written by TaZ. on 05/05/2002
Good Points
A not-too-flashy, robust, and easy-to-use phone with a good number of features and a lower price tag than most other phones.
Bad Points
After a while (had mine for over a year), battery life is zapped very quickly even by text messaging and scrolling through menus. Also, sporadically turns itself off.
General Comments
I've had this Siemens C35 mobile phone for a long time but I am now moving on. This phone is very robust (apart from the battery compartment lid) and has a good sized screen which becomes useful for the helpful T9 Text system which shows a list of available characters, numbers, and symbols while typing. Screen size good for WAP usage - which worked quite well and allowed for browsing offline, and good for playing the games provided which includes Microsoft MineSweeper and a couple of stupid ones which aren't so entertaining.
The Keypad numbers would take a very long time to fade (mine still haven't) unlike some Nokia phones, and they are easily pressed and aren't too senstive. Siemens have made the phone an ideal size for typing and reading text using just a thumb to press the keys, its a perfect size and a good weight - quite light weight but still noticeable in the pocket (good for security).
If you get this phone on contract, there are a number of additional features including fax and data transmissions.
Some pleasant ring tones with standard "RING RING" tones also, and the option to compose your own - although this is easier said than done with the C35!
I particularly liked the option to add symbols, pictures and faces to certain people in your address book so that when they called you would instantly know who was calling not just by reading the name but seeing an interesting animation on screen! Menu navigation was the best I've seen of any phone after taking a short time to get used to it and reception and speaker quality were very good.
It's not a perfect phone, it has some problems which I think are inherited in all Siemens phones! The biggest, and most frustrating problem, was the way it switched off without warning - this happened more than once a day and was particularly annoying when expecting calls. The second most annoying problem was the poor battery life at a few months of usage - I had to do numerous battery life full and complete recharges - allowing the phone to use all power and then charging for hours. I had to sacrifice some features like animation and network status checks to allow the battery to give me more than half an hour talk time each day!
Other than that, this phone is definitely a good all-rounder and worth the money.