1 Buttons fall off
I thought this phone was great at first cause of its size. that is, until the buttons started falling off. im missing the volume button, the earpiece, and the 1, 2, and 3, buttons, im sure the rest will fall off soon. this is the worst, CHEAPEST, most poorly made phone ever. Ive only had it for about 6 months, its ridiculous. seems like all the pieces were glues together rather than being attatched correctly
2 Great little phone
I got this phone from AT&T as a refurbished freebie to replace my
Sony-Erickson phone about 9 months ago. I have to say that it's held up to my abuse quiet well, that includes dropping it on concrete several times. Something I am not recommending you test.
Despite a couple of divots on the corners, the phone works fine.
So all these one star reviews seem a bit one-sided. I have had nothing fall off or even become loose. It's a sturdy little phone.
The reception is good. That may have to do with location, but I have used it while traveling in several different states. The speakerphone works well though the volume is not high enough for very noisy environments. The voice recorder can only record about 3.5 minutes so for me it's nearly worthless and I don't think its controls were well-thought, it's too easy to turn it on unintentionally so after a while it becomes a nuisance. I could do without it. The menu navigation took some getting used to and it's not intuitive. Once I learned some numeric shortcuts it became more useable for me, but others may not be so patient. Using bluetooth to Sync it with my apple computers has not been a problem. I was able to sync my old Sony-ericsson T68, then remove the card, and place it the Siemens S56, turn it on and then transfer my addressbook via bluetooth. It worked fine though I found the phone numbers in autodial wouldn't dial they just beeped at me. If I went in edit mood, modified the entry and saved it seemed to work fine after that. That was a little annoying, but otherwise things worked. Text messaging works fine though with any phone this small, it's a bit tricky to push buttons fast enough. The manual could be better. 3-way calling turned not to be that hard to do but explanation in the manual was almost non-existent.
I like the phone, but for a non-techie, the interface could seem a bit too cluttered and the learning curve too steep. For some. it will be loveable.
3 Piece of $#1T
This is the worst phone I've owned. The chrome plastic piece covering the speaker fell off on its own after one month and I had to superglue it back on. Then the buttons started falling off. Fortunately my Cingular plan allows me to upgrade.
Match these mechanical failures with the overly complicated operating system, and you have an expensive door stop.
I will never purchase anything made by Siemens again.
4 Siemens s56 phone... lacks basics
Its small design and great features and cancelled by its poor reception, loudspeaker quality, button durability. Ridiculous product warranty policies. The button on my S56 fell off, followed by the face plate, after I have been using it for ten months. Siemens refused to do the warranty repair/replace and insisted that "the button and face plate won't fall off by defect," implying that I must have done something to damage it on purpose. Coincidently, the same button of my friend's two-day old SL56 fell off before. As a conclusion, the quality of Siemens S56 and SL56 are not so great... could do better
5 A very nice small lightweight phone.
Please note my review is based on the Siemens S55, which is the European version of the S56.
When the time came to pick a new phone, i knew upfront there were a few things I'd like it to have:
- Triple band, so I could use it anywhere in the world.
- Bluetooth for easy access to my PDA as well as a wireless connection with a carkit (also see my review of the Jabra BT200).
- Small and lightweight design.
I found all of those qualities in the Siemens S55. Having always used Nokia phones, the Siemens menustrucure took some time to get used to, but posed no real problem for a diehard geek like yours truly.
Initially I had some trouble with the connection between the Jabra and the Siemens, but upgrading the Siemens firmware (which was very easy with the datacable that came with the phone) all of that was pretty much solved.
The only disadvantages I found so far are ironically enough part of the small and lightweight design:
- The button to record speech is located on the right-hand side of the phone. It can easily be pressed when retrieving the phone from one's pocket.
- It's too small and lightweight. Occasionally I find myself searching for my phone, while it's just in my pocket.
I still doubt that I'll be getting a new phone any time soon. Very satisfied customer here.
6 Wish I could give it zero stars
I won't go into the litany of problems I encountered with this phone -- others have already listed them all. Multiple times. The best thing I can say about this phone is that I no longer own it.
7 Stay away from Siemens Cell Phones
Do not buy Siemens' S56 (I'm sure their other products are designed and built just as poorly). The buttons on the keypad fall off. The earpiece falls off. The 4-way button feels like it is ready to fall off. And the phone randomly turns off. Oh, and the warranty is only valid as long as none of the buttons have fallen off ... so I'm not sure of the value of the warranty. Stay away from Siemens.
8 Phone falls apart
My whole family got this model of phone. It sucks. It's too small. It's really hard to just press one key at a time. The worst part is the keys fall off. The metal peice at the top of mine just came off one day and another button is really loose. My relative not only lost the top metal peice, but 2 keys fell off too! How do peices just fall off the phone? This is a really bad product, next time I'm getting a flip phone becuase less damage will happen to it.
