Siemens SL45 GSM phone review

To say that this is just a mobile phone, the language does not turn. In fact, we have an MP3 player, a full-fledged digital voice recorder, an organizer that is "friends" with Outlook, a portable storage medium, and plus a GSM 900/1800 phone. And all this in a compact, sleek aluminum case. However, let's go in order.

Contents of delivery

The SL45 comes in a translucent plastic box. Opening it, we find the following inside:

• phone itself with installed MultiMediaCard 32 MB
• standard Li-ion battery 540 mAh
• Charger
• instructions in various languages
• a brief brochure with a list of the main functions
• software CD
• stereo headphones with microphone and button
• "crib" for charging and connecting to a PC
• cable for connection to COM port

The set is great, everything you need is there. The instructions are well written, and the short brochure will appeal to those who don't like to read long descriptions.

Headphones can be used as hands-free for listening to MP3, voice dialing or voice commands activate the player and voice recorder. If you have an MP3 box playing and an incoming call comes in, the music is muted and the headphones can be used for a conversation.

On the clothespin where the microphone and the control button are located, there is a headphone mount, and if you fix one of the headphones there, you get a traditional handsfree for one ear. And if you are tired of listening to music, you can fix both headphones, then they will not hang out. Smart decision. The only omission: there is no volume and rewind control on the clothespin. However, this does not cause any particular inconvenience.

The crib, or cradle, has two connectors. One for charging, the other for communication with the PC. Communication with a computer is possible only when the charger is connected. You can charge both in the crib and by connecting the charger directly to the phone. The charger itself is small and handy. You can easily take it with you. A full battery charge takes about two hours.

On the disk you can find software for connecting to a computer, for synchronizing with Outlook, and all documentation in electronic form.

"Look and Feel"

We take the phone out of the box. The stylish front panel and keyboard are made of smooth, pleasant to the touch aluminum. The back panel, which is also a battery cover, is made of plastic. The build quality does not cause any complaints: metal is metal.

The antenna is small, in fact it is part of the case. It is impossible to accidentally break it, and it does not cause inconvenience. The SIM card is fixed by the protrusions of the case on one side and a spring-loaded latch on the other. Simple yet robust design.

The phone fits comfortably in the hand, but working with the keyboard, especially with the bottom row, is somewhat difficult. On the contrary, it is a pleasure to work with control keys.

What I liked the most was the location of the control buttons. The layout is reminiscent of older Nokia models. Working with this phone is much more pleasant than with the indistinct four rubber buttons of the S35i.

The scroll button has four positions. Pressing down - and you find yourself in the phone book, right - in the menu. You can also use only the scroll button to select menu sub-items. Very comfortably. The buttons are pressed clearly and have tactile feedback. One of the two control buttons can be set to any frequently used function. To lock the keyboard, press and hold the bottom right button. Auto-lock is also possible.

On the left side of the phone there are buttons for turning on the voice recorder, MP3 player and a double button for volume control. On the right, you can find the IR port window.

In general, it's nice that Siemens has chosen such a layout for their new models. As a Nokia user, I was annoyed by the layouts of the younger Siemens models. But SL45, on the contrary, seemed even more convenient to use than Nokia 6210.

Dimensions, weight, battery

The phone is stuffed with a lot of different "bells and whistles", but, nevertheless, even taking into account the metal case, its weight is only 88 grams. The dimensions are no less impressive: 105 × 46 × 17 mm. Such a phone should be kept in a shirt or trousers pocket. In the front pocket, you generally forget about it. Putting a cover on this "work of art" is blasphemy.

The standard Li-ion battery has a capacity of 540 mAh. Claimed standby time is 60-170 hours, talk time is 60-240 minutes. In reality, with a moderate load, the phone works for two days, with active use - one day. Since the battery is Li-ion, the phone can be recharged at least all the time, without waiting for complete discharge.

MultiMediaCard

The main feature of the SL45 is support for MultiMediaCard. In fact, this is a compact size flash card. The standard delivery includes a 32 MB card, and as an upgrade it is possible to install a 64 MB card. By the way, exactly the same cards are used in PDA Palm m500 and m505.

