The Siemens SL45 is truly a groundbreaking piece of technology, with only one other phone currently on the market which competes for features (the Samsung SGH-M100). The SL45 has only just appeared on the market here in Australia but is being distributed worldwide - but pretty slowly. Only a half dozen arrived last week at my local dealer, and I was lucky enough to grab the last one. But enough about how I got it, you want to know about features, right? Well, even after 4 days of extremely dedicated interest, I'm sure I still haven't discovered everything this phone can do. But what I do know, I'll list below:

Specs - The basic technical stuff:

Weight: 88g

Dimensions: 105 x 44 x 17mm

Standby Time: 60 - 170 hours

Talk time: 1 - 4 hours


General First Impressions

Firstly: Wow! Secondly: Hubba hubba hubba!!! This phone is quite an eye-catcher. Clad in sleek brushed aluminum housing, it is classy as all get-out. Seriously one of the most pleasing phones to look at not only IMHO, but also pretty much everyone I have showed it to! Feels solid, well made, sturdy and responsive buttons, and a very large high resolution screen for a mobile - bigger pixel area than the best Nokias! The screen backlit display is bright orange - perhaps not everyone's choice, but highly visible. It's also quite small considering what it has packed into it. So what are all these amazing features? Read on?


Well, it's a cell phone!

Yes, it does all the things that any self-respectable cell-phone should do. That is, call people and receive calls! As it is a dual band phone it will pick up most places. It's a GSM phone and I have read rumours that it is GPRS capable as well, though the manual does not mention that. There's actually a few things that it is apparently capable of that the manual does not mention! I have found audio clarity to be adequate, though using the stereo headphones I think maybe emphasizes line noise. No problems as yet in that department and I'm quite happy with it's performance as a standard mobile phone. However, it's everything else I'm sure you really want to read about?


mp3 player

I have to admit that naturally, the mp3 player is the feature which really sold this phone to me. Though the Ericsson range of phones has the groovy little mp3 player add-on, having an inbuilt mp3 player is truly a wondrous thing. I've always had a problem with carrying around too many different gadgets - and the SL45 fixes the major dilemma of "do I have room in my bag for my walkman"??? The capacity of the mp3 player is up to 32 MB stored on a removable (and thus upgradeable) MultiMedia Card - note however that this card stores any other data that is not stored on the SIM card (extended address book, dictaphone, ringtones etc) You can still quite comfortably put around 30 MB of .mp3's into the card though - TIP: if you rip them at 96kbps you'll get more songs in and the sound quality is adequate (and even recommended) for portable mp3 player use. I currently have 12 tracks on my SL45 of varying lengths, totally about 40 minutes of music, with a couple of MB clear on the card for other data. The mp3 player is quite straightforward and intuitive, with a useful and clear display of song information whilst playing - this was a pleasant surprise as I'd been told that Siemens phones had a tendency for difficult navigation. The mp3 player is easy to activate in a variety of ways - you can set voice recognition to start the player, so all you have to do is press the PTT (Push to talk) button on the stereo headphone set and say a designated word or phrase (in my case, "mp3") and voila, the player starts up! You also have a one touch start button on the side of the phone, or you can navigate through the menu system to get to it also. Two thumbs up for the mp3 player, I love this thing! There are however two issues with mp3: one is the transfer speed from computer to phone via serial port connection - a whopping 14.4 connection which will take roughly 15- 20 minutes to transfer one song over. Bit frustrating but you can always set it to transfer while you are doing something else! The only other potential problem that I can see so far is the relative lack of battery power, but I have yet to determine how long it will take to completely drain the battery from mp3 player use. It's hard to say because lets face it, in practise you are going to be using a variety of functions and it will vary from day to day. I was out and about with it for two days and it was saying zero battery power, but no flashing warnings, and I played the mp3 player for hours during that time! There is a larger battery that can be bought separately to the phone if you find that it's not lasting as long as you need.


Dictaphone.

