Siemens C45

Author's product rating:   

Look & Feel	Excellent
Durability & Robustness	Very Strong
Battery standby time	Excellent
Value for money	Excellent
Range of features	Large selection

Advantages:	Loads  -  see op .
Disadvantages:	None .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

“Be inspired” – Quite a clever little slogan Siemens use for their phones, but I think it is very well put. They have chosen a great snappy little title and it suits their phones very well.

After my unfortunate encounter with the Trium Mars (read my op) I decided after one and half years to get a new phone! The Trium was great but it was very boring and it was just basically crap. So there I was in The Link browsing around – I kind of had the idea of what I wanted, the Siemens C45 but I wasn’t to sure. In the window there was this big offer - The Nokia 3310 with £50 worth of free accessories and £25 calling time – the accessories were crap and I only wanted a new phone so I could put my Sim card in it. So I went for the Siemens…

This phone is great. I love it so far and the possibilities on it are endless! You can do so much on it and it is going to take quite a long time to describe them all so go and grab a cuppa and a biscuit and read on! I mean a long time!

- Features -

=Messages= On this phone you can send and receive SMS! The messages menu is great, you have eight different functions. They are basically Inbox (where all your new text messages go), Outbox (where all your text messages to be sent go), New SMS (this is where you compose text message), Voice Message (this is voicemail – all prepared ready for you), Predefined text (this is great you can enter text that you want to be available for when you are sending a text, it already comes with nine all ready pre set in the phone), Cell Broadcast , T9 input (this is where you choose if you want predictive text on) and Message set-up. The features for text on this phone are endless. You can text galore and it is very quick and easy. The phone has good layout of buttons and a novice could easily get used to it. You have a great choice of symbols, all the normal ones and a few newer ones. : ) There is well over 30. This part of the phone is very well thought out – you can send messages a couple of times to different people easily. You also get 160 characters (about 10 – 20 more than a lot of phones). The Predefined text is great as well – you can input your own and you get a great selection of other ones as well. Predictive text is something that I personally don’t use because it never seems to work for me, but other people have always said it does. Overall the messaging is great. First class. 9/10

=Records= This where you can keep all the calls you have made, received and missed. You also keep a time record here as well (on outgoing and incoming calls). On the menu you have 6 different options, Missed calls (all the calls you missed when you were sitting on the loo and when you jump up and run but still miss the call), Calls received (these are the calls you actually picked up), Calls dialled (all the calls you made), Duration/Charges (keeps a timer of all the calls times, and if you are on Pay As You Go then it keeps call charges there as well) and Charge settings (only used if you use Pay As You Go – you can up currency, A/c limit, and a few other things) and Erase records (you erase all the records from Records). This is a fairly universal idea to phones – I have never seen the Charge settings before but otherwise it is an ‘all over idea’. It is very well designed on this phone, well presented and clear. It is also a great way of keeping a record and is great for quick dialling and seeing how much of a phone freak you are (me!). I give this part 8/10 – basically because the Charge settings is quite complicated and comprehensive.

=Get In Touch= Here you can do three things, Organise (this includes a Diary, Birthdays, Notes, Alarm Clock, Missed alarms), Clock (you can change the settings, date, time and auto display (you see the clock when the phone isn’t in use) and Groups (this is where you can organise group calls! and group texting). Very good. There isn’t many features here and I can see why, if they over crowd things you can forget where things go. As this is the section for organising you don’t want to forget where it is. So what can you do? Well you can enter every ones birthday that you know, it reminds you of them as well! You will never forget, perfect. The diary is great as well, you can enter all the details you want and all the dates of your important dates and again it reminds you. Notes is good as well, not excellent but if you want to take down a few notes (e.g. address) then it is pretty good (it is very slow). The alarm clock is very good, it can either vibrate or ring. Just a normal alarm clock! Group calling/texting is very good. I have used it a few times and its great if you want to listen to two people at once. They can only hear you, not each other, but otherwise it is very good. If you want a ‘conference’ call and you don’t want to fork out the money. I would say this is excellent break through in mobile technology I think. The last point to make is that the auto clock is cool. It is a little clock that pops up when you are not using your phone. Quite a clever, original idea. I give this little section 8/10.

