Rating: 
Summary: Never Again
Review: Boy, reading the other reviews I see it's not just my phone with issues. I too was looking online to see if I could find a recall for it. It's just that bad. It cuts off when it wants to, which makes me miss important calls. The ear piece pops off. It won't turn on sometimes until I mess with the battery. It is crap. Come on, Siemens, you can do better.
Rating: 
Summary: Good overall
Review: Color screen is OK, not great. Ringtones that come with the phone are all "song" types - not really any normal ringtones. I was able to download a normal tone - though it wasn't easy. Backgrounds are stupid (dog, car, martini glass, etc... and all drawn very simply). You can choose to not have a background or download others.Keys are a bit too small. The voice memo key is on the side and always gets hit--bad placement of a feature that does not need to be accessed so quickly (or to have a key that can be touched once and start recording). Connectivity is great with bluetooth and IRDA. Built in calendar is great and you can sync with outlook (contacts, appointments, etc...). Text message features are great. mMode is OK, not the best. Customizable soft key is definately usefull. Navigation through menu's is very good. One touch access to phone book is great. Ability to save contacts and settings on SIM card is great. Phone doesn't ring very loud and the ear volume is too low. All in all a good phone, just little things that could be better. Battery life seems to be fine and it charges pretty quickly.
Rating:
Summary: Good overall
Review: Color screen is OK, not great. Ringtones that come with the phone are all "song" types - not really any normal ringtones. I was able to download a normal tone - though it wasn't easy. Backgrounds are stupid (dog, car, martini glass, etc... and all drawn very simply). You can choose to not have a background or download others. Keys are a bit too small. The voice memo key is on the side and always gets hit--bad placement of a feature that does not need to be accessed so quickly (or to have a key that can be touched once and start recording). Connectivity is great with bluetooth and IRDA. Built in calendar is great and you can sync with outlook (contacts, appointments, etc...). Text message features are great. mMode is OK, not the best. Customizable soft key is definately usefull. Navigation through menu's is very good. One touch access to phone book is great. Ability to save contacts and settings on SIM card is great. Phone doesn't ring very loud and the ear volume is too low. All in all a good phone, just little things that could be better. Battery life seems to be fine and it charges pretty quickly.
Rating:
Summary: Great phone but has a few bugs
Review: CONS - I bought this phone about 2 yrs ago from Cingular and at first the battery life would not last over a day. Cingular replaced the whole phone w/ battery. After a year or so, the unit would turn itself off about once a month while using the menu. Phone reception is iffy (mostly echoing) but that could be up to the carrier. The access time to save phone numbers and deact/activate the bluetooth headset is slow in my opinion. And as far as bluetooth, I bought a Motorola one and the phone's battery life when it's in 'bluetooth mode' (standby, not even talking) shortens dramatically. Regular use lasts almost a whole week but when it's in bluetooth mode, I'm lucky if I sqeeze 2 days out of this thing. Wish they had some regular ringtones for the few of us that aren't out there to find and download the loudest, corniest, most annoying song out there.
PROS - Durable, good coverage, menus are easy to use, many features and customizing is easy, stylish, battery life (when you don't use a BT headset).
Rating:
Summary: Stay away from Siemens Cell Phones
Review: Do not buy Siemens' S56 (I'm sure their other products are designed and built just as poorly). The buttons on the keypad fall off. The earpiece falls off. The 4-way button feels like it is ready to fall off. And the phone randomly turns off. Oh, and the warranty is only valid as long as none of the buttons have fallen off ... so I'm not sure of the value of the warranty. Stay away from Siemens.
Rating:
Summary: 3 times a charm!
Review: Do yourself a big favor, don't let the slick look and many gadgets fool you. I have had three of these phones. The only reason I had three is due to the fact that when I bought it at "Best Buy" I got a buyer protection warranty. THANK GOD! I have never had so many dropped calls....EVER. I had the same problem as discribed by the woman in Oakland, Try to answer the phone and the phone sends the call to voice mail. Set a ring tone, it might stay for a few rings, then the phone goes back to the default ring. Not a good buy. Stay away from this one.
Rating:
Summary: 3 times a charm!
Review: Do yourself a big favor, don't let the slick look and many gadgets fool you. I have had three of these phones. The only reason I had three is due to the fact that when I bought it at "Best Buy" I got a buyer protection warranty. THANK GOD! I have never had so many dropped calls....EVER. I had the same problem as discribed by the woman in Oakland, Try to answer the phone and the phone sends the call to voice mail. Set a ring tone, it might stay for a few rings, then the phone goes back to the default ring. Not a good buy. Stay away from this one.
Rating:
Summary: Great little phone
Review: I got this phone from AT&T as a refurbished freebie to replace my
Sony-Erickson phone about 9 months ago. I have to say that it's held up to my abuse quiet well, that includes dropping it on concrete several times. Something I am not recommending you test.
Despite a couple of divots on the corners, the phone works fine.
So all these one star reviews seem a bit one-sided. I have had nothing fall off or even become loose. It's a sturdy little phone.
The reception is good. That may have to do with location, but I have used it while traveling in several different states. The speakerphone works well though the volume is not high enough for very noisy environments. The voice recorder can only record about 3.5 minutes so for me it's nearly worthless and I don't think its controls were well-thought, it's too easy to turn it on unintentionally so after a while it becomes a nuisance. I could do without it. The menu navigation took some getting used to and it's not intuitive. Once I learned some numeric shortcuts it became more useable for me, but others may not be so patient. Using bluetooth to Sync it with my apple computers has not been a problem. I was able to sync my old Sony-ericsson T68, then remove the card, and place it the Siemens S56, turn it on and then transfer my addressbook via bluetooth. It worked fine though I found the phone numbers in autodial wouldn't dial they just beeped at me. If I went in edit mood, modified the entry and saved it seemed to work fine after that. That was a little annoying, but otherwise things worked. Text messaging works fine though with any phone this small, it's a bit tricky to push buttons fast enough. The manual could be better. 3-way calling turned not to be that hard to do but explanation in the manual was almost non-existent.
I like the phone, but for a non-techie, the interface could seem a bit too cluttered and the learning curve too steep. For some. it will be loveable.
Rating:
Summary: THIS PHONE IS BAD!!!!!!
Review: i hate this phone. it has caused me so much frustration i can't even believe it and sadly, because i am a broke teenager i'm stuck with it. Let me describe what happens when the phone rings. I go to pick it up after its rang and when i press answer...boom! its off. neat trick. also it freezes all the time and it is incredibly slow. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE YOU WILL HATE IT!!!
Rating: 
Summary: best phone so far
Review: I have had 2 prior phones, a Nokia and a Motorola and the usability factor of this one is superior to both those. The colorful user interface is nicely designed and easy to navigate. The sound quality is very clear during calls and recordings. Great chioce of accessories.
| 