9 Great phone but has a few bugs
CONS - I bought this phone about 2 yrs ago from Cingular and at first the battery life would not last over a day. Cingular replaced the whole phone w/ battery. After a year or so, the unit would turn itself off about once a month while using the menu. Phone reception is iffy (mostly echoing) but that could be up to the carrier. The access time to save phone numbers and deact/activate the bluetooth headset is slow in my opinion. And as far as bluetooth, I bought a Motorola one and the phone's battery life when it's in 'bluetooth mode' (standby, not even talking) shortens dramatically. Regular use lasts almost a whole week but when it's in bluetooth mode, I'm lucky if I sqeeze 2 days out of this thing. Wish they had some regular ringtones for the few of us that aren't out there to find and download the loudest, corniest, most annoying song out there.
PROS - Durable, good coverage, menus are easy to use, many features and customizing is easy, stylish, battery life (when you don't use a BT headset).
10 Never Again
Boy, reading the other reviews I see it's not just my phone with issues. I too was looking online to see if I could find a recall for it. It's just that bad. It cuts off when it wants to, which makes me miss important calls. The ear piece pops off. It won't turn on sometimes until I mess with the battery. It is crap. Come on, Siemens, you can do better.
11 THERE IS NOT ACTUALLY A WARRANTY FOR THIS PHONE
The warranty does not cover physical damage. This limits the warranty to software issues, and replacments on defective batteries. This does not include the earpiece popping off (which is a common defect), menu buttons that no longer work, and buttons popping off.
The information supplied indicates your phone repair is not covered under warranty. The repair fee is typically $110.00 but major repairs could cost $250.00 If your unit is found to be unrepairable, you will be charged a non-refundable processing fee of $25.00. The charge on your credit card will be from "Teleplan", Teleplan is a Siemens authorized Repair Center We accept VISA and Mastercard. Would you like to proceed with placing your repair order?
12 best phone so far
I have had 2 prior phones, a Nokia and a Motorola and the usability factor of this one is superior to both those. The colorful user interface is nicely designed and easy to navigate. The sound quality is very clear during calls and recordings. Great chioce of accessories.
13 Good overall
Color screen is OK, not great. Ringtones that come with the phone are all "song" types - not really any normal ringtones. I was able to download a normal tone - though it wasn't easy. Backgrounds are stupid (dog, car, martini glass, etc... and all drawn very simply). You can choose to not have a background or download others.
Keys are a bit too small. The voice memo key is on the side and always gets hit--bad placement of a feature that does not need to be accessed so quickly (or to have a key that can be touched once and start recording).
Connectivity is great with bluetooth and IRDA. Built in calendar is great and you can sync with outlook (contacts, appointments, etc...). Text message features are great. mMode is OK, not the best. Customizable soft key is definately usefull. Navigation through menu's is very good. One touch access to phone book is great. Ability to save contacts and settings on SIM card is great.
Phone doesn't ring very loud and the ear volume is too low.
All in all a good phone, just little things that could be better. Battery life seems to be fine and it charges pretty quickly.
14 nice phone~~
i've had this phone for almost a year and it works great for me. i always liked siemens' cordless phone cuz the sound quality was just crystal clear so i figured the cell phone would be awesome too. tho the size of the phone was my major concern when i bought the phone. I only wanted it to be small. at that time.. only the sony ericsson T68i and the Motorola T721 could compare to this. T68i just had too many problems. T721 was just huge!! and the software was just slow... it really takes like .5 sec to go through each click... this phone is fast! i'm so used to the menu now that i dont even look when i click...it never hanged up or anything... not even after i dropped it like 3 times...
the reception on this phone is great... i think it really depends on the carrier in different areas. in va t-mobile sux big times... the only cons for this phone are that the speaker phone doesn't work well at all. and the voice recording can not be set up as a ringtone as described on this site. also the battery life is tooo short... gotta charge it every single day.. but... it really doesn't take that long to charge.
what do you expect for a phone with that price? it has bluetooth too! not many people like morotola's menu and sony ericsson's menu is much more complicated than siemens... and the quality of their sound sux... every time i talk to a sony ericsson user i have to be like what? what did you say? DONT EVER COMPARE TO A SIEMENS TO SONY ERICSSON!
15 THIS PHONE IS BAD!!!!!!
i hate this phone. it has caused me so much frustration i can't even believe it and sadly, because i am a broke teenager i'm stuck with it. Let me describe what happens when the phone rings. I go to pick it up after its rang and when i press answer...boom! its off. neat trick. also it freezes all the time and it is incredibly slow. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE YOU WILL HATE IT!!!
