Siemens S40 Review

Overall Rating

Looks good,
Blue backlight,
Tri-band.

Bobbins software.

First, a gripe: I've read many a bad review about the Siemens s40 mobile phone and I'm not entirely sure as to how Siemens could have got things so wrong. There have been umpteen software revisions made (I believe it is currently on the ninth) and there are still problems which apparently stem from the file system used on the phone. I won't go into the details of the matter, but as soon as one problem occurs, the problem snowballs until the user has to 'reset the phone' thus discarding all his modifications to the phone (i.e. phonebook etc.)

To put it in context, Siemens wanted a piece of the American market as quickly as possible but didn't have any hardware with which to penetrate it. However, they were able to scan through the pre-release designs of their one-time competitor Bosch, who they had bought out, and pick out one of those (they plumped for the Bosch 1886 viewable at http://www.bosch-telecom.dk/cgi/news.cgi?n=1&p=new s.2 ), and voila, a readymade phone they could market in the US. Of course, in the rush to send the phone out there, they implemented a particularly flakey OS which has proved to be this phone's downfall.

It's quite a shame really as Siemens have quite a reputation in Europe for producing high quality, high end communications devices, and they appear to have spoiled their emergence into the American market by rushing out this phone. In any event, to bring things up to date, the Siemens s40 has slowly begun to trickle onto the European market, and despite all the problems I've heard about it, I decided to acquire one - I have quite a knack for buying lost causes.

The software version of the Siemens s40 I own is 5.0.0 (the most up-to-date version is 9.0.0) and it has to be said, the problems do show. For about a week, the phone functioned perfectly, but then every time I took a call, the phone would freeze and so would continue to ring long after the initial caller had hung up the phone. The only way to rectify this problem was by removing the phone's battery, but this was only temporary, and the same problem would recur the next time someone called. The same problem was also evident whenever I attempted to call out on the phone, or indeed, access a text message. I ended up sending this phone back to the retailer only for it to be replaced with another phone of the same software version.

I have now had use of this new phone for about a week, and there have been innumerable problems. The phone has already frozen once while attempting to access a text message. Furthermore, I was cut off during the middle of a telephone conversation, and the phone refused to allow me to make a call, despite the fact that it was displaying full signal strength. Then all of a sudden it lost all signal strength, and refused to regain a signal - despite the fact I had remained sitting in the same place in my house all the time and have never lost a signal here. Once I turned the phone off and turned it back on again, I was back on full signal once more, although I was left wondering for just how long!

I also have an issue with the phones vibration feature (or should that be 'trembler' - why can't they use commonly accepted terminology??) After the first two vibrations, the 'tremble' appears to get weaker and weaker, with it audibly diminishing in strength - and the phone has been fully charged! There is also a slight rattle in the phone whenever it is lightly shaken which, while not necessarily meaning the phone is damaged, leads one to question the build quality of the phone.

However despite these software faults, my major problem is with the 'intentional' problems created by the design and implementation of the phone's features. For example, what is the need for the phone to save every text message that you send? Try as I might, I can't figure out how to switch this 'feature' off, which is a further problem that is typical of most features of this phone - you have to be prepared to read the manual, as NOTHING is where you would expect to find it and NOTHING works how you might think it would.

For example, and first off, there are two different menu systems. If you press the 'menu' softkey, this gives you all of the 'settings' menus in which you can set up the various aspects of your phone. However, if you want to actually use these features, you have to press the button on the side of the phone in order to access a further menu system. In addition, these menu systems are not altogether clear. For example, if you wanted to set the phone up to use WAP, you have to press the 'menu' softkey, but there is then no option for 'WAP settings', rather you have to look in 'Message Settings' and then 'Browser Menu'...confusing, huh? The problem was compounded by the fact that even when I had managed to input all the settings the bloody thing wouldn't connect, getting a 'network not responding' message, despite the fact that same settings worked fine on my other phone. I eventually managed to get it working by trying several other WAP operators in an attempt to find one which worked (eventually managed to get breathe.com WAP settings to work, but O2/Genie settings refused to work as did WAP Access).

Text messaging is made more complicated by the fact that it would appear then when you first start trying to write a message, that T9 predictive text input is not actually available on your phone. No matter how many times you cycle through the options of 'numerical', 'grid input' etc etc there is no T9 option. Instead, you have to seperately 'activate' T9 in the 'Message Settings' option, which means leaving one menu system and entering another....madness!

While I am generally pleased with the aesthetics of the phone, it has to be said that the buttons are very stiff and rigid and require a great deal of pressure in order for them to pressed down and 'click'. This first seemed like a benefit to me as I have owned many phones whose keys are quite loose, or don't produces a satisfying 'button press' 'experience'. However, the keys are made of hard rubber which means it can actually get quite painful after a long 'text' session. Also, while the 'brushed metal exterior' is very pretty, it only remains so as long as you don't touch it, as every finger mark is recorded for posterity.

I'm also not overly confident about the internal antenna. I travelled from Manchester to my home town which is about some 15 miles outside Manchester in a densly built up area, and my phone actually managed to 'lose' a signal on at least one occasion for about a two minute period. I have never before lost a signal with any other phone while making this journey - indeed while travelling through the Greater Manchester area, never have I lost a signal, and nor would you expect to with a high frequency of GSM transmitters, which does not inspire confidence therefore if I were to use the phone in less densely populated areas.

I summary, I am wholly disappointed with this phone, and am only glad that it cost me just £150 otherwise I might very well have to consider throwing myself down a flight of stairs for ever having been so stupid as to buy this hunk of junk.

Members' Comments onTrypanosomiasis.'s Review

• Martin. on 20th May 2003

  I bought 2 S40 siemens
  one for me and one for my girlfriend.
  The both of te phones present problems that are
  not random !
  Both of the phones after some months of use ,
  can not visualize at SMS menu the options for SEND , INBOX and OUTBOX , DRAFTS TOO.
  So you can not read messages , you can only send them.
  My phone has problems with internal memory
  After 300 tel. numbers momorized...
  with 30% of memory (for numbers) free I can not
  add new number because of "memory full" message appears.
  I try to remove all the numbers from the phone
  but after that (the memo was EMPTY)
  there is still no possibility to add any number on the phone.
  I tried to copy one by one (there is no option to
  download the TEL MEMO on the sim memory) on the sim card
  but after that process about 70% of the entries
  are unusable. I can read the name of the entry but can not make call for that , can not edit , or delete - I remember that the last described entries are already on the sim card...
  ANother problem that I saw
  is that at low temperatures
  under 0 degrees celsium
  the Phone is too slow to browse menus and to run commands
  and some times turn off without a request.
  And that is valid for the couple of phones I describe.
  Best Regards
  Martin
  ICQ 13125134