| Siemens SL45 |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 |
| Announced | 2000 |
| Status | Discontinued |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 105 X 46 X 17 Mm, 69 Cc |
| Weight | 88 G |
| Display |
| Type | Monochrome Graphic |
| Size | 101 X 80 Pixels, 7 Lines, 24 X 29 Mm |
| | - Navy Key |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Monophonic |
| Amount | 40 |
| Customization | Composer |
| Vibration | Yes |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | 500, 14 Fields Each |
| Call Records | 10 Dialed, 10 Received, 10 Missed Calls |
| Card Slot | Mmc, 32 Mb Card Included, |
| | - 100 Sms Messages |
| Data |
| Gprs | No |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | No |
| Infrared Port | Yes |
| Usb | |
| Features |
| Messaging | Sms |
| Browser | Wap 1.1 |
| Clock | Yes |
| Alarm | Yes |
| Games | 7 |
| Colors | |
| Languages | 20 |
| Camera | No |
| | - Mp3 Player
- T9
- Voice Memo (300 Min)
- Calendar (outlook Synchro)
- Calculator
- Stopwatch
- Reminder List
- Voice Dial
- Comes With Headset And Datacable
- User Profiles |
| Battery |
| | Standard, 540 Mah Li-ion |
| Stand-by | 60 - 170 H |
| Talk Time | 1 - 4 H |
|
Siemens - SL45Dancing with the Siemens SL45
Major Differences
MP3 player
Removable memory card (SanDisk)
Voice functions (commands, dialling, recording)
Dynamic phone book with business card feature
Games
Organiser functions and calculator
T9 predictive text input
Internet access through WAP
Operator logos Problems/Issues?
Upload/download speeds slow
Sales package (should contain):
1 x SL45 handset
1 x SL45 desktop cradle
1 x SL45 application CD-ROM
1 x charger
1 x dual headset with remote control
Overview
It has been a while since I’ve reviewed a phone that boasts certain qualities that make it unique compared to the competition. Maybe it is the fact that it does not belong to one of the big three phone brands (Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia). Maybe it’s because of its unique appearance. Whatever it may be, this phone is just different.
Siemens was not the first manufacturer to come up with a MP3 phone – nor is it the company’s first phone in the market either. But this is the first Siemens phone that I have managed to review so far, and I’ve grown to like it quite a bit.
On top of having very neat packaging (the box that the SL45 came in), the phone itself – with the silvery finishing – has been sized “just right” to fit in the hands of most people. One may notice the closeness of the keypad to the base of the phone – which some may find annoying, or just plain stylish (it’s unique!) Complementing that is the weight of the phone – at 88 grams, it’s again “just right” for the SL45 (being lightest is not always best!)
The SL45 uses an orange backlight to illuminate the large LCD screen displaying up to 5-7 lines (dependent on the size of the font). For those who find displays on most phones hard to read, because of the typeface (or font) used, the SL45 will solve this problem for sure. Reading anything on the screen did not need me to move my hand any closer.
For people who may have used Nokia phones before, trying to get use to how you navigate with the SL45 requires some getting use to. With navigational keys very much similar (apart from the addition of a 4-way button), you may need to swap around how you press “menu” and “names” – because they are on different sides of the screen. Pressing the button wrongly is normal in the beginning. Again, time to get used to a new phone.
One unique feature that I praise is the offering of an online help system – which is something similar to a typical Windows help file. Within each submenu (for example, messages, surf/fun, etc), there is an option to activate the help function at the end of the list of options. This is really useful for people who are trying to get to know the SL45 well.
"Unfortunately, 32MB isn't really all that much - which meant only having a couple of songs on there."
Some of the functionality of this phone includes profiles, programmable ringtones, WAP, games, organiser functions (calculator, calendar, appointments), voice functions (dialling, commands and recording), an MP3 player, and data storage capability through the provided 32MB (megabytes) SanDisk memory card and desktop stand (provided with the sales package). A dynamic phone book is also provided for business card-like entries.
But the highlight of this phone, of course, is the built-in MP3 player. Sound quality was good, where this factor is heavily dependent on the quality of the MP3 file itself. Unfortunately, 32MB isn’t really all that much – which meant only having a couple of songs on there. Trying to work the player was easy and accepting calls on listening to your favourite, and personal, compilation will have the SL45 pause the track and resume it from the same point after finishing up with a call.
