It's like the S65, but American. Larry Garfield looks at a pre-release version of the Siemens S66, coming soon to an American market near you.
Siemens is bringing some of its more successful European models to the United States, beginning with the high-end Siemens S65 under the Americanized name S66. On the whole, they've chosen a good model to import, too.
The S66 is a comfortably small and light candybar phone, weighing 99 grams, a bit more than average but not too heavy. The tapered bottom and groves down the sides of the gray plastic casing allow the phone to rest comfortably in the hand. The front is dominated by the large 16-bit color TFT display that is bright and attractive. The gray and silver design and large ear grille give the phone a very "future techno" feel, which will no doubt appeal to some and alienate others.
The keys on the S66 are clear plastic with a very welcome white backlight that makes night usage a breeze. Although not the best we've seen they are better than average, with good feedback and blind-dial friendly, thanks to a generally conventional layout. The 5-way directional joystick is not sharp so it is comfortable to use, although the edges are a bit difficult to get good traction on. There is also a Browser button tucked under the joystick to activate Internet functionality, although as it is so close we're concerned about it being hit by accident during intensive gaming sessions. A rocker on the right side serves as a volume control as well as voice-dial trigger.
 | | Siemens S66 |
The back of the S66 includes a no-flash, no-mirror 1.3 megapixel camera with 5-step digital zoom. The pre-release version we used worked well enough, but still had image issues. Images tended to appear washed out, and the delay between telling the phone to take a picture and when it actually shot was too long. Hopefully these issues will be corrected before the final release. The same goes for the camera's video mode, which had the not unusual delay when moving the camera around. There is also no dedicated camera button, but the camera is accessible through the menu.
Connectivity is provided by a tri-band 850/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS radio coupled with Bluetooth support for connecting to headsets, handhelds, and PCs. There is also an IR port, somewhat inconveniently located on the bottom left side, and an MMC card slot on the base of the phone, intended mostly for pictures but able to hold most other content as well.
Software on the S66 is well-designed, with generally intuitive and attractive menus. It takes full advantage of the large screen, although the bolding of some text when it is highlighted causes it to wrap poorly making it harder to read. Naturally the phone supports SMS and MMS, and Java for games that take advantage of the color screen.
On the whole the S66 is a promising phone. The overall design and feel are good, and the feature set well rounded. If Siemens can clean up the issues with the camera to properly use the full power of 1.3 megapixels before the final version ships, it should have a good seller on its hands.
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