This is a nifty feature which while on it's own probably wouldn't have made me buy the phone, I'm certainly pleased to have it! Great for taking voice memos when you don't have time to note something down or are actually on the phone - (you must ask permission before you record a phone conversation though - otherwise it's phone-tapping!) or for taking notes at interviews or lectures. The sound quality of the dictaphone is understandably low - 8 bits at 128kbps, but it's quite audible and can store up to a whopping 5 hours of recording (on an empty MultiMedia card that is!). I have even tried recording music with it, and while it's not exactly flash, it's still listenable - preferably with headphones though.


PIM

PIM stands for Personal Information Management, and the SL45 does this quite well. The phone has both an extended address book with all the fields you could want up to and including email address and webpage, plus a Calendar which you can note down meetings and memos in, with or without alarms. And even better, the phone comes with bundled software which allows you to download the PIM info to your computer and even synchronise with M$ Outlook 98/2000 if you are so inclined. I don't use Outlook, but I am sure for those who do this will be a big plus. I am not sure about direct compatability with PDA's, but you could at least download to your PC and then have the PC synch with your PDA.


IrDA

If you have infrared devices you want to send info to and from your phone with, rejoice because the SL45 has an infrared port. I tried to test this with a laptop, and while the two devices were apparently talking, the actual transfer didn't get through. Couldn't work out the problem and haven't had a chance to test the Infrared again yet.


WAP

Like a lot of phones now, the SL45 is web-enabled. The larger screen size & resolution is a real bonus for this function, and I've had WAP working fine for the last month. WAP features may vary depending on your service provider, however. I recommend Yahoo's WAP site for loads of functionality and especially the ability to check your POP mail (my ISP does not support WAP mail yet). Look out for the game "Aline Fish Exchange" on Yahoo's WAP games site: it's highly addictive!


Voice recognition.

Although I've already mentioned this under the mp3 heading, the voice recognition capabilities deserve a section on their own as they are still a relatively new feature to mobiles. I am very impressed with this function and it's fantastic if you have a sudden need to make a call and you're in transit and can't reach the phone (specially good if like me you cycle or ride a motorbike) The recognition is surprisingly good, and is quite hard to fool! Not just a great novelty but really useful, and can either start the mp3 or dictaphone, or make a call.


Other Stuff

The SL45 has a bunch of other less spectacular features, which nevertheless merit a mention. You can make and send a businesscard for yourself, which conforms to international vCard standards. It has a calculator and currency converter for all those financial needs. It has the option to record an answering notice which you make with the dictaphone, and then can play in situations when you are unable to answer the phone immediately but still want to keep the caller on the line. SMSes are organised into folders, which can be downloaded as text messages to your PC if you so desire. You also have different profiles you can emply for different environments, and the phone does have Vibrating Alert for those meetings and lectures and whilst being in a movie theatre.

Also, the ringtone melody capacities of the SL45 are excellent. The ringtone editor is stunning and beats anything else I've seen hands down, using full musical notation and stores as midi files - so you can download & share ringtone melodies easily. The only thing I'm surprised it doesn't have is recordable ringtone, as it has the dictaphone and would surely be capable of it. I guess even the most seemingly perfect phone must be missing something


Final Thoughts -

The Siemens SL45 is the sexiest little phone in the shops round here right now and seeing as it only came out last week, will probably be the bees knees for some time to come. Not the cheapest by a long shot, but the plan available Australia-wide with Telstra will make it very tempting for even the less financial of us. I strongly believe this is the phone that will bring Siemens into the big league of cell phone manufacturers, as up til now they have been only a small player. The SL45 is superior to anything else I have come across to date, and I personally think it looks better than not only its rival the Samsung SGH-M100, but better than everything else out there. The upgradability of the memory and huge range of functions indicate to me that this phone will have excellent longevity. Without fail everyone I have showed this phone to, be they technophile or technophobe, have been inordinately impressed. If you are in the market either for a new plan & handset or are wanting to buy your first mobile, there's very little not to recommend this baby. Go and hunt one down and be amazed!


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 75+22pm(24m)