Test report and technical data Siemens S55
Small, stylish, sexy & serious...
Good: looks, functionality, camera
Bad: lacking depth of colour-display
I just got the Siemens S55 yesterday from my people at home, which kinda surprised me, since I've annoyed em for a while by now, I thought it didn't have any effect. Wrong I was, I came home yesterday after a session at my bud's and the Siemens S55 was on my bed. Guess my folks do like me better that I thought!
Although I don't owe the Siemens S55 for a too long time, I still dare to judge the Siemens S55 after one night. I have checked it out intensively during the night and I could cope easily with most of the functions, since I was already used to a Siemens operation. Only new thing that struck me was its camera, however I have a kinda biased feeling about the camera, always thought what do you need a camera in a mobile for, if you wanna have a camera, then buy one separately since none of the integrated cameras of today live up to the performance of a normal camera. My opinion was absolutely authenticated, its resolution sucks big time! Rest of the Siemens S55 does quiet well though, a camera would've just been unnecessary and would've dropped the price of the Siemens S55.
Being the highlight of the Siemens S55, people tend to look at the camera functions before checking out the rest of the Siemens S55. I personally don't value the camera too much, however I gotta be fair and at least write something about it coz you can make your own picture. The camera weighs an additional 35 g an has to be assembled to the Siemens S55 every time you use it, I already do know today that I'll keep forgetting it at home. The camera has an built-in flash light and although the pics sure don't look all too good if displayed on the screen, don't look all that bad once transferred to the PC! That indeed is a reason to keep taking the camera with you, however you need to decide whether you wanna save pics or games on the Siemens S55, since the memory capacity of the Siemens S55 does not cover both of them to an endless extent. The memory of the Siemens S55 is definitely way too small, Siemens should've thought about using a Multimedia-Card here, what shall you do with all the functions of the Siemens S55 if you can't even save pics, games n ringer tones at the same time on the phone??
The design of the Siemens S55 is damn attractive and it really looks kinda kewl. It's a compact thing, the Siemens S55, and it only weighs a 85g while having dimensions of 101x42x18 mm.
The screen of the Siemens S55 is a colour display which has an average resolution, the resolution's ok for the common use but, as I already said, absolutely insufficient for the camera. The precise resolution is 101x80 pixles and the screen can display a 256 different colours, which makes the colours of the screen quiet indeep, the reason for shittily displayed pics of the camera.
Keys of the Siemens S55 are just fine, their arrangement's kinda unique and I really like it. There are no gaps in between the keys, a key directly borders the next one and the keys are nicely big.
Ease of use? Siemens S55 sure does live up to that. I actually have no clue what people precisely expect from the ease of use of a mobile, all I can say is that I don't have problems at all taming the Siemens S55. The menu's well structured and easily overviewed, that's all I can think about when talkin about the ease of use. Functions can be accessed quickly and easily...that's it!
Won't get into the details of the technical data of the Siemens S55 since it can be looked up on many homepages and it would be just a bit too boring and would take way too long to write it all down. Just think about the Siemens S55 as a phone that covers just any possible feature (except an MP-3 player) and a device that is actually more of a computer than a mobile phone...
The battery of the Siemens S55 kicks ass, it has a stand-by time of 300 hours and a talk time of six hours. Sure the Siemens S55 has a vibratory alert, actually does not need to be mentioned...
The messaging function of the Siemens S55 is kinda complex, you can send SMS, EMS and MMS, pretty much just everything. A normal SMS covers 760 characters and the Siemens S55 possesses a T9 text input function. 100 messages can be saved in the normal folders and if those are full you can move all those messages to an archive that covers a 5000 messages!! Holy moly...
The telephone book eats as many entries as possible and after entering all those nice number you can then arrange them by groups...and of course the numbers can as well be accessed be voicedailling.
Polyphonic ringer tones in 16 different pitches can be found, not too many though, one should extend the offer by downloading or composing them.
Same with the games. Download'em, that's what they want you to do. However, you might still recall...the memory capacity! I already warned you, you gotta decide: pics, games or ringer tones...you can't have everything!
All those neat people out there will find an organizer and they can then try to organize their life with the Siemens S55... Don't ask me what you can exactly do here, only know about an alarm clock, a planner and all the usual stuff, I don't use my mobile too often for other stuff than that.
A thing that might get some among us freaky as well is transferring data with the Siemens S55. You can transfer data from and to the net, from and to other mobiles and in addition to that to PDA's. The transfer rate's quite high and your data can be synchronized with MS Outlook. In terms of using them I can just pity all those geeks who do make use of that, it's just so freaking expensive. Use your money for something more reasonable than that and try using your computer at home to log on to the net!
Guess the Siemens S55 is more of a computer by now than a phone, I don't mind that though. However, if wantin to continue with the built-in cameras, Siemens should definitely reconsider its concept.
Since I just got the Siemens S55 yesterday I didn't check out its performance in extreme situations yet. But I strongly assume, that the reception quality and the sound quality of the Siemens S55 live up to what we expect. If the Siemens S55 performs the way his predecessors did we can all be more than satisfied. The performance of the Siemens S55 should even be better in terms of that since it has been modified in every area, including those two.
I was damn surprised when I got the Siemens S55 yesterday and wouldn't have any reason to complain about anything about the Siemens S55. Surely it does annoy that the camera does not live up to what it could be, but I guess it will just take a while until this new feature is perfectly integrated in a mobile. Bad move though... memory!! Way too small, Mutlimedia-Card: hopefully next time, guys!
But hey, all in all, how can I not be satisfied with the Siemens S55, it just has awesome, wicked features!!
Test-review of the Siemens S55:
Technical features: ++++
Reception quality: ++++
Ease of use: ++++
Battery stand-by time: +++
Design: ++++
Instruction manual: +++
Value for money: +++
Overall rating: ++++
++++/excellent, +++/good, ++/satisfactory, +/poor
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