written by jay wad on 11/02/2005
This phone is very very impressive. I have had several phones in the past but none comes close to the build quality or features of the SL45i.
I have no words how can I describe facility of SL45. All I can say is the phone is Superb, and it seems that it will definitely become a collector's item.
If only Siemens could just listen to the consumer for once. All they have to do is upgrade the firmware and make it more stable, release a color version, add GPRS and poly sound then I'm sure they would have a winner. No class other phone from SL45 even nokia phone is in the Dustbin.
Thanks to SIEMENS for giving us this great mobile SL45.
written by Rumble124 on 14/07/2004
I've had my Siemens SL45 upgraded to an SL45i for a while now. When I first recieved the phone I was stunned by the sound quality from it, truly spectacular.
I bought it with all the accessories, as new, this included :
. Desktop Charger & Spare Mains Charger
. USB Cable
. Hard Side Case
. Earphones
Amazed by its quality of sound, and the sleek and stylish design of the phone, at the time, it was the best around.
The sleek metal as the outer case fitted the phone perfectly, and hardly any scratches appeared, nor dents.
I would of liked to see better games on this phone, as a stylish phone, still now, people love playing games on their phone. Also a colour screen would of been very good, like the T68i - However the 'yellow' screen suited the phone well and it didn't fully cause a bother.
The size of the phone was also quite good, not as big as my previous 7110i and not as small as my 8310i, it went well.
Overall this was a good buy for me, I was impressed by most things, and I would encourage others to buy it,
written by whuelse on 24/09/2003
Since I have had the Siemens SL45 mobile phone,just more than a year, I hv stopped carrying my CD player.I was completely blown away by the quality of sound when I first heard it, now I just download the music and enjoy it tremendously.My CD expenses hv gone down.
Got some great games on it and have been able to download some more from the net.Also bought a 64Mb MMC, now I can hv 2 albums worth of crystal clear music on my fone.
The data transfer rate cud have been faster. BUT A GREAT JOB on the fone, Siemens. Just make a newer version with a fabulous color screen and I am sure ppl will lap it up.
written by mint on 11/09/2003
I bought my Siemens SL45 in jan, 03 and in march all keys except power on froze.took it back to Link who duly repaired. In august same thing happened with the screen also fading repeatedly. the only way to see screen was to switch off or sometimes disconnect the battery. Have just recieved phone back from LINK/MASTERCARE who report liquid/moisture ingression. Now the phone has never been dropped in water or soaked in the rain is there a problem with this phone?
By the way MASTERCARE who do LINKS servicing sent back the phone in worse condition than when i sent it in. Ii looks like a chimp with an extra large screwdriver had been trying to fix it. Clips are broken, scratches, gouges and also dust inside the sceen. MASTERCARE deny this and say i must have sent it in like that.Still waiting a reply.
written by ums1405 on 30/08/2003
This phone is absolutely impressive. I have had several phones in the past but none comes close to the build quality or features of the SL45i. I am presently seriously looking for a second SL45i coz my first one had some extensive water damage on the keypad. Even though it has been repaired, the side volume control still does not work, and being a perfectionist, I want a new one. Now since most retailers state the phone is out of production, getting it has become a nightmare. I am desperate!
I am lost for words. all I can say is the phone is great, and it seems that it will definatly become a collector's item.
If only Siemens could just listen to the consumer for once. All they have to do is upgrade the firmware and make it more stable, release a color version, add GPRS and poly sond then i'm sure they would have a winner.
written by on 24/08/2003
Just got my Siemans SL45 mobile phone back from repair after it had been cutting out repeatedly every 10 - 15 secs when making a call.
Fortunately it was under warranty and the result is now that i am to recieve a new phone.
I wonder how long this one will last ?
I certainly, from reading the other reviews, would not buy another siemens phone.
written by armpit. on 31/07/2003
I paid 299 IEP for this back in 2001. What a steaming pile! I have had three replacement phones in less than two years, which tends to rule out the "Monday Morning Lemon" theory. Siemens programmers did an excellent job when it came to animating little "Please wait" coffee cups, but as for the basics of operation: well, why should it take over ten seconds from the "You have a new text message" notification to being able to read the damned thing? My old Nokia's delay for this was less than 2 seconds!! Spend any time in buildings? Don't count on even average reception. MP3 play -- you'll get about an hour from the battery (and with the 32MB MMC, you'll get four or five songs.)