The best part is that the phone can work without a card. In this case, naturally, the voice recorder and MP3 player will not be available. In addition, the standard address book automatically switches to the book in the SIM card. On the left side of the case there is a hole through which any sharp object such as an unfolded paper clip can be used to remove the card.

The card stores various system and user files. These are interface languages, bases for T9 predictive text input, start animations, address book, SMS archive, voice recorder recordings, MP3 music and even a complete manual for the phone in PDF format in case paper is not at hand!

Connecting to a computer

The supplied cot is used for connection, and a standard serial port (COM) is used for data exchange. In addition, there is an infrared port for the same purpose. The driver installs very smoothly even under Windows2000. After installation, a new removable Mobile device appears in My Computer. By clicking on it, we see the contents of the MultiMediaCard.

Now, to record, for example, a song to MP3, you only need to drag the file to the MP3 folder. Nothing prevents you from creating your own folder and writing down anything you like there. That is, this phone may well cope with the transfer of small amounts of information.

It should be noted that the file on the card cannot be opened immediately, it must first be copied to the hard disk. In addition, another button is added to the standard Explorer window, which allows you to convert files from the voice recorder format to WAV and convert SMS to plain text on the fly.

What barrel of honey does without a fly in the ointment? A fly in the ointment in our case will be a slow data transfer rate, which rather spoils the impression. Writing and reading large files is an exercise for the patient.

The kit includes the Siemens QuickSync application, which synchronizes the phone with Microsoft Outlook. How it works and how the Russian language is supported, unfortunately, I could not check.

Screen

The screen in this phone is large, has a high contrast and can display up to 7 lines of text. The entire built-in hint system is made in the form of hypertext and is somewhat reminiscent of working with WAP. Using it, I think, like WAP "ohm, will be quite convenient due to the large amount of information displayed. The amber-colored backlight turns off smoothly when turned off. There is nothing to complain about here.

Menu

After pressing the “hang up” button, a splash screen with dolphins and an animation with a radar are shown for some time, symbolizing the search for a network, which, by the way, does not take much time.

After turning on the phone, without asking anyone, it overtook all the numbers from the SIM to its memory. As it turned out later, not even in my memory, but on a MultiMediaCard card. The phone book, I must say, is decent, since the amount of memory on the card allows. In total, you can store up to 500 addresses with 14 record fields each. You can add mobile, work, home phone, e-mail address, postal address and a bunch of other things.

The menu can be accessed either by pressing the control button, or by pressing "right" on the scroll button. You can also go to sub-items either with the control button or by scrolling.

The menu organization system is a multi-level hierarchical structure. Compared to Nokia, the menu is somewhat more confusing. You can enable the so-called quick menu. In this mode, only the most used commands will be displayed, which can be quickly accessed using the number keys. The only drawback is that the button on the numeric keypad corresponding to this function is not displayed on the screen. There is also a mode in which an icon and a caption will be displayed on each menu screen, like in Nokia.

Connection quality

The sound quality is subjectively quite decent. The volume of the speaker is enough, but a small margin would still not hurt. The sensitivity of the device is also quite good. At least there were no problems within the city limits. There is a connector for an external antenna, which allows you to use the phone with the car kit.

Dictaphone and answering machine

Unlike many phones, in which the recording of a few seconds of voice is called a voice recorder, Siemens SL45 offers a truly complete solution. The recording time is limited only by the amount of free space on the MultiMediaCard (one hour is about 1200 KB). Sound is recorded both during a call and in standby mode.

Often, during a conversation, you are dictated a phone number or address. It is not always possible to find on what and with what to write. In our case, you can simply press one of the side buttons and record the conversation. Then, in a calm atmosphere, listen and transfer the information to another medium. Or another situation: you negotiate with someone on the phone, or you, God forbid, of course, are threatened - the recording can serve as evidence or evidence.

The mode of the voice recorder itself is also convenient: you can record a lecture, an interview, a presentation, an excursion. Moreover, transferring sound to a computer is extremely simple. If the conversion mode is enabled, then by copying the file with the recording of the recorder to disk, you will get a regular WAV that can be played on anything. By the way, the demo London City Guide lasting 40 minutes is already recorded on the card.

