Siemens SF65

Discontinued
15th September 2004

Siemens have joined the ranks of manufacturers making twisting clamshells with this unusual handset, the Siemens SF65. This is quite a break in design terms of Siemens.. previous clamshells have been a little dull, but the SF65 is certainly interesting.

The SF65 has a 1.3 megapixel camera with an LED flash and 4X digital zoom. Internal memory is 18Mb which Siemens say is good enough for 55 high-quality images, which isn't too bad. The swivelling main display allows the CF65 to be used pretty much like a conventional camera, with the screen acting as a large digital viewfinder. Although we've seen swivelling phones before, this is the first time we've seen such a practical combination.

So far, so good. But unfortunately the SF65 isn't quite as good as it could be. First of all, this is a dual-band GSM 900/1800 phone which is a little disappointing.  Secondly, there's no removable memory which would be ideal for a phone with this high quality camera. And finally, and we think most importantly, the SF65 only comes with a 128x160 pixel display.

It's worth dwelling on the display a little. 128x160 pixels is pretty much bottom-of-the-range these days, and we think that the minimum resolution for a 1.3 megapixel camera phone should be about the same as the Nokia 6260, which is 176x208 pixels. Presumably the cost of megapixel camera sensors is a lot less than higher resolution displays. However, it's not a bad phone.. and it shows great potential from Siemens.

Physically, the Siemens SF65 is 91x44x23mm and 95 grams. Talktime is up to 4 hours, with up to 16 days standby. It supports GPRS data, has an infra-red connection, WAP browser and email client. Of course, MMS, Java and polyphonics are all supported as you might expect.

Siemens have been hugely productive lately, and the SF65 has some interesting features. In itself, the SF65 is a capable and attractive handset, but it also shows that Siemens are capable of a few surprises.

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