BenQ-Siemens S88

Full release cancelled, very limited availability
19th January 2006
Discuss this phone in our forum

One of the first three handsets to be launched under the BenQ-Siemens brand, the S88 is a substantially better handset than many we've seen from the Siemens camp recently. Pitched at the upper-midrange market, the BenQ-Siemens S88 competes directly against the likes of the Sony Ericsson K750i.

In fact, from the S88's specfication sheet, you'd have a hard time telling the BenQ-Siemens handset apart from the Sony Ericsson one.

Both the S88 and K750i feature a 2 megapixel camera with LED flash, a 176x220 pixel 262,000 colour display, expandable memory (microSD on the S88), MP3/multimedia player and Bluetooth. Both handsets have good battery life (7.5 hours talktime for the S88, 9.0 for the K750i). Both weigh around the same (105 grams for the BenQ-Siemens S88, 99 grams for the Sony Ericsson K750i). Both are similar sizes and colours too.

There are some important differences - the display on the S88 is an OLED panel, on the K750i it's a more traditional TFT unit. A lot will depend on the quality of the OLED display in the S88, and that's very much an unknown factor at this point. The K750i also comes with an FM radio and lens cover for the camera. Most significantly, the Sony Ericsson phone does seem to be better designed from a cosmetic point of view - although there are still some distinctive Siemens styling elements in the S88.

It's pretty clear that BenQ-Siemens intend to pitch the S88 directly against the SE K750i - a handset that has been very popular with users. It's impossible to say at the moment how the S88 will compare against the competition, as the quality of the S88's camera and screen are unknown at this point. A lot will be riding on price - really, BenQ-Siemens need to sell the S88 at a significantly lower price than the K750i in order to compete - we think that the S88 should be pitched at around €320 before taxes and subsidy, compared to around €370 for the Sony Ericsson.

On paper, the BenQ-Siemens S88 looks like a pretty good phone - but in the past, BenQ handsets have often proved to be pretty poor in quality terms when they come to market. By competing against the K750i, the S88 is going up against one of the best phones on the market (in our opinion) - which will be a difficult market segment to crash. However, the S88 shows great promise and we hope to see many more interesting handsets from BenQ-Siemens during 2006.

 Subscribe to our newsletter for more news on upcoming releases
Discuss this phone in our forum