Siemens S75 review: Serious competitor

Business and football

The phone features a rich extras menu. In a folder called Organizer you will find a calendar, which is able to memorize various reminding notes. There are 6 different kinds of notes available (memo, call, meeting, voice record, birthday, and holiday). Each note can be set to go with a legend, starting and end time, alarm, alarm advance and repetition interval. The calendar can be viewed by months, weeks and days. As you see, everything is more or less identical to the calendar of the 65/75 collection.

Time organizer's menu • various views of the calendar

All events are gathered in a common view called Appointments. Further on in the Organizer menu you will find a standard task manager, a notes manager (notes' maximum length is 160 characters), a voice recorder (max. duration of 100 minutes), world clock and an option for access to remote synchronization through server.

 
Task manager • alarm clock • WAP browser

This is not the end of the extra functions though. In the main menu, under "Extra" you will also find a calculator, a measure converter, an instant messaging application, a stopwatch, a countdown function, and a very interesting innovation: a device, which counts the time between two particular dates.

Besides, java applications are also possible to access form the Extra folder. The phone has an installed blogging program, due to which you can share your experiences and pictures with other users in Internet, using 20six service. Moreover, the phone offers a program called Download assistant, which helps you download files from Internet, and an archiver program called Mobile Zip. Siemens S75 is also equipped with a browser for PDF and Office (DOC, XLS) files, but it manages very simple files only.

 
Extras menu • calculator • java applications menu is quite big

Siemens S75 offers two games - Marble Madness and Real Football. In the first one you roll a marble on broken plates trying not to let it fall off. The second game is far more amusing - it is a variation of the football game we all know from PC. Even though graphics are adjusted to the phone's limited capabilities, playing this game is great fun, especially when you find yourself in the role of the provocative naked man, who runs around the playground and tries to escape from the police.

  
Rolling marbles • football

Installing new games is not a problem. Siemens S75 supports Java 2.0. Jbenchmark results show that the speed of the phone's hardware equipment is pretty high:

• JBenchmark 1: 2403
• JBenchmark 2: 177

New data solutions

Data transfers through GSM network are backed up by both GPRS Class 10 and the fast data transfer technology EDGE Class 10. Close range connection is available via infrared port, Bluetooth or USB cable. Siemens S75 substitutes a hardware modem for PC, if necessary. If you fear installing of relevant controllers, use the service software Mobile Phone Manager, which is available on the CD included in the original package. Apart from managing internet connection, Mobile Phone Manager supports synchronization, manages SMS and MMS, allows recording of multimedia data into/from the phone, and backs up/updates data saved in the phone.

The data profiles setup in Siemens S75 is completely new. This seems to be the main reason for the unavailability of a relevant configuration on the manufacturer's website. This type of phone is not present in the menu of the smart T-Mobile configurator either. That is why it is necessary that all settings are done manually. In the Settings/Data exchange/Online settings option there is a list of configurations for various operators. Inside this list you will find a full range of setup options for all services and applications, so when you change SIM cards, you will need to simply switch to the required operator. In the first place, however, make sure that everything has been setup properly.

Tabs have been used here, as well. The first one stores general information, the second one - the settings of all applications including 10 different java profiles for external applications. The third tab is reserved for server properties, and the forth one stores the properties of the access point. Obviously, settings starts from the forth tab. In the third one you only need to enter an IP address and a port. In the second tab you have to select the setup mode that corresponds to the third and the forth tab. The last necessary thing to do is to attach the properties of the relevant function (for example, the home page for the WAP browser or the access to the mailbox in case of setting up a new email account). Inexperienced users may find this section a little bit complicated in the beginning, but eventually, you will see that it is not chaotic at all. What's more, the system never asks you to insert twice one and the same detail and all necessary settings are done in the same place.

New, unified settings of data profiles

A serious competitor for Nokia 6230i

Siemens S75 is an excellent mobile phone with very well elaborated functions. Its unstable software can be considered its weakest spot, but there is still hope that the new firmware versions will set it right. You should not have any difficulties with Siemens S75 in everyday use - at least not the kind I had, as testing is always more challenging than common use. The phone is perfectly equipped to satisfy user's needs - from everyday work to music and entertainment. As for the megapixel camera, it fulfills its main duties - to take pictures and to record videos for MMS - quite well.

Siemens S75's main competitor is Nokia 6230i, which is attractive for its better display and stereophonic radio. Nevertheless, Siemens S75 features better functions and is much cheaper. It is currently offered for 230 euro. Due to its price, it has become a competitor even for its "colleagues" - Siemens M75 and CX75. The first one still has a chance to find more fans due to its stable construction, but the second seems to fade away. There is no doubt that Siemens S75 is worth buying both for its brilliant design and smart applications.