As for the answering machine mode, it is nothing more than a voice box implemented by the phone. A thing that is useful if incoming calls to the phone are free, as it allows you to save on checking your voice box. The only limitation is that for the answering machine to work, the phone must be in the service area.

MP3 player

As already noted, the phone has the ability to play music in MP3 format. The card comes with several songs that you can immediately listen to. The instructions say that files can be written to the card, but cannot be copied back to the computer. It's strange, but both worked without problems for me.

The quality of music playback is like that of a traditional MP3 player. However, with a standard 32 MB card, there is still not enough space. The fact is that a lot of service files are stored on the card, and at the time of purchase only 16 MB remain free. You can clean up the map by removing everything you don't need, such as demos and language sets.

The second unpleasant moment is the low speed of downloading information to the phone. A file with one minute of music in stereo 128 kbps took about 3.5 minutes to download! In addition, if you get a call during the download, you will have to start all over again. Perhaps this is the only drawback of the SL45. So if you're hoping to use this phone as a full-fledged MP3 player, you'll be disappointed.

Organizer

Thanks to the large screen, using the organizer is quite convenient. The calendar can be viewed in month or week view. In the month mode, the picture resembles a regular calendar, in the week mode, the timeline shows the events scheduled for this week. Any event can be set to a certain frequency, say, a week, a month, a year, or certain days of the week.

The function of a business card seemed convenient. By entering your contact details, you can easily send them to another cell phone or PDA via the IR port.

Sound and vibrating alert

Nothing out of the ordinary here. 39 call options plus 3 own melodies, as well as what is recorded on the MultiMediaCard. After ringing in Nokia phones, Siemens SL45 melodies seem somewhat dull and monotonous. However, nothing prevents you from writing your own melody. The call is not very loud, but sufficient. An interesting point: all melodies in the phone are stored in MIDI format.

Vibrating alert on a medium power phone. Feels good in a jeans or shirt pocket. In clothes made of denser material - worse. In addition to vibration, the work of the vibration motor is clearly audible.

SMS

For phones of this class, support for T9 predictive text input is standard. In addition, there are custom message templates. The good news is that a lot of messages can be saved in the phone's flash card. Works receiving messages in Russian.

As in the case of calls, T9 databases are stored in separate files, and if desired, they can be supplemented or updated. By the way, the T9 developer company, Tegic, has already made support for the Russian language in this system.

Games

There are as many as 6 games in the phone, and they are either logical, like Reversi, or two-dimensional labyrinths with a face running through them. Nothing extraordinary. In my opinion, the 3D maze and the well-known Minesweeper look more playable in the C35.

Stopwatch, calculator, currency converter

The stopwatch can remember intermediate values ​​and work in the background. There is also a countdown timer. The calculator performs all basic mathematical operations and converts the currency.

findings

Perhaps today it is one of the most advanced phones on the market. Not yet a smartphone, but no longer just a phone. The ability to play MP3, MultiMediaCard, a full-fledged voice recorder, a metal case and rich equipment make Siemens SL45 very attractive. The only drawback noted is the low data transfer rate, which makes it difficult to use the phone as a full-fledged MP3 player. Yes, one more “small” detail is the price of this device. However, it is quite consistent with the level of Siemens SL45.

Siemens ceases production of mobile phones. The corresponding division came under the wing of BenQ, was donated by the parent company. One of the latest products from Siemens is the Siemens SL75. This development was entirely created within the company, like the S75, of which it is a copy in a different form factor. Ever since the 55th series, the company has been introducing paired models - a business solution in the S series and its copy in the form of a slider in the SL series. The difference is always described by the reduced functionality of the SL-series, it is not intended to compete with its own products, this is a fashion solution.

The design of the SL-series has traditionally attracted attention, devices with this index have won many awards. They did not bypass the first representative of the sliders - Siemens SL55. Most of the girls chose this device solely due to the design, not paying attention to the functional component, the very poor quality of polyphony and the screen. The replication of various "limited" series of SL55 for various fashion houses has also raised the popularity of this device in the target audience. But the success of the model was very modest, although competing solutions appeared later, they sold much more successfully.

