Gigaset E560HX awarded HTV-Life® mark of excellence

Planned obsolescence, where a manufacturer deliberately reduces a product’s useful life, not only hits customers in the pocket, but also represents a significant burden on the environment. With its premium products “Made in Germany,” Gigaset has taken a clear stance against planned obsolescence and also has this certified by an external body. The HTV-Life® mark of excellence, which certifies that a product has successfully undergone electronic, mechanical and chemical analyses, as well as examination of its service life, has now also been awarded to the Gigaset E560HX large-button phone.

A study by the German Federal Environment Agency proves that many products have too short a useful life.
Although a study commissioned by the German Federal Environment Agency could not explicitly prove that manufacturers deliberately planned obsolescence into their products, its President Maria Krautzberger nevertheless criticizes the fact that appliances have “too short a useful life” and also points to the “[…] lack of transparency for consumers.”
All the same, only few manufacturers have adopted a policy of having their products certified externally. Gigaset is committed to a different approach and for several years has worked with HTV-GmbH, which will successively certify its entire product portfolio. As a result, Gigaset is one of the world’s first manufacturers to take this step and has already been awarded the HTV-Life® mark of excellence for the DECT Repeater 2.0 and the A400, E310, E550, E630, C430, C620, S850, SL400 and CL750 product families. The models from the Gigaset E560 series, i.e. the E560, E560A and E560HX, recently gained certification and were awarded the HTV-Life® mark of excellence.

Our promise: quality and long useful life
“Many of our customers have owned our phones for more than ten years, as statistics from our Customer Support show,” says Raphael Dörr, Head of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations at Gigaset AG. “External certification of our products by HTV-GmbH means we can underscore the durability and quality of the Gigaset portfolio and so highlight our standards and those our customers demand.”

HTV-Life® mark of excellence for the Gigaset E360 large-button phone series

The new Gigaset E560 large-button phone not only stands out visually and technically from the current elderly phones. It boasts perfect ergonomics, refined functionality, and intuitive user interfaces and menus: If ideal ease of use is important, the new Gigaset E560HX large-button phone is the first choice.
The illuminated buttons that can be selected accurately and the TFT color display with its extra-large digits ensure that users with impaired eyesight can also make optimum use of the device. The excellent acoustics with certified HD sound quality, hearing aid compatibility (HAC) and the “extra loud” button to double the handset’s volume means users can hear and be heard well at all times. And they’ll never miss a call again thanks to the visual alert by means of LED flashes. The new HX variant is of particular interest. Thanks to the new HX technology Gigaset presented at IFA at the end of 2015, it is also the first ergonomic cordless phone designed to interact perfectly with FRITZ!Box, Speedport & Co.

About HTV-GmbH
HTV has existed since 1986 and is an independent test house for conducting electronic, mechanical and chemical analyses, as well as examining the service life of products. The company currently has around 220 employees. HTV's expertise is highly sought in studies, such as by federal offices, as well as for expert reports or qualifications. As a specialist in long-term conservation of components, HTV has very great competence in testing and analyzing mechanisms that cause products to age or fail and in determining the useful life of components. More information on the HTV mark of excellence can be found on the official Gigaset homepage. You can go there directly by clicking on this link.

What is planned obsolescence?
In technical jargon, planned obsolescence denotes part of a deliberate product strategy in which weaknesses are built into a product, solutions with a shorter durability are developed, raw materials of lower quality are used or no spare parts are offered. All of that means a product becomes faulty or defective sooner than necessary and so cannot be used to the full extent. Planned obsolescence is thus closely linked to today’s throw-away society, in which products are no longer repaired, but discarded and replaced by new ones.

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