would be worth $60 and they cou
phones are trash. (Score:3)
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For this demographic, the only necessary functionality is the ability to dial 911 and tell them that you've fallen and can't get up.
Or, you know, anyone in a marginal service area not only for cellular but broad band . . . or you know, nerds (as in news for) where legacy tech that was solid can still be used . . .
On a completely different note, I'd like to see a venn diagram of people who bring phones (of any type) into the bathroom vs. those who might need to call for help for a medical emergency.
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If it was a plain old phone, I would really consider getting one, but I don't see why anyone would want it at this price and with Bluetooth and a battery. Would you really use it? Keep it charged? I could see bringing a wired version of it instead of a lineman's handset when I go to some of my customers.
It's a SmartWatch that emulates a Phone .
Re: Too complicated and expensive (Score:2)
With so many out there, I'm sure somebody over the years modded one with an electro-mechanical dial mechanism and mounted a speaker and microphone into the reciever, converting it into a working landline phone.
What? Plastic? Ugh (Score:2)
They blew it by replicating a modern version.
If it were like the wooden one I had as a kid, it would be far more interesting.
The cartoon version with the safety breaker on the cord is a show-stopper.
This is nothing new (Score:5, Interesting)
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Toy phones that could place real calls were around back in the 60s, as documented by this TV program. [wikipedia.org]
Is anyone claiming it's the first ever toy phone to make real calls? If you only want /. to cover things that are "new" then it's going to be very, very slow around here.
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You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the WHOOSH! Zone.
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Re: This is nothing new (Score:2)
I didn't click on the link either, and I was assuming the link was to a site showing kids using a novelty phone (working phone made to look like a toy).
Re: This is nothing new (Score:2)
I think this falls under the class of "novelty phones". Toy phones would not have the ability to make phone calls, but might have 'working' dials and other features to simulate making a phone call.
Also, there were 'working' toy phones, but these were really wired intercoms, or two way kids' walkie-talkies.
Collect the whole set! (Score:2)
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Of course, kids these days would not recognize the rotary dial thingamabob as "a phone" so you're safe from the cellular charges.
I have a bin of vintage phones going back to rotary dial and surprisingly my kids (5, 7, and 9) recognized immediately that they were phones. Not that they'd know how to "dial" a rotary dial phone, but likely neither would most adults under 30.
Re: Collect the whole set! (Score:2)
"Spotify enabled "TV-Radio"
Back before smartphones became common, and people were still using dedicated mp3/mp4 players, a company was selling one of these players in the form of a tiny old style TV set. It looked like something you would place on an office desk; not really a kids' toy.
Headline: Fisher-Price Launches a Telephone (Score:2)
First sentence: This is not actually a phone, but a Bluetooth device that requires you to have a real phone.
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First sentence: This is not actually a phone, but a Bluetooth device that requires you to have a real phone.
Yep, I've already contacted several law firms to see if any are interested in a class action suit against Fisher Price, Engadget, and BeauHD over this outrageous deception. This is why we need stronger consumer protection laws in the US. They would never get away with such a scam in the EU!!
Re: Headline: Fisher-Price Launches a Telephone (Score:2)
Landlines are becoming less and less common, so I can see why they didn't release this as an old style plug in phone.
When I see something like this, I assume it's a Bluetooth device, and not a phone that runs off of a land line.
The perfect telephone (Score:2)
for the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok generation.
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for the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok generation.
Great..and now? I'm all depressed again....
Lets watch some old Wham-o adverts and feel better... https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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The doctor says: go refresh Facebook a few times and give a few likes to get your dopamine rush.
Re: The perfect telephone (Score:2)
Yay, great insult, you get a gold star. :-\
Really, it's market manipulation and companies hiring highly trained psychologists to figure out the right buttons to push in people, including those that control addiction.
But let's forget about all of that and hurl insults at the public instead because we're better than them. :-{
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Aaw... Did I hurt your feelings?
Maybe you should make a video about it.
Re: The perfect telephone (Score:2)
I don't use social media so this does not affect me.
But pointing fingers saying "social media users bad" does nothing to fix the situation, and the fact that companies use highly trained psychologists to get people to use a product is rather disturbing.
Perfect for my office (Score:5, Funny)
Re: Perfect for my office (Score:2)
"Why does he have that?"
Those would be the micromanagers, tin pots, the judgemental, the narcassists, and the "Karens/Darens" that end up on Youtube for public shaming.
"Cool. Does it work?
Those would be the people who are pleasant to be around.
Next bright idea (Score:1, Flamebait)
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Re: Next bright idea (Score:2)
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Re: Next bright idea (Score:2)
The realistic toy guns sure worked for getting killed by a cop. That's why you don't see them anymore outside of a trashy cheap store that sells questionable items.
Adult (Score:1)
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So this is not an ad for a phone for sex chat, but an ad for some, supposedly well known children's toy made into an Android accessory? So what is the word Adult doing here?
I assume it's to emphasis that it's a working phone versus a toy non-functional phone. The word working though is enough because it's really not for adults as much as for "adult kids" or as something fun that you would buy for a kid or for yourself to be funny.
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Except it's not a working phone. It is a bluetooth device that looks like a old toy phone, nothing more.
