Siemens S55 from Australia - Comments

The buttons and screen cover started coming off after having the mobile a little over a year. The replacement of the cover costs $200 Australian. No way I could afford to replace the cover! Instead I made a home made cover out of old mobile buttons.

I really like this mobile. It came out in 2003, and it has most of the technology that phones today have. The model is an S-55. It has a detacheable camera, with a flash. The bad thing about this camera is that when you use the flash, you will find that most of the battery life disappears almost straight away!

The camera quality isn't that good, but the phone has everything. It has a melody composer (on the computer software, comes with the phone and multimedia cable).

A really good phone. Would buy one again, but would make sure I sticky taped all the buttons on safely before using, and not risk losing them altogether and having to pay a high price of replacement!

I was very happy with the same phone as you, although of course, in 2007 (4 years later), it's technology is behind. The detachable camera was ahead in its time though as it boasted one of the first colour screens and included a flash with its detachable camera (agree about the quick drain on battery life once used). However, these days, most phones have cameras built in with more megapixels and in-built flash.

However, I have to say I really miss the compactness and sturdiness of the old S55, which I found could actually take a little bit of beating. Did not scratch as easily as many of today's phones, and it really was a handy size.

I have also heard that Siemens has apparently pulled out of the Australian market. Not sure if this is true, but if they have it will be a sad loss as I actually owned a few Siemens products (S55 and SL55) and found them to be refreshingly different, fairly sexy looking (for their time), compact and reliable.

I now own a sexy Samsung D900 (see separate review) that features far more bells and whistles and is relatively compact (though not as compact as the Siemens). Whilst it is technologically superior to the Siemens' S55 (and SL55), I still remember these phones a lot more fondly than the multitude of bland Nokias and Motorolas that I previously owned (although I admit that even Nokia and Motorola have now "caught up" and offer some groovy looking phones).