Jumping on the slimshell bandwagon, BenQ-Siemens' EF81 is a capable handset with its 2 Megapixel camera, 3G with video calling and microSD memory expansion; Jørgen Sundgot takes it for a spin.
Review summary of the BenQ-Siemens EF81:
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 A no-frills clamshell with an industrial look and sturdy feel to it, the BenQ-Siemens EF81 offers a comprehensive range of features which include a mediocre 2 Megapixel camera; a sub-par MP3 player; and slightly underperforming 3G connectivity with video calling and a limited browser. Its best attributes, meanwhile include the excellent screen, its spacious keypad and the quality design which feels near-unbreakable. As far as clamshell phones go, it comes recommended for those in need of a rounded feature set, and it's also a decent slim phone for the same reason - as well as its anorectic 16 mm thickness. Release: September 2006. Price: $450.
Pros: Excellent high-resolution display; quality keypad; sturdy design; microSD expansion
Cons: Sub-par 3G reception; audio issues during video calls; poor entertainment features
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Full review of the BenQ-Siemens EF81:
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Every handset maker and their mother peddle at least one slim clamshell phone these days, and with the arrival of the EF81, BenQ-Siemens is no longer excluded from the good company. The aluminum-clad handset, which measures in at a long-ish 94 x 51 x 16 mm when closed, is impressively sturdy - and also rather hefty at 110 g weight. Its exterior holds a very decent - albeit small - colour display and four hard buttons, which together enable access to the EF81's camera, video recorder and MP3 player; navigation is a bit fumbly, but its status and time indicators are very useful indeed.
Open, sesame
Pry open the EF81, and you'll be presented with among other things a bright and crisp QVGA display measuring 2.2 inches, as well as a comfortable faux-RAZR keypad with spacious, well-backlit buttons. Also present is the fixed-position 2 Megapixel camera of the handset, which is of the mediocre variety as it has a tendency to overexpose pictures and is rich on noise. Furthermore, the inability to rotate the lens limits the subject for video calls to yours truly; handy for narcissists, but a tad annoying for everyone else.
Speaking of video calls, we found the EF81 to suffer from audio crackle and loss during such excercises - a problem likely due to its less-than-ideal 3G reception, which is quite odd given impeccable audio quality during calls using the tri-band GSM radio. Bluetooth also performed impeccably for use with laptops and headsets, while the USB connectivity of the handset came in rather handy for file transfers as no memory card was bundled for the microSD expansion slot. This left 64 MB of onboard memory as the sole option for storage, which is limited at best.
Don't let me entertain you
Mostly intuitive, the user interface of the EF81 is liberatingly free of bells and whistles, yet we still experienced a slight lag when opening applications. Fortunately, this did not impact text input, which proved to be a breeze. Not so with the included browser, which deals rather poorly with non-WAP 2.0 web sites - and we also have to confess that the Media Player application, which handles music, pictures and video, is feature anemic. Furthermore, out-of-box audio quality using the bundled headset proved at best sub-par, although the handset's loudspeaker provided impressively loud and clear playback.
Also present in the EF81 are generally apt messaging and PIM suites, as well as a collection of distinctly poor games and a few handy utilities. In tests, its talk time hovered in the 3,5 hour range, while standby stretched to approximately 8 days.
Price and availability
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