The next step was to increase the functionality, and already in the 65-series we see a better screen, more memory and the lack of support for mp3 files, which was necessary for the target audience. The increased size of the case, the presence of competitors from Samsung did not make this device noticeable, it had very modest sales. But even against the backdrop of the developing crisis, they were sufficient for Siemens. The accumulated experience and the wave of negative reviews made the company pay close attention to the mechanical part of the future device. It took Siemens engineers two generations of sliders to perfect the technology. Siemens SL75 embodied all the developments from the standpoint of design and mechanics. This slider is great.

The size of the device is 92x48x23 mm, while Siemens SL65 had dimensions of 90.2x47.6x20.9 mm. It would seem that the increased height of the case and a slight decrease in thickness should not affect the perception of the device, but in reality everything is not so. Designers used lacquered plastic along with a light edging around the case (silver insert). Available in three colors - black, silver and white (Black, Pure Silver, Polar White).

The black color of the body looks the most advantageous, but it is also the most easily soiled, there are clearly visible handprints on the plastic. The quality of the plastic is high, but it is relatively soft, quickly covered with a network of small scratches. They do not affect the perception of the device in any way, in order to see such scratches one has to look closely or specifically look for them.

The body of the phone was made rounded, while it does not resemble the sleek forms of Korean phones, does not evoke thoughts of clamshells. It is the curvature of the front panel, a competent combination of various elements and edging that made it possible to achieve visual lightness of the device, it does not look heavy, massive.

In the hands of the model is extremely comfortable, fits the width of the average palm. At the same time, the automatic finishing mechanism in this device is one of the best on the market. The halves slide relative to each other with ease, but when closed, accidental opening is impossible due to the latch. You can literally open the device with just one finger, and it doesn't matter where you apply the effort: you can move both the side and place your finger under the screen, on the screen (the latter is not recommended, because the screen gets dirty mercilessly from such touches).

The weight of the device is 99 grams, which is quite acceptable for such a phone, there are no problems here. Considering that the model is aimed at a female audience, it can be considered relatively large for wearing around the neck, but there is a place for a lace. For men, this device is less suitable, not the same aesthetics, although up to 30 percent of buyers will be men.

The side keys are made large, they are extremely comfortable to use, although they do not have a large amplitude when pressed. On the left side are the Camera, Push to Talk buttons, and on the right are two volume buttons. At the bottom, there is traditionally an interface connector, it is standard.

The screen in this model is no different from that in Siemens S75. The display has a diagonal of 1.8 inches, a resolution of 132x176 pixels and displays up to 262,000 colors. Up to 7 lines of text and up to 3 service lines fit on the screen. The quality of the picture is average, it cannot be called terrifying, but there are no advantages as such. Behavior in the sun is traditionally good, the picture is visible even in direct sunlight. In general, we have a relatively tolerant screen, which is not very typical for fashion products. For them, today the resolution of 240x320 pixels is becoming the norm, and for a year already the resolution of 176x220 pixels has been traditional.

The soft keys of the device are small and not everyone will like it, at the same time the navigation key is very convenient, protrudes above the surface, has clear edges. Under the call and hang up keys is a music button, as well as the "My Menu" key.

Opening the device, you will see a numeric keypad, it is silver. The keys are closely adjacent to each other, but they are made in relief, have a curve in the upper part. Thanks to this solution, when pressed, there is a good stroke of the keys, the pressing itself is soft. It is very pleasant to work with the keyboard, it causes sincere delight. The first row of buttons is made so high quality that the upper half of the device does not interfere, even the owners of large hands will like the device. Keyboard backlighting is white and uneven, some keys are less well lit (eg key 3). On the other hand, in complete darkness there is not much difference, all the symbols are read well. In the localized version, symbols of two alphabets are applied to the buttons.

Two screws are visible on the back of the slider in the open state; they have long become a distinguishing feature of Siemens devices in this form factor, a kind of mark. On the back surface you can see a large insert in the form of a mirror, it is constantly stained, no matter how you wear the device. Above is the window of a 1.3 megapixel camera. This is a CMOS-matrix typical for the 75-series from Siemens, that is, a module of average quality. There is also a "flash" window.

