Siemens
CX70 Emoty
Discontinued 13th
September 2004
The Siemens CX70 Emoty
is an unusual phone, based on the newly
announced Siemens
CX70, but with some interesting
hardware and software enhancements.
Like the normal CX70, the Emoty shares
the large 132x176 pixel colour display,
VGA resolution camera and Push-To-Talk
(PTT). We'd regard the CX70 as being
a decent midrange phone, if a little
dull. However, the CX70 Emoty is certainly
anything but dull.
Physically, the Emoty is bigger.
That's because it comes with a special
case with integrated shake, press and
stroke sensors. The keys on the front
of the handset have "emoticons"
added too.
The Emoty's software is different,
with a range of avatars (Siemens call
them "phone pilots") that
interact with the user and pass SMS
and MMS messages. The avatars are also
sensitive to the mood of the user as
expressed through the case, and these
avatars can be sent to other phones
as MMS messages. It's a pretty strange
but could be great fun. Siemens seem
to be pitching this phone both at children
and people who enjoy cute gadgets.
It's not all cute though, as the
CX70 Emoty shares the CX70's 3D graphics
acceleration, and it comes with Siemens
3D Rally, with other 3D games promised
- some of which will use the Emoty's
special case to help with gameplay.
The CX70 Emoty is heavier than the
normal CX70 at 116 grams (as opposed
to 90 grams). Size isn't specified at
time of going to press, but clearly
the CX70 Emoty is a little larger. Battery
life should be the same at the CX70
at around 5.5 hours talk and 12 days
standby.
Cute features aside, the CX70 is
interesting for other reasons too. It's
highly unusual for a manufacturer to
modify a phone in this way, and to some
extent the CX70 Emoty is a showcase
for Siemens ability to be clever and
customise handsets according to market.
The Emoty isn't the only modified
phone in the Siemens line-up. Siemens
already make two modfied variants of
the C65
handset, one for Vodafone (the Siemens
CV65) and another for T-Mobile (the
Siemens
CT65), and a T-Mobile variant of
the CX65
called the CXT65.
In these case, the modifications are
basically cosmetic case design and software,
but the CX70 Emoty shows just how far
Siemens can go. This seems to be a clever
way to give carriers custom handsets
while keeping development costs down,
and perhaps only Samsung rival Siemens'
ability in this respect.
We don't know if the CX70 Emoty will
be a hit in the shops or not, but it
shows some innovative thinking from
Siemens.
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