The Gigaset handsets that won the 2009 SmartHouse Best Of The Best Award are all made in Germany and several models have built in answering machines.
The new Siemens' Gigaset SL780 and Gigaset SL785 (with answering machine) run Gigaset QuickSync 4.0 software that allows users to load digital photos onto the phone to use run as a slide show, a screen saver or in conjunction with stored numbers.
The software also allows a user to edit any digital song file into a custom ringtone. It processes all common non-copy-protected music formats, including MP3, WAV, AAC and WMA.
A user first selects on a PC how many seconds of the desired piece of music are to be used as the ringtone. The maximum length is 60 seconds; the default is 15 seconds. The music clips are then converted into the G.722 format and transferred to the handset via USB or Bluetooth in full DECT wideband quality.
For photos, BMP, JPEG and GIF files can be assigned to the contacts stored in the address book and are then shown on the phone's display when that person calls. Different colors can also be assigned to callers or caller groups to enable quick visual recognition. If someone from a defined group calls, the display's upper area changes to the chosen color. Six colors are available.