The back panel hides the battery compartment, it has no backlash, but it is extremely difficult to open it. The latch is small in size, you need to press it and open the panel at the same time. Considering that the device is not equipped with memory cards, and the owners will probably not need to constantly change SIM cards, this design feature cannot be considered a disadvantage.

The phone has a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 750 mAh. According to the manufacturer, it can provide up to 300 hours of standby time and up to 5 hours of talk time. On average, in the conditions of Moscow networks, the device worked for about 3 days with 30 minutes of calls and minimal use of other functions. Permanently activated Bluetooth reduces the operating time to two days. Those who lead an active lifestyle and talk more than one hour a day will recharge the device every night. Full charge time is about 1.5 hours.

Menu

The model is an exact copy of the Siemens S75, the differences include the absence of a memory card, but the presence of 58.5 MB of memory in the device itself. Also, for consumers of this device, the presence of an infrared port was considered unnecessary. The menu organization is typical for Siemens phones. In the main menu you see 12 simple icons, they are uncomplicated, although they differ for the better from the same 65-series, where their quality was below any criticism. Traditionally, calling a particular function or dialing a number can be assigned to the numeric keys. You can call the main menu item even without resorting to numeric sequences, they all correspond to the keyboard buttons, including the hash and asterisk.

It is possible to activate an increased font size, then the screen will have only one item of the main menu and a caption to it. This version of the presentation is not popular among users.

Text input causes no problems, the device supports T9 dictionaries, fast switching between languages ​​during typing.

In this model, the interface has received a logical development, the emphasis has been placed on the creation of bookmarks, especially for functions burdened by a large number of fields. This made it possible to logically arrange similar fields and group them. For example, the event log, which displays all missed calls, messages, missed reminders, alarms, received files, has corresponding bookmarks. That is, now there is no need to search for the latest events, they can be viewed compactly in one place, plus there is a breakdown into groups.

Phone book. The phone memory is shared dynamically among all applications, but there is a limit of 1000 names for the phone book. For one name, you can record data such as last name and first name, nickname (display name), main phone, work, mobile, two fax numbers, two postal addresses, link, company name, address (city, street, postal code, country ), IM. In addition to these fields, it is possible to enter a date of birth, turn on a warning about it. Plus, any name in the phone book can be associated with any graphic file (both a photograph and just a picture). From the video viewing menu it is possible to assign a name to the video, this option is not available from the phone book.

For each name, 22 fields with information are available for entering. It is clear that a reorganization of the phone book view was required. It happened due to the appearance of bookmarks. On the first one, you enter basic information about the contact, mostly phone numbers. A nice little thing is the ability to separately specify how the name, a kind of nickname, will be displayed in the general list. An important point is that in addition to a personal melody, you can also specify your own message signal for an individual subscriber.

The second tab is private information. Here you specify the address, website, postal address and the like.

The next tab is personal information, such as birthday and birthday alert settings.

The last tab is related to IM, here you can see the nickname and address of the subscriber, his current status.

Bookmarks are also used in the general list, you can see the entire list or go to groups of subscribers. It is possible to create your own groups, change the settings of existing ones (picture and ringtone). The personal ringtone always replaces the group ringtone. Several bookmarks are responsible for displaying additional information, such as online status.

In the general list, there is a search for a name by several letters, there are no complaints about it. There is no voice dialing in the device.

In the bottom line, we have a good number of fields in the phone book, good synchronization with MS Outlook. This is all that characterizes business devices. Changes compared to other models are pleasant. The impression is somewhat spoiled by the fact that during a call the subscriber's photo is shown in a panoramic view, its proportions change. This is extremely unpleasant and crosses out the very existence of such a function.

When you select a subscriber and press the send call key, a list with all numbers appears, you can select the one you need. Everything is extremely simple and clear.

Messages. Up to 100 messages can be stored in the phone's memory. Again, memory is allocated dynamically, so keep that in mind. The general list displays both messages from the phone memory and the SIM card, the latter are marked with the corresponding icon. You can create message templates, separate folders. A list of emoticons has appeared, they can be easily inserted into the message, however, they are immediately converted to text format, they are not presented in graphics.

