Landline phone, with no landline required.

Panasonic’s cordless phone division refuses to ring quietly into that good night. Yeah, wiseguy, they’ve heard of cell phones. They know their aging customer base doesn’t have that many more purchases left in them. They know more about all that than you do.

If Panasonic can’t beat cell phones, they’re gonna join 'em. You can connect up to two different cellphones to the Panasonic Link2Cell system base unit via Bluetooth, each with a distinctive ring. Station the five handsets around the house as you please. Then, when your smartphone is charging or in your pocket or whatever, just pick up the nearest handset.

That’s how far they’ve gone: a landline phone that doesn’t even need a landline.

Panasonic is also throwing a bunch of other crap at the wall to see what sticks. Unwanted call-blocking as good as or better than your cell phone? Check. A Smart Function key for one-touch checking of voicemail? Sounds good. Baby monitor functionality? Sure. App alerts so your cordless phone can let you know when somebody likes one of your photos on Instagram or whatever (Android only)? Hey, can’t blame them for trying.

Maybe one of those features unexpectedly unlocks some new role for the cordless phone in the wireless age. Other old-school technologies, like TV and newspapers, are coming to an understanding with the Internet. Are we seeing cordless phones start to do the same? Panasonic is betting that it can, and there’s certainly no lack of trying on their part. Don’t scoff yet, amateur futurists. There just might be a couple of bars left in that old battery.