Siemens S55 Review

Overall Rating

small;
looks good;
camera comes free with phone
camera has flash (when it works)

- side keys (e.g. ones you need most - green and red ones) VERY fiddly;
- display is awful, v. poor resolution, and not particularly bright;
- camera is terrible;
- software has glitches, seizes up, crashes, long load times of anything multimedia;
etc. etc. etc.

At first sight the S55 looks great - sleek and shiny, with a nice colourful display and the usual logical lay out and operations you expect from Siemens. The reception you get is fine too, considering the lack of antenna, although nothing special. It has all the usual features of its predecessors, which are also fine and fulfil expectations. But that isn't why people will buy the S55, is it? They want these new advantages of improved screen, 2.5/3G features and other extras the hype promised. Even after playing around with the features for a few minutes, major flaws start to jump out: - The keys you need most - the green and red ones - are VERY fiddly, and if you have a protective case for your S55, near impossible to press. The buttons on the sides feel very plasicy, too. - The display is abysmal. The resolution is awful compared to its rivals, and not particularly bright. - The new camera is terrible. It doesn't even capture what you point at with the viewfinder, and the much-heralded flash on it doesn't always work. (And I know from friends and colleagues that I'm not the only one with these problems). Admittedly you do get the camera free, but this is because it's absolutely worthless. Siemens would never be able to market it separately. Some would say it's better than nothing at all, but I would say the advantage of none at all is there's nothing to go wrong. - The software has glitches, seizes up, crashes (requiring removal of the battery to resolve), and there are long loading (i.e. frozen screen) and exiting times of several of the multimedia features, such as the excruciatingly dull 'Fit At Work'. - While I'm at it, the new entertainment 'package' you get with the phone is pretty much non-existent, and the Fit At Work sleepathon is about as good as it gets. If you want anything remotely entertaining, you have to buy it all over the internet. - You can't create your own ring tones. You can with pretty much every other Siemens phone under the sun back to the good old C25, but not with the flagship S55!! The fact is if I just wanted to telephone I certainly wouldn't have paid the money for a S55, I would have bought something much simpler. But people who are buying it will want more than just telephony - they will want state of the art equipment with new features ready for 2.5 and 3G. Okay, the features are there, but unfortunately the quality is just not good enough. I seriously expected this phone to be something special, but for the first time I've seen, Siemens have seriously let themselves down. To summarize, the S55 just doesn't live up to the huge hype it got, and compared with the newest products from the likes of Samsung and Nokia, with their crisp, high-res displays and solid well-built feel, it's 2nd rate. Until now I've only had Siemens phones, but I'm seriously looking to change now. In fact give me back my old Siemens ME45, it was far better.

Members' Comments onroj.'s Review

• bill. on 10th May 2003

  I am surprised at this review...I take it to genuine. I am about to buy several new mobiles and I had shotlisted down to two models..the S55 and Nokia7250....I spoke to someone the other day who had a 7250 and they were not impressed...now this review of the S55....well just what do I do ???
  

• francois. on 18th May 2003

  I don't agree with this review. I bought the S55 a week ago and am still very happy with it. The display is OK although I find the font in usage not very pleasant but thats about it. I have a digital camera so the add-on camera is a nice extra. Obviously you get a lot more out of the phone if you use it with a PC and thats where you can truly enjoy a lot of great features. In fact pix viewed on the PC are of pretty good quality. That's why you dont get a melody composer: just drag and drop any midi file from the PC and Bob's your uncle!

• ceejay. on 2nd Jul 2003

  I bought a sim free S55 for my daughter, the selling point was the flash on the camera as well as its looks.
  The 'phone is not T-Mobile approved but we eventually got all the settings for MMS / WAP sorted. However the 'phone would not send MMS with any data in (empty MMS messages were OK).
  The problem seems to be in the JAVA and/or memory implementation. I have seen other reviews with similar problems. Its a ahame because much is good but not good enough. Interestingly carphone warehouse (who swapped the 'phone for a wonderful 7250) now seem to have stopped listing the 'phone on their web site.
  
  Hope this helps

• gorganite on 10th Aug 2003

  i think this review is done some kind of nokia's agent. i have been using siemens mobile since long and i never found any of its model less then nokia. as a matter of fact S55 is totally professional mobile with its too many features, even its very light wiehgt too.
  i think who are using S55 they must be very comfotable with it.

• joshf33 on 3rd Feb 2004

  my friend has just got a seimens s55 and two of the buttons has fallen out and a third is loose. has this ever happened to anyone else and does anyone know if there is a cheaper option than buying a replacement cover from germany? there not available here as far as i can tell (and ive been searching the web for over an hour now)