| Siemens CL50 |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 |
| Announced | 2002, Aug |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 73 X 39 X 22 Mm, 59 Cc |
| Weight | 73 G |
| Display |
| Type | Monochrome Graphic |
| Size | 112 X 64 Pixels |
| | - Dual Screen Display
- Navy Key |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Monophonic |
| Customization | Yes |
| Vibration | Yes |
| | - Personalized Sounds And Pictures |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | |
| Call Records | 10 Dialed, 10 Received, 10 Missed Calls |
| Card Slot | No |
| Data |
| Gprs | No |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | No |
| Infrared Port | No |
| Usb | |
| Features |
| Messaging | Sms, Ems |
| Browser | Wap 1.2.1 |
| Clock | Yes |
| Alarm | Yes |
| Games | Yes |
| Colors | 2 - Champagne, Pearl White |
| Camera | No |
| | - T9
- Organizer |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, Li-ion 600 Mah |
| Stand-by | 220 H |
| Talk Time | 5 H |
|
Siemens - CL50Lustrous with the Siemens CL50/8008
Major features
Miniature clamshell design (with active flap)
Polyphonic ringtones, melody manager and composer
Dual displays - internal and external 4-level greyscale LCDs
WAP over CSD
Profiles and caller group features
Concatenated SMS and EMS messaging support, with archival feature
Wallpaper support and image viewer
Basic organiser features
Quick and fast access keys for commonly-used phone features
“My Menu” - personalised menu feature
Problems/Issues?
Active flap a bit too sensitive
Calls are not concluded when phone menu functions are displayed
Flap does not have open/close “assistance”
Inclusion of a lanyard/neck or hand strap?
Lags in text messaging
Sales package (should contain):
1 x CL50/8008 handset
1 x Li-ion battery @ 600mAh
1 x travel charger
1 x CL50/8008 user manual
Overview
I just don’t think you can find anything smaller than Siemens’ latest dual-band GSM phone, the CL50 (or its Asian market designation, the 8008). It is also the German company’s first handset based on a clamshell design, which I still find to be very stylish since first obtaining it a week ago. Size isn’t what all matters about the CL50 - what’s inside the phone is also as exciting! :)
New/outstanding features
The CL50 comes with a heap of features that you may not find in anything as small. Polyphonic tones and an active clamshell design isn’t anything we haven’t heard of before - but adding the word “smallest” may ring some bells for some! It also comes with customisation features (for example, profiles and caller groups), a quite complete set of organiser features, and some fun applications - including melody composer, games and wallpaper. Yes… all in this small little phone! :)
Physical aspects
Being nearly just half the size of an ME45, the CL50 is definitely a phone you will need to keep your eyes peeled to - especially if you decide to have it sitting on a table in a very packed café or restaurant! You may even have problems feeling it in your shirt or trouser pocket thanks also to its lightweight design.
Not to worry! The decorative hook, located next to the external antenna and service light, allows you to wear the phone around your neck with a lanyard strap. Having the CL50 around your neck is probably the best place to put it! :)
The “Champagne Gold” colour of the CL50 makes it look simply stunning, with every single part of the phone (including battery cover and external antenna) encased within this fine metallic tint. A smooth finish on the overall casing means lesser chance of scratching.
As for actually holding the phone, I found it to be a bit small based on the size of my hands - where I was easily able to wrap my entire hand around the CL50. The phone’s keypad is sized similarly with the one on the ME45/S45 - but lacks the required height (from the casing) which can make it easier to use. Fortunately, it had a good level of tactility.
Take a closer look!
User Interface (UI)
The CL50 incorporates the standard Siemens user interface, which most current Siemens users have come to appreciate. A four-way navigational key is ergonomically situated just below the clamshell hinge. This allows the CL50 to be navigated with maximum comfort, where the index finger assists in securing the phone while in the hand.
Although the screen is physically smaller, resolution has been maintained across the screen but reduced in the number of lines it can display (five on the ME45/S45 versus four on the CL50/8008). But if you don’t agree with me here, check out the bigger menu fonts - which can be activated by choosing the “Big Letters” option under the “Display” menu.
A blue backlight for both displays does help to increase visibility while not being excessively bright, and intelligently fades in and out when the clamshell phone is opened and closed respectively. As with tradition, the keypad area of the CL50 is again illuminated with an orange backlight - alike its M50 relative.