The phone has MMS, the settings are quite simple. The message size limit is 295 Kb, which is typical for modern phones. Previously, Siemens devices supported sending messages up to 1 MB, now this is not the case.

The mail client supports up to 4 accounts, its capabilities are similar to those in other models from Siemens. Russian encodings, as usual, are not fully supported, you will have to carefully choose a mail server with message conversion installed.

The phone has the ability to create your own templates or, if you like, text blanks for all occasions. In terms of messaging, the phone is not bad, it is at the level of the best models. A nice additional feature is the choice of font size when viewing messages (standard, large and small). You have freedom of choice.

Call lists. The last 100 dialed, 100 received and 100 missed calls are stored in the phone's memory, time and date are indicated for each entry, and you can also view the duration of the call. Calls from one number are not summed up, they go in separate records. For numbers stored in the phone book, the number type is indicated.

Options. This menu contains a large number of different settings, we will consider them all separately.

Profiles. Traditionally, you can configure how the phone will behave in various conditions (vibration, ringtones, etc.). It is possible to copy all settings from one profile to another. This is a nice little thing when you need to change one or two parameters from an already configured profile. In each profile, you can configure the barring of incoming calls for certain groups of subscribers or, conversely, for those who are not represented in them.

Vibration. Select one of 6 vibrating alert patterns for sections such as Calls, Messages, Alarm clock.

Themes. Depending on the chosen theme, the design of the menu changes, its color scheme, wallpaper pattern, and even, possibly, the icons of the main menu (in the default themes, the icons do not change). Installing a theme takes between 15 and 30 seconds. The downside is that there is no preview of the selected theme, you have to install it anyway to see it. The theme format has changed compared to other models of the company, only themes from S75 are suitable here.

Melodies. Choice of melodies for calls and other events.

Bluetooth is enabled from the same menu, the settings are quite simple. The device supports the A2DP profile, which allows you to transmit audio to stereo Bluetooth headphones. In the absence of a large amount of memory for mp3 compositions, the need for this will not arise often. The speed of file transfer via Bluetooth does not exceed 20 Kb per second, this is the maximum speed. On average, the values, depending on the connected device, will be from 14 to 18 KB.

Display. Wallpaper settings, animation when turning on or off the phone. The font size is also configurable here.

EGPRS. Actually, exactly the same settings as for GPRS, you can view the amount of transmitted data.

Key customization– you can reassign functions on soft keys, navigation key. Plus there is a choice of numbers or functions for the number buttons.

The device has an auto-off timer function.

In the Settings section there is a license manager, it appeared due to the support of DRM content by the phone.

It is curious that the Memory Assistant, located in this menu, indicates the presence of a memory card and constantly says that it is not installed. A clear tail from Siemens S75, clearly showing the quality of software development.

File System. A utility for viewing the contents of the machine's memory reserved for user data. You can create your own folders, move the contents of existing folders, change the display (list or icons with graphics preview). The phone can be easily used as a data carrier, it is enough to transfer any file (any format) to it.

Organizer. The calendar itself is traditionally organized, there is a monthly view, you can switch to weekly view with an hourly grid display or to a daily schedule. Separate menu items allow you to view all events of a certain type, for example, appointments, notes, reminders. In total, up to 1000 events can be stored in the organizer's memory.

Events can be recurring or one-time, there is a setting to display all fields when entering an event or only individual ones. A voice note can also act as a reminder. Recurring events have been significantly improved, in particular, you can use various conditions, for example, set the number of repetitions before a certain date or under a certain condition. This is a small step forward, which will be of great interest to business users.

There is a separate list of tasks, here you can assign not only a day, but also a warning. It is possible to evaluate the task on a 5-point scale.

Sticky notes are the perfect way to enter a small text message. The note can be public or private. In the second case, in order to read it, you will have to enter the phone code.

From the organizer menu, you can see the world time in major cities, a handy feature. There is also a voice recorder, the duration and number of recordings is limited only by the free space in the phone's memory. By default, this is about 99 hours. Unfortunately, it was not possible to achieve this function during a call, the device reports that the function is not available.

