The Gigaset A690A is a new cordless phone from Gigaset. As one of the brand's more budget-friendly options, it presents good value for money. But is it any good? We put it to the test in another of our in-depth reviews. Read on to find out what our home phone experts thought of it!
Related: Top 10 Best Cordless Phones 2023
Design & build
The Gigaset A690A is towards the lower end of the price spectrum for cordless phone. At this price point, most models tend to be boring old black, and design almost comes as an afterthought. We were pleased, then, to find that the A690A has a bit of flair to it. As you can see in the images here, the area around the screen has a white panel around it, while the keypad is black.
The display screen is backlit with large numeric display, and the keys are also backlit, which makes the handset that little bit easier to use. We found the handset to be nice and easy to use during testing, and all of the menus are intuitively laid out for convenience.
The main handset of your A690A system comes in a base station, which also has an integrated answer machine with control buttons. Any additional handsets just sit in a smaller charging cradle.
Set-up
As with most cordless phones, setting up the Gigaset A690A is nice and simple. In fact, it's effectively just plug and play. Just plug the base into the phone line and power, pop the batteries in the handset, and you're ready to go. If you're purchasing additional handsets, then you'll need to pair these up with the base station. But this is a straightforward process, and only takes about a minute per handset. The A690A can support up to four handsets in total.
Sound quality
Gigaset are renowned for their excellent sound quality, and we've always rated them very highly here at liGo. However, you often find with cheaper cordless phones that manufacturers make compromises on sound quality. Thankfully, that's not the case with the A690A. It boasts the same high-quality sound that we've come to expect from Gigaset. And while it doesn't have the HD sound of more expensive models like the Gigaset C575A, it's still a world above even BT's best handsets.
Range
We mention this in every cordless phone review, but it's worth going over again for those who may not be aware. DECT phones have a maximum range of up to 50m indoors and up to 300m outdoors. However, not all models offer reliable range, so we like to put handsets to the test before offering them for sale to our customers.
During our testing, we found the A690A to be a reliable performer. It consistently got close to that maximum range before we experienced any issues with the signal strength. If you find that you need a bit more range, though, you'll be pleased to head the A690A is repeater-compatible. This means you can link it up to a repeater to achieve up to double the range- ideal if you're using the maximum of four handsets.
Additional features
Given the price of this phone, there naturally isn't going to be an enormous list of additional features. That being said, the A690A does come with all the features you'd expect in a modern cordless phone, which isn't always the case at this price point.
The A690A features an integrated answer machine, with up to 20 minutes of recording time. You can then play your messages back from the handset, the base station (which has a built-in message counter display), or even remotely if you set up a PIN. It also has a phonebook with space for up to 100 names and numbers, as well as the ability to view the last 25 calls and phone those numbers back with just the touch of a button.
Finally, the A690A comes with some nuisance call blocking features. You can blacklist up to 32 numbers, which admittedly isn't a huge amount. However, our customers tell us that they find the anonymous call blocking feature to be much more useful, as this prevents the majority of nuisance callers from getting through. There's also the option of setting do-not-disturb times, when the phone won't ring unless the caller is one of your VIP contacts.
Gigaset A690A: The Verdict
The Gigaset A690A is an excellent budget-friendly cordless phone that presents superb value for money. With great sound quality and all the key features that you need from a home phone, we think it's a great choice!
