Oh dear, oh dear oh dear! (Siemens C35e)

Member Name: stephen_logan

Product:	Siemens C35e
Date:	19/01/02 (166 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good menu options

Disadvantages: Bad services, Poor parts

When I got this phone I felt like I had been set free and unleashed into a whole new dimension of communications. However my delight was marred ever so slightly when faults started occurring, more on that later. Aesthetically the phone is fine, a little rounded for my liking but that is by and the by. It is a great size not so small that you loose it everywhere but not so big that it feels like you are carting around a breezeblock with. The phone menu’s and options are satisfactory they have pretty much everything you could ask for in a phone from this period.

HOWEVER…
This is the controversial bit where you guys hurl abuse at me etc. The phone really is of the poorest quality, and the service that you get with it from Siemens is an absolute disgrace. My problems began simply enough; about a month after I purchased it I took off the rather week back case to make sure it was dust free inside, lo and behold the rather frail clip snapped. Not a major problem one would think, but oh no here comes those crazy Siemens and Orange guys to complicate things. I thought to myself, oh deary me I shall have to order another back cover, e-mailed Siemens… “Sorry but we cant help you with that” they told me, they then continued, “you will have to send in the broken phone and we will promptly replace it”. Broken! It is only a tiny little clip; I agree and check how much of it I had to send back, they said “All of it including sim card”. By this point I was a little confused, and after much communication I decided to comply so I could have a phone that worked.

Problem solved, two weeks later I pick up my new phone register it with Orange and ask if they could put back the £47 on the old sim card, big mistake. They were surprised that I even asked this and told me where I could shove it basically. Only after constant abuse (and I mean abuse) did they finally add my old credit. Now surely that is i
t I hear ye cry, but oh no there is still yet more. One of the main reasons for buying a wap phone is to go onto the Internet is it not? So imagine my surprise when I am at work attempting to find out what the Portsmouth score and I get told there is no network and I cannot connect. Oh dear, so I tried it again later with full reception still no joy, I am now a little concerned by this point. I use the good old Orange 450 service that didn’t help much, I was then recommended to send the phone back and get a new one. That was it I decided I would just cut my losses and keep the non-wap phone and just leave it at that. Then comes the final insult, a couple of months ago my screen told me there was a sim card error, not too bad happens frequently enough so I remove the back cover and…Snap! I sat in silent anger for about a minute holding what was once the back clip for my phone. My phone is now the sorriest sight; it has red tape to hold in place the back cover and an Internet option that is long deceased.

That is my experience of the phone, but anyway lets not get stuck on the past. As I said at the beginning it does have some very good options and menu, so here is my rundown of items on the Siemens C35e.

Internet

Well as I have already said my Internet no longer works, but for the brief period that it was with me I found it quite an interesting resource. The wap net basically allows a user to view cut down Internet sites with bits of entertainment. In appearance it is very much like teletext, infact you browse through it very much at the same speed and with the same format. With wap you can do a lot of different things and visit a host of sites; you can see the latest weather reports, keep up to date with the news headlines, read e mails and my own personal favourite, read the latest sports results. I loved the days when I could sneak into the toilet at work in order to find out if Portsmouth have been defeated yet,
the fun we had.

The downside to wap is most certainly the cost factor. Firstly you have to pay 5 – 10p a minute, that isn’t really going to bankrupt you but it is a nuisance having to constantly check your watch to see that you aren’t going over budget. This charge would be fine if the service was fast, but unfortunately with such a tiny modem it often takes some time to connect to the pages. Wap pages are also quite often divided into numerous pages, and when there is a poor navigation option, you can spend ages trying to get to the relevant information. Anyway if you know what you like you can always save it in the favourites section, which is somewhat more direct.

OFFICE AND FUN

This is the section where the bulk of important information is stored. You can gain access to a number of office utilities, and more importantly the games.

-INTERNET
See above report.

-APPOINTMENTS
This allows forgetful people like myself to store the relevant appointments for the day in an easy to access place. A very handy tool indeed.

