Landline phones may be slowly going out of fashion, but that doesn’t mean they have to immediately go the way of the Dodo yet. Trying to help people transition from home phones to an Android world, British Telecom or BT has announced a new addition to the Android home phone roster, the BT Home SmartPhone S.

Android home phones, though rare, do exist. Admittedly there isn’t much competition in that market, but BT still manages to add some value to an otherwise nondescript device offering. This landline features what BT calls Nuisance Call Blocking. As the name suggests, this allows owners to automatically block international numbers, withheld numbers, and unknown callers to prevent incurring unwanted fees. The block, however, can work both ways, preventing certain numbers, such as premium rate lines, from being called. A Do Not Disturb function to keep the ringer muted at certain times or conditions.

Other than that, the BT Home SmartPhone S is pretty much a low-range Android smartphone. Other than a 3.5-inch screen, the rest of the hardware specs are pretty much unknown. Surprisingly, it runs a rather recent Android 4.2 version, a rare feature in most low-power smartphones. It can connect to WiFi networks, which makes the pre-installed Opera Mobile, Facebook, and Twitter apps quite useful. And, being Android, users will pretty much have access to a lot of other apps. Of course, the device is also a home phone and for that purpose it can store 300 contacts and has a built-in DECT Cordless Telephone answering machine feature.

The BT Home SmartPhone S has a price tag of 169.99 GBP, which translates to around $277 across the pond. Not exactly cheap for a smartphone, much less a home phone. There might be better choices in the market that can replicate this device’s unique features via some app.

VIA: Androidheadlines

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