My stuff. All programs and files are contained in their folders. Everything is structured and easy to understand. There are two types of folder representation: as a list or as small icons. For photographs, the second type of display is preferred. Unfortunately, all standard folders look the same in the second type of display, which creates some confusion, you have to look at the captions at the top. A separate line provides access to multimedia card data, you can create your own folders, sort files as you like, move them.

Alarm. It can be single in the device or set on certain days of the week.

extras. Recording sounds is an analogue of a voice recorder, only from here you can set the recording in the form of a ringtone.

Calculator- in addition to the usual functions, it is possible to store intermediate measurement results (memory function), the calculator is convenient. There is also an extended version.

Converter different units of measurement, everything is simple and functional.

Stopwatch allows you to get intermediate points. The phone also has a countdown timer. Preset events have been added to the timer, for example, cooking rice, this is 20 minutes by default, for an egg - 5 minutes. An extremely simple and convenient function that can introduce many young people to the basics of cooking.

fun&surf. The wap-browser version 2.0 is located here, the browser settings are slightly higher than the standard ones. It's easy to add new bookmarks, the large screen makes it easy to navigate through various resources.

Applications. A large number of applications are included as standard, adding value to the phone.

photo editor is a utility for editing your files. The new version of this utility allows not only editing files, adding captions to them, rotating them, but also morphing two pictures, adding special effects. A very interesting program at the moment, still running slowly.

Survival Dictionary- a dictionary or, more precisely, a phrasebook with the most common phrases. Supports translation from English to German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French. For a Russian user who may need such a utility, it is not very useful. Transcription of pronunciation for obvious reasons is not given.

Emergency Phone Book- a notebook with emergency phone numbers for various countries, the country code is immediately indicated.

CityPicks is a travel guide created in collaboration with Lonely Planet. For the selected city, you can see a brief description of attractions, select the addresses of restaurants, shops, and the like.

Download Assistant. The app helps you download new content to your phone.

Golf Scorecard is an application that will appeal to those who play golf. Allows you to document each game, keep statistics.

Games. The phone has three games: Sea battle (sea battle), Wappo 2 (logic game) and Golf.

Media. This is where the player is hiding. There are four tabs in the main window. In the first one, you can set the display of files in the player's menu (in the form of a general list or by album). The second tab is used to create and edit playlists. Restriction - the Cyrillic alphabet is not supported in the composition name. Equalizer missing. In the work of the player, "smart" control functions can be traced. If you make a call while the player is working, then the music playback is interrupted for the duration of the conversation. After the end of the conversation, playback is restored automatically, and the composition continues from the point of interruption, and not from the beginning, as was the case in other phones of the 75 series. With incoming calls, everything is the same. The third tab is images, and the last one contains video files. Their full-screen playback (landscape orientation) is supported.

Camera. The phone uses a 1.3 megapixel matrix, which completely coincides in characteristics with the CX75/M75 devices (CMOS module). The maximum image resolution is 1280x1024. The average size of a snapshot is 250-330 Kb. On the phone screen, they do not look very impressive, but on the PC they look quite decent. The camera can operate in digital zoom mode with a fivefold zoom. At the maximum approximation, the size of the image is reduced to 110-150 Kb, and the sharpness of the image drops noticeably. At the maximum resolution, sepia, grayscale, green, orange, magenta are available from the effects. When the resolution is reduced, a bas-relief is added to the effects. White balance has three setting profiles - automatic, outdoor and indoor. There is a choice of night mode and a flash setting. One has to guess about the resolution of the file by the name, since once again the designations that do not carry a special semantic load are used - maximum (1280x1024), high (640x480), normal (320x240), low (160x120), background image (132x176). Caller ID pictures are taken in the lowest quality mode by default. You can view the image quality only through the file attributes.

There are no multi-shooting modes. The device is not intended for shooting fast-moving objects - the shutter time is too long and the recording speed is low.

how long have you had this phone?

Already three years.

Do you use it until now? If not, why did you break up with him?

I do not use it, it has been lying idle on the shelf for a long time. It broke down - even when the battery is fully charged, it says that it is discharged. The shop said there were no problems. Replacing the battery did not fix the problem.