=Surf and fun= In this section there a few things that you can do – Surf the Internet (WAP – you can use the homepage or bookmark your favourite WAP sites), Games (there are three to choose from – BattleMail (a game of Kung Fu), Stack Attack (a game a bit like Tetris – but with a little man) and Balloon Shooter (you have to shoot balloons and earn points)), Bitmap viewer (this is for when you receive images from the net or when you phone up those rip of £1 lines) and Melody Manager (finally this is where you can play all those ringtones you have downloaded – I have three so far).This section is very good, it is the most fun! You can surf the Internet. Now the internet on this phone isn’t great, it is quite slow and it does take quite a lot of time to load up pages and it does connect quite quick but otherwise I have used other phones that are much better. But who actually uses the WAP? It isn’t very good on any phone and so I wouldn’t let this bother you when you are choosing a phone. I never play games on a phone – they drain the battery and you don’t need games on your phone. I hate them so much they are good, yes, but they are just little games that the graphics aren’t great on. They are quite fun when you play them, but they take a lot of getting use to and aren’t worth the trouble. The bitmap viewer and melody manager are very good – you can get loads of tunes for your phone and lots of good pictures. If you enjoy downloading them then there is a great bucket full for you to download. By the way if you have a Siemens phone go to Siemens.co.uk and go to the mobile part and register with them. You get to get two free ringtones or graphics! I am only going to give this section a poor 7/10 as it does not do a lot and the features are only there for them to look good.

=Profiles= In this section you can choose the style of sound or place you are. There is also the option of car kit (you can set it up to work). There are eight spaces in this section in total – 6 already full with pre-set options – they are Normal, Quiet, Noisy, Car Kit, Headset, and Aircraft mode. These options all allow you to choose the style of sound you want on your phone. You can choose the place that you are in – if you are in a meeting it could be quiet or at home you can have it normal. If you choose Aircraft mode it turns the phone off and all the alarms. You can program the last two to your own ‘ideas’ in. In this section you can’t do a lot – it is very basic – but essential. If you do choose to use the aircraft mode it makes sure you can’t accidentally interfere with the controls of the flight and cause it to crash. (dramatic!). The idea that you can program your own sound ideas is very good. It shows that Siemens have thought of ‘us’ and not just using us as objects for their products. Great ideas on the phone. There three basic noise levels are good as well. Just three easy levels and not all complicated ideas to confuse you. 8/10.

=Audio= In this menu you can set the Ringer volume (how loud you want the ring to be – this also depends on the setting you have it on – if you have it on noisy, normal or quiet) , the ringer setting (if you want it to be on, off or as a beep), you can select what melodies you want, you also get to choose the melodies for different calls e.g. if a person in your phonebook rings you, you can select a different ring tone from someone not in your phonebook. You can also select if you want silent alert, call screening and key tones and a minute beep (every minute you spend on the phone it reminds you). Lastly you can get a thing called Info tones – this is where when you get info it beeps. This section is very good. With the minute beep to the 20 different rings tones preset on the phone for you to choose from. The 20 ringtones are very good – you have a good selection to choose from and they range from classical to beeps. I think the minute beep is great – if you are a chatter box like me, you need reminding! The overall score for this section is 9/10.

=Divert= This section doesn’t really do much so there is not a lot to say about it. It is basically about diverting calls from your mobile to another phone. You can divert calls to and from your mobile as well as diverting faxes. This section is very good if you are the type of person who forgets or doesn’t tend to carry their phone about – what’s the point of having a phone if you are not going to carry it. I suppose you can also set it up if you are going to go in a lot of meetings otherwise it isn’t worth the hassle. It is a great feature but you have to be really serious in using it. Only a 6/10.

