Siemens SL55, where style and functionality blend
Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id
Granted, men and women differ in countless ways. And, one of the things that they differ in is how much they like one cellular phone model.
Case in point is the Siemens SL55, the cute little mobile phone that has created a craze among the ladies and the teenagers. Courtesy of PT Dian Graha Elektrika, Siemens's distributor for communication devices and authorized service center in Indonesia, I had the chance to play around with this stylish gadget for a week.
One thing I have noticed is that Siemens has been concentrating on designing small and lightweight mobile phones with comprehensive features and durability. Mind you, I am not totally unfamiliar with Siemens mobile phones. For quite a few years I was a happy user of a Siemens S25, and my wife's only complaint about her own M35 was that she had to replace the battery once. What I liked about both the S25 and the M35 were its German reliability and small size.
Indeed, it has been some time since then, and the few months old SL55 reminded me quite a bit of what I liked about the S25 (the SL55 debuted during the Hanover CeBIT 2003 event in March). The SL55 has such a pretty look that it can easily be worn as a chic pendant, for those interested in such things.
At 79 grams, it is very light and you would not really need a strong necklace to go with it. Siemens also chose a very attractive color combination for the handset -- reddish brown and gray -- and the chrome lining adds a classic touch to the face. These features, and the small size, are the main attractions.
And beauty is not skin deep in the SL55, although there is still plenty of room for improvement, I will get that later. This mobile phone has a slide-down keypad, like Nokia's now discontinued N7650. Siemens calls the design "ProSlider". Even when the keypad is pulled all the way down, the size of the entire cellular phone does not increase much, however.
Small as it is, it has an impressive list of capabilities. Its phonebook can hold 500 entries Up to 100 SMS messages can be kept in the memory, and there are also supports for WAP 1.2.1, polyphonic ring tones, Java, MMS and voice dialing. It even comes with a microbrowser, a recorder, an e-mail client and an infrared port. You can also buy a Siemens QuickPic add-on camera to go with it.
The buttons on the keypad are shaped somewhat like diamonds, so there is not really much difficulty separating any of them from adjacent buttons. However, for someone with large fingers such as mine, pressing down the button that one wants can be tricky. The navigation, the "call" and the "hang up" buttons are also difficult to press if your fingers are a bit larger than a dainty woman's hands. But even small-fingered ladies should make sure that their nails are regularly clipped to make key pressing easier.
The sliding keypad of my demo unit was a bit tight. The first time I tried to slide it out with one hand, the entire phone leaped from my palm. Luckily it landed on a stack of magazines. It took me some time to master the art of pushing the upper part- the screen part from covering the keypad with one single hand. The designer should have added some curves or rough edges on the side of the casing so that it would not be as loose.
Those who have become accustomed to display screens capable of 65 K colors may feel that they are thrown back to the medieval age as the SL55 has a rather outdated display resolution that can give them only 4,095 colors. The operating system may need to be upgraded, as sometimes the 'Select' button did not work as expected. In fact, the device's responsiveness to button pressing is a bit behind the other cellular phones that I have tried out.
The SIM card holder under the battery is fixed to the back of the phone's electronic circuitry and not hinged like most Nokia phones. This makes taking out the SIM card a good exercise of your thumb.
Unfortunately, this will eventually damage the SIM card. Perhaps Siemens can use the SIM card holder like the one in its M35, or use a hinged card cradle like Nokia. Also, if you have an oily cheek, you will have to wipe the face of the phone to keep it clean and shiny. Final word
I would regard the SL55 as a representation of Siemens' fresh attempt to catch up with the industry, which has for some time been flooded by stylish and highly capable mobile phones. The German company may still have to work a bit harder, but if they also listen hard to their customers' wishes -- especially in the area of ergonomics, they will be able to compete with the rest.
The SL55 is definitely not for people whose hands are big enough to hold two slices of Pizza at once. Heavy SMS users should look somewhere else. However, I confess that my wife is among those who appreciate the stylishness and the ultra-compact design. With a selling price still far above the Rp 3 million mark, the SL55 still makes a definite statement about the person who uses it.