Siemens' C65 doesn't dare to be different - but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Anthony Newman tries out this mid-market consumer mobile, and is quietly surprised.
Review summary of the Siemens C65:
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 Price: $150.
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Full Siemens C65 Review:
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Exterior
The C65 is a medium-sized, medium-specced candybar handset, which follows the same general design ethos of other contemporary Siemens phones - and in our humble opinion is a little ugly. Siemens have given the C65 the ability to accept exchangeable covers, of which one is provided: a glossy blue-and-silver affair that looks a bit different. Although the phone feels cheap, the replaceable covers surprisingly don't impact upon the results of our creak test: the C65 passed with flying colours.
 | Despite its less-than-attractive looks, the C65 does offer a few surprises
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With a CSTN display, we expected the C65 to perform poorly on the visual front. However, the 16-bit screen proved bright and clear, with a 130 x 130 resolution delivering sufficient detail. Outdoor performance was solid, too. Given the design of the handset, however, the square screen does seem somewhat small, at 28 mm a side.
The back of the phone features a usefully recessed digital camera, an exposed external aerial socket and the battery cover - which is a little hard to remove. The top holds a slot with which to remove the cover, and on the corner resides a lanyard loop. Finally, down the left side lies a small IR port, and on the bottom a standard Siemens connector.
Ergonomics
Ergonomically, the C65 doesn't perform well. Oddly, Siemens have given the phone a curving front and totally flat back, which, as well as looking wrong, feels a little uncomfortable. What's more, the silver joystick - which on the other hand is rather comfortable - doesn't always register clicks, hampering usability. The rest of the orange-backlit buttons - including a special customisable quick-launch button - are large and easy to use, even though they feel a little loose, and are irregularly sized.
In terms of size and weight, the phone is distinctly average, displacing 76 cc from dimensions of 105 x 47 x 18 mm, and weighing 86 g.
Features
Siemens have hidden a few surprises under the hood of the C65, which drag it from the entry-level to the intermediate rankings. With tri-band 900 / 1800 /1900 MHz GSM, it will work on GSM networks around the world, and Siemens also provides Class 10 GPRS for WAP 2.0 data transfer.
SMS support is bolstered by MMS, which is complemented by the included CIF camera. Although its resolution is a regrettable 352 x 288 pixels, it features 3x digital zoom and a very responsive viewfinder, as well as the usual options. An increasingly uncommon infrared port serves for limited data transfer, while a more-than-average 6 MB of available memory, from a total of 11 MB, allows plenty of storage. Users will be able to fill this space with Java games, pictures, or polyphonic ringtones, and a file browser is included for navigating this content.
The 40-tone polyphonic ringtones - and, indeed, other system sounds - are very, very loud, although not of great quality. In fact, the speaker can't keep up, and distorts heavily. Thankfully, the vibrating alert is unaffected. Java gaming is also disappointing: a few interesting titles are included, but, as with all Siemens phones, performance is sluggish.
Users also will find a 1000-name, very functional phone book, 100-message inbox, decent organiser, alarm clock, sound recorder, calculator, converter, stopwatch, countdown, remote sync, theme support, WAP 2.0 browser and so on. All-in-all, not a bad suite for a phone in this segment, and the OS has plenty of options, too.
Performance
T9 text input is fast and simple, and the 9-icon menu exhibits only slight lag. Loading the included applications is somewhat slow at times, however, and the performance of the C56 is best described as mediocre. Voice quality and reception proved adequate, while battery life from the 600 mAh Lithium-Ion unit rose slightly above the crowd at about 4.5 days of normal use.
Availability
The Siemens C65 is available now from a range of carriers in Europe, on both contract and pay-as-you-go schemes. Although prices vary widely, buyers should expect to pay around $150 USD.
Price and availability
The Siemens C65 will start selling for $150 () in November 1999.
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