Build quality is rock-bottom; mine is <12 months old and is falling apart, the CLEAR and CONFIRM keys (i.e., the ones that control the on-screen menus) work maybe one time out of 50 or 60. Sending a text message is, as you can imagine, even more frustrating given that you cannot easily correct mistakes, and then, when you've finally gotten everything right, you face a further half-minute of pressing the CONFIRM key to send the dratted thing.
I could go on, but won't. Suffice to say my next mobile won't be a Siemens.
written by ugly_bloke. on 29/05/2003
I mainly went for this phone for the gadgets and the SL45 is full of them. A few years ago this phone was ahead of its time. In everyday use the phone can take time to get used to and is a bit sluggish although the latest firmware is a lot better. The phone is a lot faster if you store numbers on the SIM.
The MP3 player is really good and sound quality is superb. The memory card can also store Java, backgrounds, extra midi ringtones as well as other PC files (i.e Word Documents for backup). This is handy although transfer is very slow.
Overall the SL45 is a good solid performer and has been a real workhorse for me with no problems in the past 18 months. The MP3 player is superb and once you are used to the phone and worked out shortcuts to the menus then the phone is failry pleasant for eveyday use.
written by vsyook. on 14/05/2003
The Siemens SL45 seems to be a jumble of technical mistakes and built in obscelesence. Immediately after the one year warranty expires it starts to switch off, the screen fades, the battery fails to charge, and so on. It just falls apart. Wherever this thing is made quality is not important. Siemens seems to know that it falls apart and seem to just say that they don't care... I have been on the webpage, called service support, been to the local support center ($150 to fix it without guarantee that it will work!). Short of flying back to Prague where I bought the phone I have been everywhere trying to get them to take responsibility for a bad product. No one seems to care about backing the quality of the product.
Written on: 04/01/2004
I have the same problems with my SL45. It seems to switch off at random and does not display caller I.D. when calls are received, even though the caller is in my phonebook. The battery seem fully charged but runs down very quickly.
<br>Network singal is poor compared to other phones, in certain areas you would expect to get a decent signal.
written by aashish. on 25/03/2003
well ! at last , a good phone from the house of seimens. not tooooooooooooooooo expensive really .
Excellent data transfer capability .A good utility devise for the people on move :)
written by Flanimac. on 16/03/2003
The SL45 is one of a few phones with a built in MP3 player. With many cool applications that even other Siemens phones don't have it is har to compare. The SL45's style now is a completely matter. The key's are not that big and the yellow screen is HORRIBLE! But with a timer, excellent games and a hard carry case so it won't break is outstanding.
written by Anthos. on 13/02/2003
The phone has many features, The MP3 Player, THe Multimedia Card, The Ability to store the phone numbers in a better Database then the Nokia and Sim Cards Offer. The Ability to play midi files as ringtones means that you can simply go to a site, and "Sample" the tone in Midi format and "Accidently" save it to your Multimedia Card for a funky new Ring Tone. It's one touch Operations, MP3 Player, Voice Recorder, Stop Watch, Are all brilliant (Although some are hard to get to in a hurry) The Weight of the phone is also a great bonus, It feels like you don't have a phone on you most of the time. The first thing that you notice when you turn the phone on, IS the Aeroplane check, This is a nice novelty, But one that wears off very very quickly. If you don't press a button or any other button other then yes, it will shut the phone down. This can be very annoying. The only other real issue I have with the phone is the damn "Card Error" message that continually appears for no apparent reason. You could be trying to access an SMS, Your phone would then freeze, and card Error. You could be trying to access your Phone Directory as well. There doesn't appear to be anything that triggers it so there is nothing to avoid. One Final annoying thing is the way that it transfers data to the Multimedia Card, Creating a 28,8 Null Modem, and transfering Data that way appears to be a very silly way to transfer data if you ask me, Considering it's a local connection. Transfering 5 / 6 MP3's can take several Hours.
written by jhon. on 09/02/2003
I've had an sl42e for 12 months but it has been replaced 5 times. 1st one phone sceen faulty. 2nd one switching off. 3rd one cannot scrawl through phone numbers in sim card. 4th one screen again. 5th switching off. Siemens customer services will only change the phone for refurbished ones which they guarantee work having 95% new parts!!!I had a Nokia 8210 go faulty and they replaced it straight away with a new one which has been a pleasure to use. A terribale mistake was made buying this simens phone.
Written on: 14/03/2003
Me and my brother got the SL45 phones as it seemed to be feature rich and had a very large display. Sadly it has proved to be a big blunder, as the biggest issue with both phones (brought from seperate locations Europe and Singapore) that the display keeps fading off and you have to thump the left side of the phone to get it back and in case it does not you have to remove the battery and thump it and reinsert the battery.