Conversations on the phone are not bad also – with both the phone itself and the dual headset (provided for the use of both phone and MP3 player) providing very good audio quality. Talk times achieved on the phone came to approximately 3 hours with around 3-4 days' standby time on average.
Major differences…
"The song will continue to play after your call!"
MP3 player
The SL45 has a built-in MP3 player allowing for a user to upload their favourite music tracks and have them played when you’re ears have nothing better to do! Any calls that come in can still be answered by simply pressing the silver button on the headset, and the song will continue to play after your call. The sound quality is pretty good (based on 128kbps MP3 files) – but 32MB isn’t really all that enough.
Removable memory card (SanDisk)
Thanks to the availability of the memory card slot, a user can use more than one memory card for whatever their needs are. Having a removable memory card means that you can have an increased memory size for some of the phone’s functions – including the MP3 player and storage of phone book entries and messages. In addition, the memory card can also be used to store ringtones and other types of data that can be imported by the phone for its use.
Voice functions (commands, dialling, recording)
The SL45 allows for voice dialling and commands to be set (although there aren’t a lot of commands you can use your voice on!) As for voice recording, the Dictaphone function allows for you to make recordings where it saved onto the removable memory card. The larger the available space on the memory card, the longer recordings can be (not that I would use it much, but some might :)
Dynamic phone book with business card feature
Many new phones are being given phone books that can save entries based on a business card format – that is, allowing for the saving of more than one phone number and possible text entries (for example, home and email addresses). With the addition of being able to use the SIM card to store phone numbers, the SL45 can also utilise the removable memory card’s space to place entries as well.
Games
There are seven (7) games available on the SL45 – and they are not like those ones found on old Nokia phones! Probably there’s at least one that will spark some interest in those who never thought of going to the games menu at all. Have a try if you ever get a good look at the phone!
Organiser functions and calculator
This is one of the most “complete” phones in terms of functionality. The calendar and appointment functions are very detailed – with the calendar allowing for monthly and weekly views, and appointment function allowing for voice memos as well instead of just having a line of text in there.
T9 predictive text input
Typing SMS messages on the SL45 is assisted greatly thanks to the built-in T9 text input method. In addition to being able to type in English faster, other languages can also take advantage of the T9 functionality – thanks to the removable memory card feature that allows for the downloading of individual T9 dictionaries (saved on the memory card, of course). The SL45 is able to keep up with my typing very well – but Nokia phones with T9 still has the fastest response rate in terms of feedback speed.
Internet access through WAP
Thanks to the large LCD screen, the pain of being able to read only tiny parts of a WAP page has been eased. Yes, you can use WAP on the SL45 :)
Operator logos
The SL45 allows for an operator logo to be displayed over the usual network name in text when the phone is in standby mode.
Problems/Issues?
Upload/download speeds slow
"32 MB removable MultiMediaCard"
When you have a 32MB removable memory card that you may need to update often, using the PC’s serial interface to do such data transfers is not the best way to do it because of the speed limitations. Siemens could have supplied the SL45 with a USB-interfaced cradle where this problem would not even exist, and have faster transfer rates allowing for quick and painless updates of files and everyday-swapping of MP3 files (not that I listen to the same thing every single day!) Imagine having a larger memory card in the phone… I don’t want to! :(
In Summary…
For what’s available in the market, the SL45 is one of the best phones that I have seen for quite some time. With the availability of MP3 built into the phone, and a removable memory module allowing for increases in memory size, it has answered to many people’s wishes of a phone promoting a sense of scalability in terms of storage.
Of course functionality alone does not win the “one of the best phones” line from me! The looks of the phone are not too bad – with its very unique design (flat but with curves) and silvery finish. And no, the external antenna is not ugly – but actually makes the phone look “complete”.
If you think the price tag is high, then maybe you should think again. With the phone’s level of functionality and usability, the phone is worth what you put into it. Yes, it may not be the big three brands – but the SL45 has proven that Siemens is heading into a direction that may bring more down-to-Earth products to consumer. I do hope that the SL45 is not the last Siemens phone that I will come to compliment.
And if you still think it’s not worth your buy, looking somewhere else is not going to get you something any closer than this! (at this point in time anyway :) |
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