16 I HATE THIS PHONE
This phone looks like it would be really good, and the features that it supports are really good. I got the phone mainly because it has the bluetooth option. You can sync it pretty easy, and it is very easy to personalize with pics and ringtones. The downfall?? Try to make a call, and you get dropped calls left and right. Even when the phone has full signal, it will still drop calls. Isn't the main function of a phone to be able to make calls??? This phone will let you do just about everything BUT make a call. The other thing that really sucks with this phone is the battery life. It says that it should last for a few days, but I have to charge it every night, even if I don't make any calls that day. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE!!!!
17 3 times a charm!
Do yourself a big favor, don't let the slick look and many gadgets fool you. I have had three of these phones. The only reason I had three is due to the fact that when I bought it at "Best Buy" I got a buyer protection warranty. THANK GOD! I have never had so many dropped calls....EVER. I had the same problem as discribed by the woman in Oakland, Try to answer the phone and the phone sends the call to voice mail. Set a ring tone, it might stay for a few rings, then the phone goes back to the default ring. Not a good buy. Stay away from this one.
18 Terrible software - locks up all the time
We mistakenly got two of these phones because they were small and seemed to have good features. What a mistake. The menus are terribly designed. You have to literally press buttons twice as many times to perform the same function you would have on our previous Nokia and Ericsson T28z phones. Also, the software is super slow, so you find yourself waiting before you can push the next button. Sometimes if you don't wait, the phones lock up and display error messages like "unknown application." The worst part is when you get a call. Literally one third of our calls we find we can't answer because the software locks up and says something like "failed attempt." It seems like this is the key thing a phone should do: It starts ringing, you pull it out of your purse or pocket (and yes the keys are locked) and then you press the green button or the answer hot key and you get to speak to them. On these phones, 30% of the time you find yourself frantically pushing the buttons as it tells you ridiculous things. Unbeleivable. I could go on and on. What about when you recieve a call from a blocked caller ID and it doesn't show up in the call log anywhere, not as a received call, a missed call or anything. I guess if they don't show their ID they're not important? We've filled out the customer support forms on Seimens' website asking if we can have the phones software updated and still no response after 2 months! Never Seimens again for us.
19 Love, love, love IT
This phone is sooooo cute and tiny compared to the Sony Ericcson I upgraded from. I love the ability to change the size of the text and background color. It's perfect for what I need, a good phone! (I have a digital camera for taking pictures). Best of all I like the voice quality and ease of use.
20 Great business phone
This is, for the most part, a great phone. For me, it came down to this one or the Sony-Ericsson t616. The clincher for me were the RF, Outlook notes sync (great!) and speakerphone (turned out to be useless).
Pros
+ Very good RF, comparable to my old Nokia 6190. Make sure not to hold the antenna during a call. The t616 RF reportedly is not very good. However, the updated t616 R1B firmware supposedly improves it quite a bit.
+ Excellent sync w/Outlook including notes (which the t616 does not support). I don't need my Palm anymore.
+ Excellent customization capabilities including quick access keys to practically any functionality the phone has as well as changing the wallpaper and startup animations.
+ Bluetooth (also supported by the t616) - very useful w/a bluetooth headset. Since my reception here is decent but not great, I can leave the phone closer to a window or wherever there's reception and move around freely, generally within 10-20 feet w/no obstructions. Also, the bluetooth headset supposedly only emits about 1% of the radiation of the phone.
+ Voicedial: some people seem to have problems with this but if you only enable it for a few of the most used #'s or features, it generally works well.
+ Nice small size.
Cons
- Battery life is the Achilles heel of this phone. Not sure if the t616 is better in real-world usage but I've read that it's comparable.
- Speakerphone volume is too low even at its highest setting.
- Notes should support more than 150 characters, like 4k characters.
- 256 color screen. The only time this really comes up short for me is when viewing photos. The t616, however, does have an amazing 64k color display!
- Included ringtones are not loud enough and do not grab your attention. Download loud and much better ones off the Net instead.
- Some of the keys are too small, esp those at the corners.
21 Siemens S56 Phone - Next Generation (AT&T)
Siemens S56 Phone - Next Generation (AT&T)
22 I love this phone
I upgraded to this phone from a motorola v120 and I think it was the best thing I ever did. I love the screen on it. For the tiny size of the phone it is a very large screen. I never had games before and now I can download them off siemens.com. Not many ring tones come with the phone but you can download them or record your own. On my old phone the numbers wore off the buttons about once a month but these are nicely made and easy to type in even for my husband with larger fingers. It's so tiny, I loose it in my purse! For the price, I higly recomend this phone!
23 built solid, but a bit slow
The interface is a bit slow on this phone, I found that often it takes a while to navigate menus. The color display only displays 4096 colors as compared to other phones which can display in 16 bit color. So the images sometimes appear a bit grainy and distorted.
The speakerphone is a good features that I enjoy using a lot. I also like being able to use midi files as ring tones. I wouldn't buy this phone as there are better phones out there for the money.
