Test report and technical data Benefon Twin
Benefon Twin, a good idea: two in one
Plus of the Benefon Twin: two SIM-cards
Minus of the Benefon Twin: no phone memory, no GPRS and HSCMD
There are about 40 million people in Germany who own a mobile phone, many even have two: one for the job and a private one. The number of traveling people, who might even have several residences in several countries, is rising. But many are uncomfortable with carrying around two hand phones.
Developments and needs to which the Finnish company Benefon offers a solution. The Benefon Twin is a hand phone that allows you to use two SIM-cards and is the first of its kind.
Of course you can only be reached on the number of the one SIM-card that you have activated when you switched the Benefon Twin on. To activate the other number you have to switch the Benefon Twin off and on again. Unfortunately you can only use the memory of the active SIM-card.
Just like the SIM-card, the appearance of the Benefon Twin can be altered; by changing the case of the screen panel the Benefon Twin can look anything from serious-business style to young and modern. But I wouldn't call the design of the Benefon Twin a success, because the optical impression is a rather bulky one, and the colorful plastic case of the Benefon Twin doesn't come across very elegant.
Sadly, the menu structure of the Benefon Twin is far more complicated and impractical than the ones of its competitors. At first you'll be confronted with an English menu that will only convert to another language after some time.
A huge advantage of the Benefon Twin on the other hand is its SMS-function which works flawlessly, you only have to press each key once and the text-input assistance will take care of the rest.
Like most of the new hand phone models the Benefon Twin has a variety of functions like calendar, organizer, calculator and different ringer tones to choose from. Unfortunately the Benefon Twin doesn't have a vibratory alarm, which should be a standard feature of any hand phone, so the ringer tones won't get on your nerves.
A big problem of the Benefon Twin is the lack of a data transfer function like W@P, GPRS or HSCMD, which doesn't exactly qualify the Benefon Twin for a business phone.
Because of the missing features the Benefon Twin is less than perfect, but for anybody who needs more than one hand phone the Benefon Twin is the only solution; when you consider that the Benefon Twin isn't so bad after all.
Test report:
Technical features: +
Quality of reception: ++
User-friendliness: ++
Standby time: +++
Design: ++
Instructions manual: ++
Value for money: +++
Overall result: ++
++++/excellent, +++/good, ++/satisfactory, +/unsatisfactory
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