Siemens MC60 Review

Good Points
Nice styling
Clear menus
Very tough

Bad Points
Really terrible camera
Dire games
Prone to crashes and freezes
The screen is a joke
Slow loading of pictures

General Comments
I first recieved my Siemens MC60 mobile phone about 2 years ago because "the Nokia 6600 was too expensive". Inital impressions were good; a nice style, with camera and a handful of other decent features. Sadly as time wore on, so did the phone. Once so responsive, the buttons have become sticky and unresponsive, also the battery life has dropped dramatically, even though I charge it roughly every night.



Screen Quality:

The screen, to be blunt, is a complete joke. At only 4,000 colours, it can't hold a candle to the Nokia 6600 or one of those Sharp flip phones. The screen is also very small and often unreadable, even in minor sunlight.

Overall 3/10



Battery Life:

A tale of two halves, while in the first year the battery life is perfectly fine, after a while it slowly starts to depleat, until eventually it requires charging every night. A half-success story.

Overall 7/10



Features:

Those looking for quality mobile gaming are advised to avoid this phone like the plague. Of the three games loaded onto the phone (it is almost impossible to download others onto it), one is a photo editing package that only allows you to crop your images, another is one of those pathetic slide puzzle games, and the third (the obinously named "Contest Arena") is one of the worst games ever committed to mobiles. The game takes in excess of 2 minutes to load a single level, and even when it does, you are left wishing it hadn't loaded at all; one of the worst fighting games ever.

The other main feature, the integrated camera, is terrible. Even on the "Premier" quality setting, the pictures are fuzzy, dark and downright shoddy. It doesn't help matters that the viewfinder is placed on the back of the phone without any protection or cover whatsoever. Add into the mix a complete lack of video, zoom, flash, or decent editing facillities, and you have a camera more akin to the corridors of hell than a mobile phone.

This phone does not feature internet access, yes I know the box says it does, but it doesn't. It only thinks it does. Unless you are interested in checking out the Tesco mobile download site (a bubbling cesspit of overpriced downloads and shoddy celeb news), then I suggest you leave the internet access alone, as well as the games and camera

Overall 3/10



Oh dear, it's not looking good for the little MC60 is it? A plastic box with poor battery life, and a camera lifted from the old testiment. It gets even worse as well, as this phone seems to have a particular liking for crashing (especially when on the internet) and freezing. Considering you lose all your messages if it crashes, it is advisable to take care.



There are some positive points shining through the gloom of all the bad points. The menus are nice and clear, and more importantly, it is incredibly tough. Once I tried to climb a particularly large tree, and when I reached about 18ft this phone slipped out of my pocket and smashed into the ground. Surprisingly the phone still worked perfectly, so for those who want a phone that can take a lot of punishment, Olympic wrestlers for instance, this could be the phone for them, but the rest of us would probably be better off with a Nokia 6600 or something similar.



One final point, I appear to have left the charger for this phone in our French holiday cottage, so it lies idle in my bedroom while I await the imminant arrival of a Samsung D500 for christmas. I can't wait.