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<br>Also noticed is that when the battery is removed suddenly it looses the most recent call lists (received and sent).
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<br>Another issue is that the MMC card tends to get loose causing the phone to crash as it stores the address and sms T9 dictionary on this card.
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<br>On the positives there is the Mp3 player which i rarely use, the dictaphone is a pretty neat feature but the quality of the recordings is very very poor unless you are recording a call and not a discussion being held in the open. The address book is pretty neat and so is the help feature.
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<br>Also I have been trying to use the integrated modem feature but it does not seem work, and I have given up trying to configure it.
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written by Dishy. on 07/02/2003
I bought my SL45 in November 2001 thinking it was a state-of-the art phone(not that it's not- its a very useful and functional phone). The major irritant is the "Card Error", which virtually everyone here in Nigeria has to battle with. In the middle of a call it springs up causing you to restart the phone. It gets progressively worse (as I am getting to find out) and its pretty sad. We have an ostentatious community here and it is believed that the more expensive an item is, the better value you get for money. I guess none told me that with age, value is replaced major irritation. From an earlier position of pride, I really am disappointed with you, Siemens.
written by Beanie. on 26/01/2003
I own an SL45 and have had no problems whatsoever with this phone. Battery life is great (about 3-4 days inc. about an hour of calls a day and use of the MP3 player) and build quality easily the best i've come across. After 6 months of use there are no scratches or marks or creaks and rattles on the phone and it all appears solid and well put together still. Reviewer commented on dodgy build quality... you obviously haven't used a Nokia recently - they all seem to squeak and creak and scratch easily! This is indestructable compared to 3 the Nokias (Banana, 5110 and 3110), two Samsungs (A110, A300) and Sony J5 i've used. Plus, I picked mine up for just £20 (not expensive) on an o2 contract because I managed to get a £50 trade in on my old A300! All in all I find this a fab phone. Little things like the ability to download ringtones and logos off the Net and transfer them across via the docking cradle are a bonus - no more spending £1.50 a minute to download them from premium rate numbers! At the mo i've got 100+ ringtones, 140+ screen logos in different categories, about 180 SMS messages and about 30 different startup animations on the standard 32mb 'card. On a formatted 32mb card the dictaphone will record for about 4 hours non-stop! Crazy storage would be possible with a 128mb card! General phone reception and call quality is fine, much better than the A300 I used to own - people always complained that they couldn't hear me on that! I've marked the VFM as 5 because the phone is becoming rare and still commands a big premium offline - I was quoted £440 by a 'high-street mobile retailer'. On contract (if you can find anyone which still stocks it!) this is much more respectable. Anyone want a break from the norm? I highly recommend this phone.
written by Nooch. on 17/01/2003
Highly unimpressed that, after getting the car kit and being told (by Siemens) that the kit would fit the SL45 and future Siemens phones, I look to upgrade to the S55 and need to get another car kit.
written by Sami. on 11/01/2003
Have had this phone for 8 months. I chose it for the mp3 playing feature which I thought really cool. However it took some time learning how to download songs on to the phone and if you want to fit a decent number of songs onto the included 32 MB card you need to compress them to the extent that the sound quality no longer remains impressive. Downloading songs is slow...memory card reader/writer is too expensive. You cannot use your own headphones and the volume is far too low. If you're a patient person and you remember that the SL45 is primarily a phone, not an mp3 player, you should be o.k. Java is useless, just a way to get you to pay even more to download stuff from the Siemens site. I have no problems with the microphone or sound quality. There's a huge choice of ring tones. The dictaphone is great and so are all the alarm clock, calender, messaging features. Navigating the menu is slow. Overall the SL45 is a good choice for people who like loads of features, want a cool looking phone, don't mind paying a lot of money and are very patient. The only major gripe I have is the lack of a reasonably priced case....I dropped my phone and the LCD got a nasty scratch...any one know how I can fix that?