It's just as working as a landline phone. It appears that you can pick it up and make and receive calls on it.
Yes, it needs to be connected to the phone network to work and it uses the cell phone to do this but this
is not much different than a landline needing a physical connection to work.
They could have made it a landline phone but it would have limited its market as very few people have landlines now days.
They could have made it a cell phone which likely would have increased the cost and how many people
...know that it doesn't work as a landline unit. (Score:2)
Before you start planning on where to display it at your home, know that it doesn't work as a landline unit.
Well you just lost a sale!
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Re: ...know that it doesn't work as a landline uni (Score:2)
Surely somebody has come up with a adapter to use BT devices like this over a landline? :-\
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Afaik, all a landline/BT adapter does is allow you to use your cell phone to make and receive calls on your landline, as if it was an extension.
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I need one for my boss. (Score:5, Funny)
In fact, I may order them for the entire management team. They'll go along well with the etch-a-sketches we let them use as computers.
Re: I need one for my boss. (Score:2)
In all serousness, if they are as bad as you imply here, you really need to be getting a new place of employment lined up and ready to go.
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That was about 90% joke. Though there are days.
Disappointed (Score:2)
If this had been connectable as a landline phone, and received power from the landline mains, I might have picked one of these up just for the sake of the nostalgia.
I get the bluetooth connectivity being a big thing these days, and I understand why it's there, but considering the (primarily adults, especially boomers and genX) demographic that is most likely to be interested in this sort of thing, I'm genuinely surprised that attaching it as a landline phone is not even any kind of option.
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I don't personally know any Boomer or GenX that still has a landline. I realize that I may be an outlier, but I don't think landlines are still as ubiquitous as you think.
Plus there are landline-to-bluetooth adapters already.
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At the end of the day, this a bluetooth accessory, not a phone. This means to use it as a desktop phone, you have to dedicate a cell phone to it.
The lowest unlimited local calling plans I know of for cell phones start at $50/month, Land lines cost $17/month.
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There are landline to VOIP adapters as well, would using one make all my POTS phones not phones?
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No, but this fisher price prop is not a phone.
It is a bluetooth adapater, basically just a bluetooth headset in a nostalgic toy phone-shaped form-factor.
Bluetooth to landline adapters enable you to use your cell phone make and receive landline calls on your cell phone. They are not phones.
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Re: Disappointed (Score:2)
The problem here is market and expected sales volume. I highly doubt they expected to sell many of these. So they had to decide:
- Make it Bluetooth so it's useable by the widest range of potential customers.
- Make it landline, which is dwindling and they would lose more customers this way vs having it as a Bluetooth device.
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Or do both.
I would have picked one of these up in a heartbeat if it directly plugged into the telephone mains and was a real phone.
This device is not a phone, it is a bluetooth headset with a nostalgic form factor.
Re: Disappointed (Score:2)
It wouldn't surprise me if the guts of this phone is some standard Bluetooth audio circuit, and the only real custom electronic part in this is what I presume to be a rotary pulse dial to button press converter. Likely only the dial is custom, and the BT circuit's firmware is modified to read what would normally be a single button press as a train of pulses to convert to various digits.
Sourcing and adding a landline circuit would've added to the cost and engineering of the product, and the bean coun
Once again Mattel has nothing (Score:2)
Mattel and Fischer-Price haven't had an interesting toy idea in decades. The last one that was mildly cool was a line of Nerf-style weapons that never went beyond the prototype stage and even then they were a Nerf knock-off. But I still fondly remember my Vertibird rescue ship and Sizzlers rechargeable cars. Those were cool.
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Sizzlers rechargeable cars
Oh great, now you are going to make Hot Wheels release full size electric cars to appeal to the nostalgia of those toys.
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People would definitely pay money for that.
https://toybook.com/hot-wheels... [toybook.com]
Me personally, I grew up with a lot of die-cast metal vehicles and not small ones either. I still have all of my Solido military vehicles. It makes me sad that most stuff is plastic these days.
A kid will switch it with the toy one, (Score:1)
"Hello?"
"And the cow says moooo"
Kinda cool (Score:2)
Disclaimer: Boomer techie here
When I built my house in 1993, I had 2 runs of CAT3 from each room to the basement -- one for phone, one for networking. Now that my wired line has been replaced by a fiber FIOS connection, I pay $5/mo for OOMA and have kept our landline number. I now have grandchildren and consider it my duty to turn them into little techie nerds. Towards that end, I have dug out all my old landline phones, bought a couple more (the TYCO Blox phone is a special favourite) and connected them al
Tape one of those tiny burner phones underneath... (Score:1)
Understandable (Score:2)
Considering the childish behavior of some many adults, this was bound to happen.
I had something like this (Score:2)
When I was 4 years old at the start of the 1980s. Except it rang, and played pre recorded messages through the reciever which I assume was done through a stiff plastic record and an electronic amplifier.
I think it looked close, but not exactly like the FP phone.
Re: I had something like this (Score:2)
Come to think of it, I did read about the toy that I described several years ago. Except it used a plastic tube to carry the sound from the needle. The batteries were only for driving the ringer and to spin the little turntable inside.
What do you mean "for adults"? (Score:2)