BenQ-Siemens S68
- D
- Dan
- mAM
- 04 Jul 2006
Review after 1 week: (please see also my previous comment)
I had the S68 for almost a week now and used it daily.
PROS:
- the same as last time, mainly design and quality of materials
CONS:
- same as before PLUS
- battery life is very short, less than 3 days with moderate usage (less than 15 minutes talk per day);
- it turns off by itself for no reason (3 times in 6 days!)
- it has a tendency to stall (it blocks and does not answer to pressing keys) - 1 time during this week.
Conclusion: STAY AWAY FROM THIS PHONE!
- d
- dan
- mAM
- 29 Jun 2006
Bought it yestarday, so these are the first impressions, after 24 hours of use and testing.
I used before this various phones, from Bosch to Siemens, Ericsson and Samsung, so I think I can make a pretty good comparisson.
PROS:
- great design, thin, nice materials to touch.
- good display
- good manufacturing (everithing is in the right place, no sharp edges, no cheap-looking materials)
- acceptable weight (almost 80 g)
- price
CONS:
- terrible menu (complicated, even worse than previous Siemens). This is a general problem at Siemens: they make good products with a lot of functions, but they fail constantly to make these functions user-friendly. So they are useless...
- useless manual (limited information, no online support for advanced functions)
- if your mobile operator does not offer over-the-air settings for this phone, do not buy it! It's too complicated to set internet access.
All in all, a good phone if you use it exclusively for calling and sending SMS. If you have any need to get online with it (say to synchronize your contacts) it's nightmare.
If you plan to buy it, wait a few months until operators will offer its settings over-the-air.
- ?
- Anonymous
- nh5
- 23 Jun 2006
This seems like an exelent phone for me, ive had a few cells over the years and some with camera. And i think its really useless overall. I want a phone that is simple easy to use and stylish, and it needs to have good buttons, all the complex new phones always have one bad button that doesent work like the others, bad plastic faults, i always get that. but this one seems totaly different.
- B
- BeeG
- Sbg
- 19 Jun 2006
Just loving it. But there's one MISTAKE in the specs: this phone absolutely DOES have EDGE. Or I don't know about your s68's, but the one I got yesterday has EDGE, and it's running well (just tested).
It's looking gorgeous. It's like made for me. Big very very nice screen, nice features (unless you need those shit-like "phone cameras" that suck like a pack of *****s), a good, well-lasting battery (I'm using this for a 2nd full day now, so it's been nearly 48 hours, and only 1 pixel length of the battery meter is off; this is promising me a week of use with one load - just remember to reduce the screen light/brightness since it's very bright & uses more battery if you don't, take the annoying beeps off at bootup/shutdown, and consider changing the default screensaver to analog clock or off).
The only bad thing I've about this s68 is that when I first downloaded wap/mms/etc. settings, they went fine but for some reason wap settings didn't change the name like I thought (so though the settings were OK, I thought they didn't install), and when I downloaded wap settings for 2nd time and tried to install, the phone just beeped and shut down. Twice in a row. So I guess it's not a good idea trying to push the wap/mms/etc. settings twice over...or then I made a mistake.
Really a good, cheap (compared to what it really is!) and cool phone. I really have to say, this is something the other manufacturers just haven't been able to create. And if Siemens did have some cellular operating system/software faults and problems in the past, this seems to have got away and is working (almost, that is, as well as possible) perfectly.
If you plan buying a cellular, buy this - you won't regret.
- ?
- Anonymous
- ix1
- 21 Apr 2006
Press the upper button on the left hand side, then the cenral square button and then record (the button above the green one). It works during a phone call at the same exact way. You can also read the manual.
- G
- George
- ix1
- 21 Apr 2006
According to my experience to Siemens mobiles the battery should last for about 3 days including a decent talk time.
- ?
- Anonymous
- ix1
- 21 Apr 2006
I bought it 4 days ago. I only wanted a "normal" stylish phone without camera and unnecessary features to use it with SMS, phonecalls, calendar and contact list. It performs great. The display is amazing and the user can read it even in direct sunlight and it has a great and easy menu.
A good thing about it is that it works like a PC, so it is very friendly to the user. For instance as soon as someone connects to the PC it can copy and paste files (wav, doc, pdf, java even zip files which can the user unpack them from the menu), create new folders, search etc.
I noticed like many of you that it switches off on its own, but in my case was because I was playing with it all day. You must switch it off during the night because Siemens phones protect themselves.
I only buy Siemens mobiles. I used to have a Nokia but the only impressive thing about it was the battery. It had no functionality and the user could not personalise its menu which had limited function comparing to Siemens.
