CELL PHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
SMARTPHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
CAMERAS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
REVIEWS
» Cell phones
» Cameras
» Camcorders
» Archive » Product Guide
» Compare » Expert guides
» RSS & Alerts » Ask The Editors
Home / Review Center / Cell phones /
Review: Siemens SL65By Sindre Lia, Thursday 20 January 2005
GALLERY
Siemens SL65
Enlarge
 
 
Looking to stand out from the crowd in style? If so, Sindre Lia thinks the camera-toting Siemens SL65 might be just the ticket for you.

Siemens launched the innovative SL55 with a sliding keypad back in 2003, and now the German manufacturer offers a new and improved version in the SL65. The competition has hardened quite a bit since then, however, and currently we find among other handsets the Samsung SGH-E800 as a tough competitor to Siemens' slider phone offerings.

Siemens gets it just right with the slider mechanism of the SL65
Sleek and slippery

The Siemens SL65 weighs in at 99 g, and certainly looks good both in its open and closed modes, measuring 90.2 x 47.6 x 20.9 mm when in the former state. With elegant curves, the slider mechanism, which also doubles as a keypad lock, offers just the right amount of resistance. The keypad itself is definitely an improvement over that of the SL55, now featuring large and flat buttons even though it remains a bit noisy. Another feature of the keypad is the well-rounded joystick; a little too much so, apparently, as ones thumb has a tendency to trail off every now and then.

The 16-bit TFT display of the Siemens SL65 performed on average, with slightly milky colours and a resolution of only 130 x 130 pixels. On the back of the phone, we find a 0.3 MP digital shooting decent quality pictures in daylight. Pictures taken in darker surroundings, however, are nothing but a waste of space in the phone's 10 MB internal memory. A 5x digital zoom can be adjusted on the fly by means of the joystick, and the viewfinder offered fluid motion. The camera also acts like a camcorder, recording 30-sec videos at a resolution of 128 x 96 pixels (also known as sub-QCIF).

Don't expect to be snapping any candid pictures in the dark with the SL65's camera
Sometimes shortcuts are better

Being a tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz phone, the Siemens SL65 also supports GPRS Class 10 and IrDA for data transfers. Furthermore, we find support for SMS, MMS, e-mail, and the integrated WAP 2.0 browser powered by Openwave provides support for XHTML as well as plain old WAP. 40-tone polyphonics make for a pleasant listening experience, but even the lowest volume setting is a tad on the loud side; fortunately, the handset offers vibrating alert as an alternative. Bluetooth is however not present, and neither are features such as voice dialing and instant messaging.

Logically assembled, the menu system of the SL65 is easy to navigate, also incorporating a nifty feature which lets users program each direction of the keypad for launching an application - thus avoiding the slippery joystick.

Reception and voice quality proved good in the Siemens SL65. Siemens claims a stand-by time of 12 days and talk time of 4,5 hours, whilst our experiences resulted in a stand-by time of 5 days and talk time of 4 hours.

Availability

The Siemens SL65 is at the time of writing available in several European markets, selling for approximately $450 USD without subscription.
Best Phones
Name Score Price Carrier
C
Nokia N95 8GB NAM 83% $450Unlocked
Apple iPhone 3GS 83% $200AT&T
Nokia N86 82% $500Unlocked
Sprint Hero 81% $180Sprint
Motorola Droid 81% $200Verizon Wireless
HTC Droid Eris 81% $100Verizon Wireless
Samsung Moment 78% $180Sprint
Apple iPhone 3G 77% $100AT&T
RIM BlackBerry Tour 77% $200Verizon Wireless
HTC Touch Pro2 77% $350T-Mobile
Click here to see full and advanced chart »
 
 
 
HOTTEST
Smartphones
 
Cell Phones
 
Upcoming Smartphones
TOP STORIES
Best 8-megapixel camera phones
 
10 Hottest Verizon Wireless Phones
 
5 Best All-Touch Smartphones
Hottest Nokia Phones
 
5 Best Smartphones for Calling
 
Android Smartphone Comparison
10 Hottest Touchscreen Phones
 
Hottest Smartphones Set for November Release
 
Upcoming T-Mobile Phones
NEW CELL PHONE RELEASES
RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530
Samsung Behold II
RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700
Nokia N900
Motorola Droid
HTC Droid Eris
LG Chocolate Touch
Samsung Moment
RIM BlackBerry Storm 2
CELL PHONE RESOURCE CENTER
Expert Guides
 
Advanced Search
 
Side-by-Side
IN-DEPTH REVIEWS
Cell Phones & Smartphones
 
Digital Cameras
 
Camcorders
NOW IN PHONES
Best 8-megapixel camera phones
 
Gameloft Cuts Back Android Investment
 
Smartphone Leaks of the Week
 
10 Hottest Verizon Wireless Phones
 
Motorola Droid Is No Challenge Says Palm
Nokia Nseries Roadmap Explained
gPhone Is Likely Not Real
BlackBerry 9900 QWERTY Slider Coming in 2010?
Next 25 stories
MUST READ
CELL PHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
SMARTPHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
LAPTOPS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
CAMERAS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
INTERNET TABLETS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
GPS NAVIGATORS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
HDTVs
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
CAMCORDERS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
About us | Site map | How to advertise | Feedback | RSS Feeds | | Archive
Copyright 1999-2009 © infoSync World