How did you get this phone? By what criteria was it chosen?

It was my first phone. Then I still didn’t understand them at all, so I didn’t have a list of criteria. But there was not a big budget at all - 1500 rubles. I bought it for a large screen for those times, an MP3 player, as well as a stylish design. On the Tushinsky market in Moscow, second-hand. The set included a phone with a 32 MB flash card, a stereo (!) Headset and instructions printed on A4 sheets folded in half on an amateur printer and stapled with a stapler ☺ . Unfortunately, I forgot it on the train on my way home.

What do you like? Strengths of the phone, advantages.

This phone is legendary. It has a stylish design, very beautiful and ergonomic, you can't help but like it. The amber backlight of the display does not irritate the eyes, like green on the then popular Nokia 3310 phone, and warm, unlike white on, for example, Philips 330. The backlight is very pleasing to the eye. The screen is clear and contrasty.

The keyboard is beyond praise! The buttons are convex, separated from each other, pressed clearly, not very easy, but not difficult, with a pronounced click. Accidental clicks are excluded. Misses, too. The joystick, or rather, the four-position key is also very convenient. The buttons are smooth, with a metal coating, but thanks to their relief, the fingers do not slip when pressed. The soft keys are just as convenient, thanks to their specific shape, as are the call acceptance and end call keys. In my opinion, the keyboard is superior in convenience even to Nokia 6630. There are 3 buttons on the left side - the start button of the voice recorder, the start / pause button of the MP3 player and the paired volume control key, with a long press on the "+" the phone switches to the voice command receiving mode.

The phone also has a voice recorder. It can record sound in VMO format for as long as there is enough memory on the flash drive.

The phone has an MP3 player with support for stereo sound in the headset! The sound is transmitted qualitatively, the maximum bitrate is 128 kbps, the volume is high, the quality is good. Not all modern phones can play MP3 files with the same quality. Playlists are supported. There is a simple equalizer, play queue settings - take turns, randomly, or repeat the same song constantly.

The phone uses flash memory, MMC form factor, with support for hot-swap memory cards! The card is inserted into a special plastic cartridge, which acts only as a "bearing structure" in order for the card to stand in its place, and that's it. In order to get it, you just need to press a small point on the left side of the phone with a ballpoint pen or any sharp object, pushing the cartridge with the card out. Holders of strong nails can remove it by picking up the cartridge from the right side of the phone with a fingernail. Tested work with a 256 MB card - everything works stably.

Communication capabilities - GPRS, IrDA, data-cable (COM-port). Using GPRS from a computer can be done both via a data cable and via an infrared port.

The interlocutor's voice is transmitted well, without distortion and loud enough. The phone has a very interesting "secret word" function, which is set in the same way as voice commands. When you are talking on the phone, the phone listens attentively to you, and when it hears the secret word, it turns on the voice recorder ☺ .

Also a big plus is the ability to use the phone without a SIM card. All functions are available, except for calls and sending messages, of course.

Siemens SL42 is easy to reflash, any owner of the phone can do it with a data cable, the necessary software and direct hands ☺ . I installed the latest firmware on it - 56 from SL45i. Since they do not differ in filling, with the exception of a brighter backlight for the 45th model, the firmware fit perfectly - this opened up the possibility of using Java applications and games. Also, after installing the corresponding MIDlet, there was support for Russian tags in song titles. This phone is an experimenter's paradise.

What's not to like? Weaknesses, shortcomings.

It has few shortcomings - slow modem speed, lack of polyphony, a simple monophonic speaker, so MP3s can only be listened to with headphones. The speaker, however, does its job well. Vibrate too, although a bit weak. Only one connector - universal. Therefore, you cannot use the headset and charge the phone at the same time, but you can charge it via a data cable. It turns off and on on the "hang up" button, so there have been cases of accidental shutdown. Not very good signal reception.

What phone features do you use frequently?

Rather, I do not "use", but "used" - an MP3 player, SMS, calls, games.

What phone features do you use occasionally?

Dictaphone, organizer, converter, etc.

Have you had your phone repaired?