-CALCULATOR
This pretty much explains itself, but just to clarify the situation this is a device that can perform many of the simple functions that any other calculator can do. Including +, -, divide. But this is a very simple package don’t go expecting this to work out Pythagoras’ theorem.

-CURRENCY CONVERTER
Once again a very self explanatory item, you enter the currency and it’s current trading price save it, and then you are free to convert Euros into yen, and pounds into American dollars. Another extremely useful tool, especially if you import items a lot.

-GAMES
Here is where you get your money’s worth. The Siemens phone comes with some great game titles, including Wayout (a maze game), Reversi (Othello), Quattropoli (connect 4) and Minesweeper. Wayout is quite dull after about ten attempts, but when you f
irst get the handset you will probably believe that it is the single greatest game ever invented. Considering it is on a phone the graphics are surprisingly good, and not to mention fluent. Reversi is a godsend, if I am ever bored and all alone I am always playing this game, it is just so very addictive. Its interest is sustained due to its near impossibility to complete; I think I have probably one about 9 times in a whole year. However if you think that Reversi is hard just try Quattropoli, can a game get any harder? I have literally only ever one once, and that was on the easy level! Minesweeper is exactly the same as you would have on a home P.C, openly boasting its creator’s name (Microsoft), not much I can say about that one really.

Overall there is a great selection of games, almost good enough to rival the Nokia’s selection including snake. It certainly passes the time when you are bored and trying to waste time (otherwise known as a lecture).

-CHRONOMETER
This includes a handy selection of timing devices including an alarm clock, stopwatch and a countdown.

MESSAGES
Well as the title suggests this is indeed the place where you can send and receive your messages. It comes with some odd little features such as business cards, pre set simple answers and some crazy pictures. These pictures are great, but there is one problem, I haven’t yet discovered how the people you send them to get to see the image. I always receive messages from very confused individuals wondering why I sent them a load of digits and numbers.

RECORDS
Here you can check up on all those calls that you have missed, which is about all I can say on the matter,

PROFILES
This is actually where you can set your phone up to a pre designed noise level. These include a quite environment, and loud environment.

AUDIO
If you wish set up your audio so that it is on silent or extremely loud this is the pla
ce to do it. You can also choose which of the Siemens ring tones you wish to grace your phone. Or alternatively you can type in your own codes and use those instead (highly recommended, and try www.mobile-melodies.com/siemens). I almost forgot the other quintessential feature of this phone; in this section you can decide whether or not to have vibrating alert on or off (like anyone is going to switch it off).

TIME/CHARGE
Discover how long your last call was, how long you have called altogether, the amount you were charged and all that type of information here.

DIVERT
Another self-explanatory option, it allows the user to choose if and where they wish to divert their calls. For example you are in a place where reception is poor, so you direct it to another landline, very helpful indeed.

SETUP
One of the more important menu options, it is here where you can choose all those fine details. The options include security settings and phone settings. If you have or are thinking of buying this phone, I am sure that you will end up using this utility on a number of occasions.

PHONEBOOK
This is actually a button on the handset (it is in the top left corner with a picture of a book on it). This is where you store all of your friends and associates numbers. However it does have a few quirky features, including V.I.P positions and faces. The faces are always fun, and done very simply by clicking on the person you wish to have an image of and you assign them a combination of the pre set images, a cheap gimmick but it keeps me amused when people phone me.

That is about it concerning the Siemens C35e, it is undoubtedly a good phone but I believe Siemens and Orange really need to have a major re think. The quality of build is pretty poor, and the services they provide are quite honestly shocking. With the features this phone has it really is a shame about the packaging and the associated company’s.


If you want this phone make sure you get the guarantee and if possible buy it from a specialist retailer. Then if you do encounter problems like I did you won’t be affected quite so badly. Don’t be surprised if everything isn’t perfect though, and I would suggest you try a more popular phone with greater options and parts dealers like the good old Nokia’s.

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