Aztech's V500-DS is a Dect cordless phone that works with both landlines and the Skype internet phone calling service.

The box contains the phone, a pair of AAA batteries and the dock, which acts as a charger and a hub for the various connections (it connects to both the phone socket and your broadband router as well as the mains).

As soon as we plugged everything in the phone started charging automatically, and before long we were able to make both Skype and normal calls. Logging into our Skype account was simple, as was the process of making calls.

The handset isn't particularly ergonomic, but it looks good and it's perfectly comfortable to use. The buttons feel a bit like cheap plastic but it's fairly solidly built nonetheless. Call quality was slightly disappointing over both Skype and the BT network - our calls tended to suffer from generally poor quality and the sound dropped out momentarily more than once.

Oddly, it worked much better when we used the phone's built-in speaker, which is satisfyingly loud. Battery life is good, with around eight hours of talk time, but the phone's sound quality is what lets it down.

Vista compatible: n/a