The last Siemens I had was the ME45 the black one (I had it for about 5 years and got bored). It still works like a new one, even the colour and the sense of its keypad. And I used it alot. At the S68 model they succeeded to correct all the mistakes the older models used to have - for instance the low battery warning which was appearing a few minutes before the phone goes off. I hope they corrected the standby time as well. I am sure that someone can compare its menu to others, even more expensive mobiles and find it much better. I used to compare the ME 45 with Nokia and other mobiles even models that were produced one or two years later and it was simply better.
Also S68's memory is more than enough for the organiser, contacts and SMSs(26MB). One thing that someone will notice is the space provided for the contacts. Someone can put full details, including two mobile phones (business and home), URL, fax and phone (business and home), birthday etc.
The bad thing about it, is that is quite slow when someone browses SMSs.
- j
- jay
- i5b
- 20 Apr 2006
I've had my phone for two days and I think I'm in love with it. I must say it is a bit worring that it turns off for no reason and the battery doesen't live forever...
- A
- Aivar
- MSa
- 20 Apr 2006
About deleting all SMS-s: look for "mark" or "mark all" and "delete all marked"
- c
- costas
- MMZ
- 19 Apr 2006
I have this phone for a week now. the design is really good! It feels good in the hand and has a very user friendly interface. the sound quality is excellent and the display quality really good!
the bad is that the software is not so stable. it freezes and it shuts down without a reason. the last happened to me at least 5 times till now. the battery could also be better. I dont use it much and it hardly lasts for 2 days
- k
- kohook1
- 4fW
- 16 Apr 2006
I swear to god, they've delayed the release in the US like 3 times.
- ?
- Anonymous
- M$N
- 16 Apr 2006
I've had this phone for a little while now and I'm generally ok with it. It's stylish, thin and very user friendly. It also seems to get excellent reception and voice quality, with only a minor exception for the speakerphone's microphone.
I'm very unimpressed with the battery life, however (note: I'm used to Nokia and my last one was a 6610). The s68 seems to stay on a for a decent amount of time (around a week), but if I start to use it for calls or play a game on it, I only get an hour or so before it dies. My old phone used to give me about 5 hours of talk time before needing a recharge.
Also, while it is very easy to use, it's certainly not up to the level of Nokia user friendliness. For example, this phone does not give you the option to simply delete all text messages at one time (which is annoying when you start getting full SIM card messages). The software also tends to hang from time to time, which was unexpected given the simplicity of the interface.
Another minor point... I miss the ability to program a profile to expire a certain amount of time later (i.e. have it set on silent for a couple of hours and then automatically return to general). I'm a forgetful person :-) and this feature really helped on my old Nokia.
- p
- pee
- Sc5
- 11 Apr 2006
This phone is genious. Just a plain stylish metal PHONE. I LOVE the concept. And there is a great market for this i believe.
Nice start Benq-Siemens
- E
- E
- m}S
- 10 Apr 2006
Hi there!
Do you know how the voice recording works? Does it work during phone calls? Does it beep in specific intervalls ( i e every 10 second), like many other phones with the ability to record phone calls?
/E
- F
- Flubber
- MA@
- 28 Mar 2006
OMG, such stupid comments here without even having one in your hand.
I bought this cellphone lastweek. It's the best professional phone I ever had, and i work in a cellphone shop, so... It has a good battery, very nice screen and Bluetooth. In Belgium, you even get a bluetooth earpiece with it! I love it!
- G
- GUI
- n$F
- 10 Mar 2006
I hope that S68 will have a stable software.
Not only this phone but all BENQ-Siemens phones!
- P
- PORTUGAL
- S0F
- 09 Mar 2006
Great phone, it´s a shame that it doesn´t have a camera on it...They should realese two versions one with a camera and other without one.
- ?
- Anonymous
- Mmn
- 02 Mar 2006
I'm holding it in my hand right now. My first impression is: cool and somewhat expensive-looking. Very thin. The back is plastic of a horrible quality if you see it on the inside. the outside is ok.
I would say it is a cool phone to have for a night on the town or at a party, if you are on a budget.
- S
- Still Waiting
- j3a
- 01 Mar 2006
So, the Benq website says it's 18mm deep, or 36% thicker than the 13.2mm this website and many other websites day.
Also, I don't think anyone has any idea when it's going to be launched in the US.
All I want is a cell phone that doesn't immasculate me. They killed the CC75 and I'm still waiting.
- s
- squal
- SeF
- 22 Feb 2006
It is made of Aluminum.. that's GREAT.