Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

After using Panasonic cordless phones for ages, I thought now that I'm using the Ooma service that I'd "upgrade" my cordless phones. I read several reviews of the HD2 phones on here, and I was a tad skeptical if I would really like them or not. After using them for a few days, I'm going to return them and get a new Panasonic phone to use with my Ooma service. Cons: -Phone will NOT stand up on it's own. Makes the speaker phone nearly useless as the speaker is on the back and projects into the surface it's laying on. Really Ooma? Huge oversight. -No hard mute button. Mute function is buried in a menu. After I selected the mute once in the menu, for subsequent calls it appeared as a direct soft menu option. Not ideal, but not as bad as I first thought. -The square pad in the middle which has directional buttons is extremely small, and it takes concentration to press the right button. Not user friendly. -No text to voice caller ID announcement like my 7 year old Panasonic cordless phones. Huge bummer..great to hear from across the room who is calling me so I can choose to pick up or ignore. -Build quality and ergonomics feel cheap. Very used to the squarish Panasonic style that is easier to hold and crunch between your ear and your shoulder if you need to quickly do something hands free. The HD2 practically slides off your shoulder. -Intercom feature is hidden in menus and takes several button presses to find and activate. My old Panasonic had a hard button that made it one press easy. -Very expensive. 2-3 HD2 phones cost way more than even a high end Panasonic setup that is a full featured phone, not just handsets. -Only works with the Ooma service. If you ever decide to go back to a landline, you need to buy a new phone system. Any regular corded or cordless phone will plug into Ooma and will work, so why go proprietary? -Limited to 4 HD2 handsets. If you need more, you are SOL. Other cordless systems support 6 or 8 phones. -No blinking light on the top of the handset like my Panny to indicate a voice message is waiting for me. Pros: -Access to unique Ooma features like one press voicemail and do not disturb. -Uses regular AA rechargeable batteries -Caller PictureID Personally I think the best setup is the Ooma Telo plus a new Panasonic cordless phone that supports Bluetooth. That lets you use the Ooma in wifi mode (only one USB port, so can't do Wifi and BT) and let the Panny do all the BT magic like connecting to your cell phone for unified calling. If Ooma could match the Panny features, then I would say they have a winner. Until then, you are stuck with an expensive proprietary handset that is lacking many mainstream features.