written by Matt. on 08/01/2003
Overall not a bad phone. I am a big siemens fan(or was) but it quite worrying t see a lot of their phones now seem to have the same slow problems......I think back to the dyas of my c256:) cracker phone. The sl45 is light , attractive and has good games , but it's the slow attitude it takes, and freezing screens and the dogey layout with overall kill such a potentially good phone. Also reception was not good inside my house-infact it was disastrous. Not like my dads nokia or my sisters nokia wich holds up fine (or enphatic my mums old siemens fone-when they made them good)
written by agnelo. on 05/01/2003
First phone had to be exchanged after screen faded then vanished. Got a refurbished one which had the same problem after another month. Got sent back and fixed and have not had any problems for the last 11 months. Menus icon are large and easy to navigate by the use of the directional navi button or directly by holding down a number key (once setup). Organiser allows reoccuring alarms by year, week or day and if required will even sound if phone is switched off. MMC card allows storing of vast amounts of information, can save SMS there which makes them quicker to access than off the SIM. Dictaphone can record during a call and even playback during a call by pressing the side button. Very useful if phoning a information line. The profiles are good and can be setup as you like, allowing midi files to be used as ringtones (easy). Synch with outlook allows quick backup or contacts and appointments. Plug and synch. Upgraded MMC to 128MB which makes the MP3 worth while although you need to invest in a MMC card reader otherwise the song will be out of date by the time to transfer them using serial. I want to upgrade my SL45 but it looks so good and so intuiative to use I'm afraid I'll be disappointed. Instead I have just upgraded the software using the cradle it is now a SL45i which allows me to upload Java midlets (applications&games). Recommended phone 30hrs standby with 90ish minutes talktime from one charge is ok for you. Mp3 not as much as a drain compared to talktime but I got a spare battery incase. Make sure you got a warranty incase you get a lemon.
written by tty. on 10/12/2002
Though it's the best looking (and most expensive!) phone I've ever owned, I can safely say that it's also the worst mobile I've ever owned. In less than one year, it's been back in the shop three times. Next week I'll be on my fourth, as I've just handed it back to the shop because the "clear" button stopped working, which meant I couldn't correct mistakes. Before that, it was the spontaneous-power-downs. Before that, the LCD screen went dead (though you could still make and answer calls), and before that, it just didn't work out of the box when I bought it. Excellent "out-of-box experience". Then there's the realy poor reception quality. And the less-than-average battery life, and the poorly-designed battery connectors which can cause spontaneous power-downs (after which you have to remove the battery, reconnect it, and then set the date and time on the phone.) As an MP3 player, you can forget it with the standard 570 mA/H battery. Not to mention the 115Kbits serial transfer, which means you're transferring MP3s at slower-than-real-time rates. I won't even bother talking about the software crashes. It could simply be that I got a lemon. But three of them? We're talking three different phones here! Or maybe I'm just unlucky and keep getting refurbs. Until Siemens get their build and software quality sorted out, I would not recommend this phone other than as a fashion accessory.
Written on: 02/01/2003
perhaps you don't really treat your phones well as i have had a number of phones out of the box and i have had them for years including the siemans sl45. Please mention some of the good points about this phone such as; it has a mp3 player that No other phone has, it has a good amount of games as well as having a dictaphone...
Written on: 08/05/2003
I too purchased a siemens SL45 in 2002. While the phone loooks great and has a number of features which attracted me to purchasing it, mine went back for repairs 3 times. The most common being the blank screen which could not be corrected despite being replaced 3 times. Sadly, i am going to give it away and purchase the S55.I hope i get a better run with it.
Written on: 24/01/2003
It seems that it's just Australia that has faulty handsets then, i still think the siemens sl45 is a good value for money phone...
Written on: 24/01/2003
Both myself and my partner got SL45's and have also had nothing but trouble with both of them. All the same problems as you've said - it has poor coverage, it shuts down whenever it feel like it, the screen has also died (although as you said you're still able to call and receive calls). Also the screen - when it works - is more often than not scrambled. And most of the problems started within 2 months of taking the phone out of the box.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE!!!
Written on: 09/01/2003
well Sean, everyone has there opinion, this is my piece if advice; do not get a Samsung T100, the phone has been rushed into the market to compete with nokia's colour screen phones, the colour screen soon loses it's charm as the menu is boring and bland. The only other thing this phone has is it's "colour games", which run so slow they are unplayable.
So I was looking for a phone with a mp3 capability and the only one I could find was the SL45, so I took my t100 to a phone shop and I swapped it for the SL45, the SL45 was a brand new one, the shop also gave me a device called IC35, which is a organiser device which controls the SL45 through infared....
I've had no problems with my SL45, it looks like you have just got bad look with that phone...
Written on: 07/01/2003
I did treat my phone well and have had many power downs. After 4 months the display vanished, and I have had to turn off the phone and reset it to get the display back up. As for the MP3 and games, there are much better phones on the market which offer much more...stay away from this one!
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_2Hot4U.'s Response to vsyook.'s Review
Written on: 02/07/2003
Yeap ur right mate this fone suck i get the same problems
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