Motorola, LIVN D811

It all began with the RAZR. Since that phone rocketed to stardom, Motorola's been addicted to giving its handsets increasingly cryptic four-letter monikers – think ROKR, RIZR and the I'm-mad-me KRZR.

Now even its home phones are at it. So say hello to the LIVN, a DECT phone with built-in answering machine.

Niggly navigation
The LIVN defiantly bucks the trend of landline phones getting smaller to match the size of mobiles – it's big and chunky. And although it sports a colour screen, it's only 1.4in and isn't as sharp or crisp as the ones you're treated to on most mobiles.

There are also a few issues with the buttons. They're serviceable enough, but problems arise when the curious circular four-way direction pad is called into action. Dial a number and you have to finish by pressing left on the circular pad, while to end the call you need to press right.

Simple enough, but there's something counter-intuitive about there not being any separate buttons to make and end calls.

SIM-friendly
Operational quirks aside, the LIVN does have the bells and whistles of many current handsets. There's a slot for your mobile phone SIM so you can easily transfer numbers, text-messaging powers and enough memory for 250 stored phone numbers.

The answering machine is contained in the LIVN's base, a separate black box that connects to your phone socket. This has playback buttons across its torso, while a handy red LED tells you how many messages there are waiting for you.

There are two handsets in the box, but you can add up to four more to a single base station – handy if you own an Elizabethan mansion.

In all, Moto's move into home phones is far from a disaster, but the LIVN isn't the sexy, standout phone you'd expect from the company that made the RAZR. Its size makes it a little less comfortable to hold than its competitors, but we can see the smart piano-black styling finding plenty of fans.