Light, stylish, and sexy! (Siemens C35i)

Member Name: MichaelR

Product:	Siemens C35i
Date:	26/01/01 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small, light, nice shape and size, good speaker

Disadvantages: Short battery life. Nasty WAP browser

Mmmmmm, I love this phone.

The Siemens C35i is just about perfect in every respect.

It fits very well into the hand, it's comfortable to use, even for extended periods of time, it's very, very light, and it is small enough to fit into even the smallest of pockets.

The C35i comes packed with features, as well as all the standard features that you might expect, it has an excellent hierarchical menu system, which is accessed using the two "soft keys" just below the display. These keys are also used for navigation when browsing WAP services.

There's T9 predictive typing for text messages, although I have to say that I prefer to use manual entry, which is simple enough to turn on, there's also a very useful time/charge feature that allows you to work out how much your calls are costing you so that you don't get a shock when your bill comes in!

The phone also comes with a huge choice of ringtones, (plus you can compose your own) a few games, an organiser, calculator, currency converter, and an extensive on-line help file that may be accessed from almost any point within the menu system.

It's dual band, meaning that you can use it on GSM networks abroad, and it also has full fax and data support should you want to hook it up to a laptop.

The main things that I like about the phone apart from it's size, weight, and shape, are the fact that it has a ringer that will go very loud, and you can set up profiles so that the volume can be easily adjusted for different situations, for example, you can have one profile for a noisy environment, and one for a loud environment etc.

The vibration function is also good if you don't wish for the phone to ring at all.

The best thing about the C35i though has to be the loud, crisp, clear speaker. I have never before had a mobile that allowed you to hear the person on the other end so clearly.

The main thing goi
ng against it for me is the WAP browser. I found it very hard to navigate anything other than the home portal set by the network, as the actual address entry screen is hidden away, and is pretty inaccessible. It should be one of the first things that is presented when you connect to the net, but it's not.

I also find that the battery drains very quickly when the phone is in use, but then this is the case with many phone this small that use a standard NiMH battery.

It's expensive at £199, but well worth the money, and a good alternative to the Nokia.

If you sign a contract with any of the major networks though, then you can get this phone for free, or at least very, very cheap.

I got mine for free after signing a 12 month contract with BT Cellnet, and I have to say that so far I am very pleased with both the phone and the network.

Summary: