Telstra launches improved "Country Phone" for signal in the Outback

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 28th 2008 at 4:54PM

Tired of having to stand up (way, way up) on the brumby to pull down even a single bar of EDGE from the dusty ditches of the Great Central? We hear you, Aussies -- and so does Telstra. The carrier has retooled its 165i "Country Phone" from ZTE, making it better based on usability testing and customer feedback; in this case, "better" means it's gotten a little smaller, features a nicer screen, and has gained AGPS (probably not a bad thing to have when you're in the middle of nowhere). It's ruggedized and makes use of an oh-so-rare extendable antenna for insane reception that earns it Telstra's coveted Blue Tick certification, but you still get 3G, Bluetooth, FM radio, and a 2-megapixel camera -- all told, it's all set up to be a "big hit in the bush" to steal a bit of Telstra's verbiage. It goes for $529 AUD (about $346) when it drops on December 1.

Filed under: Handsets, Others, Telstra, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Tags: 165i, australia, candybar, country phone, CountryPhone, telstra, zte

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Richard Lai @ Nov 28th 2008 8:34PM

Retro. :)

Neutral

oakie @ Nov 28th 2008 9:07PM

woah! i bet that thing will give the user one serious tumor.

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staphory @ Nov 28th 2008 9:15PM

Would be useful in some places here in the US.

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Dave88 @ Nov 28th 2008 11:33PM

I experienced a similar problem. When I bought my iPhone, I first checked with “Got Reception?” (Gotreception.com) It’s a great resource for finding out where reception problems are most likely to occur BEFORE you lock yourself with a specific carrier.

Neutral

Craig @ Nov 30th 2008 8:31PM

Another useless handset for Telstra. I got a Telstra phone as they made claims it would work in many places I go and keep saying that it covers 98% of the population (which is only 21% landmass) and it was out a doubt as handy as a beta video recorder. I ended up having to go back to my satellite phone as it at least worked.