I thought Christmas had come early when a large package arrived at my desk. Walking into the office, I grabbed the scissors and tore it open, excited for what was inside. I had completely forgotten that Doro had asked me a few days previous if I would like to review their 610 and 615 handsets. Of course I had said ‘yes’, and here they were.

The first thing that struck me was the slick appearance

Doro PhoneEasy 615 handset

The first thing that struck me about both Doro handsets was the slick appearance – being specifically targeted towards the technophobic generation, and catering for the hard-of-hearing, I had assumed that they would be clunky and unattractive, but how wrong I was.

The attractive clamshell design looked like any other phone on the market and inside the large bright screens with easy-to-use big concave buttons meant that there was the perfect blend of style and practicality, without compromising on either.

The perfect blend of style and practicality, without compromising on either

The attractive clamshell design looked like any other phone on the market and inside the large bright screens with easy-to-use big concave buttons meant that there was the perfect blend of style and practicality, without compromising on either.

Looks aside, the most important thing is whether the phones function well and perform what most other mobile phones seem to forget to do best of all – make phone calls.

The large colour display allows for text sizes to be made bigger

Both models come in black or red

Simply flip the phone open to answer calls, and similarly snap it closed to hang up (something I have always found particularly satisfying when receiving junk calls). On both models there is a dedicated SMS (texting) shortcut button located above the numbers so that all basic functions are just one button-press away.

The large colour display allows for text sizes to be made bigger, and there are other enhancement options for visually impaired users. Also for the hard-of-hearing the ring tones can be turned up to 35Db, as well as being hearing-aid compatible – something which not many other makes of phone can offer.

Neither handset will leave you high and dry when you need it most

Doro PhoneEasy 610 handset

Both handsets also boast a stand-by time of up to 533 hours, which is an impressive 22 days! And with over 3 hours of talk time before the battery gives out, the chances are that a Doro phone will not leave you high and dry when you need it most.

The main difference between the 610 and 615 handset is that the latter has an in-built camera with picture messaging and an external clock display. If sending pictures is something you value highly, then the 615 is a great camera phone without detracting from primarily being a phone.

See below for a list of the statistics for each handset, and make sure to enter our Doro competition where we have to 2 Doro 610 handsets to give away for free!