The external display is, to my surprise, also greyscale. This one-line display usually provides current signal reception and battery level as well as the current date/month and time. Should you choose to use the 12-hour clock format, the date will not be shown because the am/pm indicator takes up additional space. Other details - such as profile mode, message and missed call indicators - are also shown on this little display. These indicators will also replace the date part of the display.
Making and receiving calls
Call quality on the CL50 is loud and clear - but it did take some time for me, on each call, to try and position the phone comfortably next to the ear. At the end of the day, we’ll all get used to it one way or the other!
The polyphonic ringtones had more-than-sufficient volume even at level 3 (level 4 is the maximum volume, with ascending volume at level 5). Vibration alert also provided the required discreet alert.
Some quick-access shortcut keys for call handling are available as well. For example, pressing the “volume down” button with the flap closed will result in an incoming call being rejected, while pressing “volume up” with the flap opened answers a call. During standby with the flap opened, the “volume down” button will activate the backlight while “volume up” brings up the profiles list.
Messaging
A host of messaging options are available with the CL50 - including basic SMS text messaging with long text support (up to nine standard-sized SMS messages), and EMS messages (allowing the inclusion of pictures and sounds in addition to just text).
Message indicators in the composition screen provide all the necessary information - including current input mode (tap mode, T9, Chinese stroke, numeric), number of characters remaining for the current message, and the number of standard SMS-es that the entire concatenated message is equal to.
Unfortunately, the flat keypad doesn’t help in making the task of typing a long message any easier or quicker. Go any faster with the T9 on the CL50 and you’ll experience misspelt characters in your sentence! >:)
Build quality
The overall construction of the CL50 was quite solid, with the back battery cover sitting firmly in place and being very easy to remove and replace. A similar level of solidity was found with the phone’s active flap.
SIM card and battery insertion/removal didn’t require much effort either.
Battery life
A small phone does mean smaller batteries, but doesn’t necessarily mean less battery life! One of the great things about clamshell design phones is that the internal screen can be disabled while closed, leaving only the outer LCD and service light to remain activated. This, in turn, will decrease battery consumption. On the other hand, the more interaction you have with the phone, the 600mAh battery will require charging a lot more quickly!
On average use, I was able to get around 3-4 days’ worth of standby and approximately 2-3 hours’ worth of talk time.
Major features...
Miniature clamshell design (with active flap)
Being one of the world’s smallest clamshell-design GSM handsets, the CL50 can fit into virtually any pocket without hesitation (make sure you remember which one you put it in!) Alternatively, attaching a neck strap to the phone and hanging it instead will do just fine as well. The active flap allows for calls to be answered and concluded without any button-pressing whatsoever.
Polyphonic ringtones, melody manager and composer
The CL50 supports polyphonic tones, with melodies having up to 4 instruments playing simultaneously throughout the entire sequence. Such melodies can also be received by the CL50 and handled with the built-in melody manager. A built-in composer allows simple single-tone melodies to be created by its user as well.
Dual displays - internal and external 4-level greyscale LCDs
What’s the good of an active flap without an external display? The one-line LCD on the outside of the CL50 provides updated information to its user (including date/time, battery/reception levels, missed calls and messages waiting) during standby while the clamshell remains closed. Caller ID is displayed on receiving a call. The graphical greyscale screen on the inside provides for the CL50’s other primary functions.
WAP over CSD
A WAP browser is also available on this mini-phone, with the ability to browse at only standard GSM data speeds though (which is 9.6 kbps).
Profiles and caller group features
Similar to Nokia phones with this support, the CL50 can be customised with different phone profiles (to suit different physical environments) and allow phone book entries to be classified into different caller groups. This phone is also compatible with most Nokia caller group “tags” - which means all you need to do is to rename each group on the CL50 to follow suit.
Concatenated SMS and EMS messaging support, with archival feature
The CL50 comes with support for basic SMS messaging (canned, concatenated) as well as EMS, which allows the inclusion of pictures and sounds on top of the basic text.
Wallpaper support and image viewer
More of a fancy function, the CL50 provides support for a graphical background (or wallpaper) on the internal LCD screen. An internal image viewer feature allows previews of these backgrounds.