=Setup= In this section you have the choice of eight main menu choices, they are – Device (here you can change the Language – with a choice of – English, German, French, Turkish, Italian and Arabic. You can change the Display including creating your own greeting, setting up a screensaver and using big letters or not. Keys – in here you can set it up to see if you want any key answer, key tones and Auto Key lock. On Status you can check your EMI number and reset all original settings of the phone. Lastly you can see if you want you can set up to use T9 Input (put it on or off and select the language you want in it to put in). The next thing you have is Security (her you can change the PIN, lock the phone, babysitter and a great thing is that you can make sure that only your Sim Card is used by locking it). The next feature is Network (you can choose the network you want – mainly used abroad). Next you have User group, During a call (you can Hide your ID). The last three things are Fax/data mod, Clock and Accessories.

This menu is very good. It contains good things for you to do – you can Hide your ID, lock the phone to only accept your Sim Card and much more. This part of the phone is one of the best – it isn’t very fun but it can make using your phone much more easier and safer to you. I give this part of the phone 9/10.

=My Menu= This is a personal area where you can put, Diary, Birthdays, Inbox and other things that are yours and you will use on a frequent basis. It is an excellent part of the phone and it allows you to accesses everything very quickly. Good part of the phone something again I haven’t seen done before. 10/10/

=Help= This is the final part of the features part of the op! This is only going to be brief – here it is a help. There is everything basic on how to use the phone. All the essentials that you could need help with. Great part of the phone that I have referred to many times for help. 9/10 as it doesn’t cover everything.

Overall the functions is great. 9/10!

- Looks -

The phone looks brilliant. It is sleek and its very slim. It looks cool and it is! You can choose from eight different (Siemens registered products) CLIPit ™ Covers – they are – Light Steel (mine), Hot Magma, Cool Sky, Fresh Lemon, Dry Savanna, Shinning Pearl, Metallic Grass and Techno Ocean. I have seen all theses and they are all very good and all are bright are colourful. They look very fun and they will lighten up your phone loads. These are quite expensive, but they are quality goods and will not fail you at all. You can get other CLIPit ™ covers but they are not Siemens products so be careful. The phone looks amazing and it is. It is fun and funky. The button layout is very good as well, you have 17 buttons in total – 10 numbers, #, *, pick up, put down, phonebook and the two up and down and select buttons. They are clearly laid out and clearly presented so you can use your fingers on them. They aren’t over each other so you are pressing two buttons at once.

Overall the looks are good. 10/10

- Accessories -

As you already know you can CLIPit ™ covers that are very good and colourful. You can choose a colour to suit your mood! Green – happy days, Silver – hard days and so on! You can also get Carry cases ( 7 to choose from). There are loads of other accessories ranging from batteries to car kits all with varied prices. They offer a massive range for you to choose from and personally it is much better than some phones. You can also get an MP3 player and at the moment on the Siemens site it costs £199.99 for the phone and the MP3 player (you save money!).

Overall I give the accessories 9/10

- Customer Services -

One word: EXCELLENT! I have phoned them once and they were excellent! They answered the phone within two minutes of me ringing in and I didn’t have to wait – very unusual – I normally have to wait about ten minutes on most lines but they answered so quickly. When I got through it was very good – they helped me and they were great. They were polite and we had a friendly conversation.

I give the customer service 10/10

- Anything else -

Battery consumption – the battery lasts very long – about 2 days but it does go down quicker if you use the WAP or do a lot of talking. Otherwise it is very good. The charger is great, most of them normally are really chunky, but this one fits anywhere and it is really small and compact, it also has a good length on the lead.

Ease of use – To start with it is quite hard, it is quite complicated, but once you have gone through twice it is easy. The menus are laid out well and clear. Overall you would have to be pretty stupid if you can’t do it!

Durability – Can’t sat a lot here really, I haven’t dropped it so far so I would say very good as it does feel strong. It isn’t a flimsy kind of phone and I would say try not to drop it, it doesn’t do it any good anyway.

Cost – Only £89.99 (O2 pay as you go). It was £99.99 but they have reduced it everywhere. Great price for a great phone.

Website – Also very good. You can see your phone, download ringtones/graphics and there is also a help part if you have any problems. You cam also order online as well. Excellent well designed and laid out site.

I hoped you enjoyed reading! It was a long op, and it took me forever! I hoped you enjoyed the read and I would HIGHLY recommend this phone. An amazing total of:

10/10

Thanks for reading, please comment and rate accordingly! Cheers.

© Craig Davies