Siemens S65 review: Just business

Organizing time

The phone has one repeated alarm clock, allowing you to choose among days when it wakes you up and when it gives you a break. If you don't set the Airplane ringing profile, the alarm will start even if the phone is switched off. Somebody would appreciate the possibility to set time when the phone automatically switches off. There is one disadvantage: the phone can't switch on by itself. By the way, when you switch the phone on, you have to confirm that you're serious - just like with other Siemens phones.

Month view with a set event • week view • detail of a day • list of all meetings

I really enjoy the calendar in the new phones. Large display can show entire month view and moreover there is still some space to show the information about meetings in relevant days. A week view is also available, with similar attributes and a day detail, where events are sorted by hours. You can enter up to 1000 items in the calendar, which is sufficient for Outlook synchronization. You can delete expired events up to date, if you need so.

For entering a new event you can choose from the following items:

• Memo: a text note with a description, location, start and end date and time, reminder at event time or in advance, repetition (dayily, weekly, monthly, year)
• Call: enter a phone number you want to dial; other attributes are equal to the Memo
• Meeting: same attributes as with Memo type
• Voice record: a recorded voice note is inserted to a text note. Unfortunately you can select only among "ready" records, it's not possible to create a new record right from the calendar
• Birthday: enter a name, date of birth and reminder time. Reminder gets active only in the day of the event - it would be nice to have a possibility to set reminder in advance
• Vacation: this item allows you only to enter start and end date.

Although graphical calendar is really clear, users will often appreciate a simple text overview of meetings, sorted by date and time. It's also possible to assign a priority to the tasks and mark the finished ones. As in the calendar, here you can also choose among several types of events: Memo, Calls, Meeting and Voice record, Vacation and Birthday.

Inserting a new record • setting a reminder • to-do-list • entering a new task with a high priority

It's possible to record notes in the phone in total length of several hours. I have about six megabytes of free memory in the phone right now and I can still record 170 minutes. That's the way to use shared memory - other producers should get inspired. It would be perfect if the phone would let you save the records right on the memory card. Records are saved under a name that contains date and time of recording, but you can rename them after.

Find five differences: recording a ringing tone • recording a voice record

Notes function is used for writing short texts. Unfortunately, the length limits every note up to 160 characters, which is very little and I don't understand why it's not possible to write longer texts. Selected notes can be hidden in a Secret folder where you can get them after entering a password.

Other functions

The calculator is in fact a Java app. It looks simple at first sight; memory is the only one special function there. But you can also display the advanced mode where you can use a power and a radix. Don't forget that the calculator ignores mathematical operations priorities. Straight from the calculator menu you can start a Units convertor, which can be started also from the main menu.

Special functions menu • alarm clock can be activated in selected days

The stopwatch seems to be very simple, but only until you find out that it's possible to split time with the side button (you can insert two split-times). Countdown timer function gives you a warning for preset time. You just enter the time, start the countdown and wait for the sound signal.

Calculator • units convertor • countdown timer • stopwatch can split time

The 10 megabytes of memory are, like in a PC, split in the tree structure of folders and files. You can access it from the phone in two ways. They look the same, but with Files system selection you'll get to more of the folders than by My files in the main menu. There you'll find special folders for pictures, video, animations, sounds, graphical themes, games, applications and others.

Working with the file system • you won't experience any memory space problem

You can take a look at the files either in a text list form or you can display a preview. That makes sense only with pictures, but the general use is questionable, because there are no labels at the previews, so you'll see maybe nine identical folder icons. The file manager gives you the possibility to work with files: copy, move and delete, you can select more of them and then perform the required operation at once. Selected item can be also sent directly: in MMS, via email, Bluetooth or infrared port. The memory card is displayed in the File manager as a folder.

Of course Siemens S65 supports Java MIDP 2.0, which has found its use in three integrated games and five other applications. The first of the offered games is called Sea Battle, which is a digital form of the classic boats battle on a squared paper, well known from our early school years. Next you can race in a car in Siemens 3d Rally and the third game is Worms, sort of aggressive game.

You'll find also some integrated games in the phone

As for the applications, inside you'll find a Photo Editor used for editing photos from the integrated camera. The Download Assistant application makes downloading to the phone easier, and the Emergency Phonebook application is an address book of the emergency lines, perhaps from all the countries in the world. Survival Dictionary is a dictionary application, which "speaks" German, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, and can help you orientate yourself in the basic signs and phrases while traveling abroad. The last application available is a pictorial Cocktail Manager, which will help you with preparing cocktails.