Basic organiser features
The CL50 comes with several organiser features which are listed under the “Office” sub-menu - including an internal phonebook, calendar, calculator, currency converter, appointments book (scheduler), task list and a feature for important dates (Forget Me Not).
Quick and fast access keys for commonly-used phone features
The CL50 offers some shortcut keys for activating frequently-used commands. With the phone closed, you can enable illumination (to check the external status LCD) and reject incoming calls by pressing the volume up or down keys respectively. Profile changes can also be done by pressing the “volume up” while the phone is opened. Buttons 2-9 on the keypad can be used as “fast access keys” (allowing quick access to specific phone features) or as speed dial buttons instead.
“My Menu” - personalised menu feature
Are you sick of how the menus are categorised and ordered? The “My Menu” feature allows you to build your own menu by choosing from a list of what you find as being more “frequently used”, and laying them out here in this sub-menu. The more you use the phone’s features, the more useful the “My Menu” feature becomes!
Problems/Issues?
Some of you would have your doubts about how good can such a small handset be. Overall, I was pretty happy with what the CL50/8008 had to offer. But maybe, just maybe, if the designers had actually gone away and used the phone for a week or so, some of the following problems or issues may not even be listed below.
Active flap a bit too sensitive
The active flap on the CL50 is extremely sensitive when compared to another similarly-designed phone. On most active flip/folder phones, you would be able to at least open the clam/flip a bit and the phone would not detect this - which is normal. But on the CL50, the slightest movement of the top flap while closed will result in the phone either turning on its backlights or answering a call if one does come in.
If the hinge of the active flap becomes slightly loose from extended opening and closing (wear and tear), the phone may just answer and end the call by itself! I guess that’s why the feature to enable/disable the active flap for calls is there.
Calls are not concluded when phone menu functions are displayed
When any menu function is used during a call, and you decided to end the call without going back to the “call timer” screen, closing the active flap will not conclude the call. Alternatively, you will have to repeatedly press the END button until you reach the “call timer” screen and press it one more time to end the call.
With most other active flip/folder/side phones, closing it during a call will only mean one thing - the conclusion of the call. Something Siemens should look into for their next software/firmware upgrade for the CL50?
Flap does not have open/close “assistance”
This is probably not as big a drama as the above. Probably one of the reasons why the CL50’s folder is called a “flap” is because the opening and closing mechanism doesn’t come with any sort of “assistance”. When I say “assistance”, I am referring to the little help in opening/closing when you move a flip/folder up to a certain point.
For example, flips/folders on phones like the Ericsson T39, Motorola V60 and Samsung SGH-T100 does the remainder of the opening and closing sequence after you’ve moved it only so far.
On the CL50, however, you need to open and close the flap all the way until you feel and hear the “click”, which is usually when it’s either 95% opened or closed. “Why does it have to be like this” is a question in itself!
Inclusion of a lanyard/neck or hand strap?
I don’t think it’s going to cost a lot more to include something like this in the CL50’s sales package! Since the designers of the CL50 decided it was a good idea to include a strap hole at the top of the phone, this would have indicated to some people that it can be worn around their neck.
Given its miniature size and great looks, it’s certainly a great idea… but only if you decide to purchase that neck strap of course!
Lags in text messaging
Don’t you just hate it when the phone can’t seem to keep up with your typing speeds? Well, on the CL50, if you begin to type a bit too fast, you will begin to find weird, misspelt words in your sentences. This is because the T9 input system sometimes “misses” individual keypresses on the CL50 keypad - even though they have been acknowledged by the keypad’s physical “click” sound.
If you’re a fast SMS typist, you will not like this. But if you like the phone, maybe slowing down on your T9 typing speeds will result in less spelling errors… :)
In Summary
Overall, I feel that Siemens have done quite a good job with their first clamshell design mobile phone - but at the same time, it also seems the German manufacturer hasn’t quite put the CL50 to the people in the real world.
Theoretically speaking, the CL50 offers what many people would want from a phone - a list of useful and funky features and being neatly sized. Although usability was quite positive, Siemens may want to improve their “flap” design the next time round, and consider how people carry/wear and use their mobile handsets in today’s environment of rich mobile services. |
| Common misspellings on this brand: si9emens , semens |
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