Siemens S65

Discontinued
18th March 2004

The Siemens S65 is a 1.3 megapixel camera phone with a large 132x176 pixel display, complete with Bluetooth and a 32Mb exchangeable memory card.

In design terms it's very much like the Sony Ericsson T610 and T630 models, although in technical terms it is hugely better. Siemens are pitching the S65 at businesses, and have designed the handset to be smart but conservative looking.

If you compare the Siemens S65 against the similarly specified Nokia 7610 you'll see that the Siemens is a much more conventional handset on the outside, but roughly on a par on the inside. We feel that Siemens is making the right pitch with the S65 as phone that will fit into the business environment.

There's more, the S65 though than a nice screen and camera. It comes with a full set of PIM functions that synchronise with Microsoft Outlook or Lotus notes, plus it supports Push-To-Talk (PTT) through an optional Bluetooth headset.

Talk time is a useful six hours, with 10 days standby time, and the S65 is wrapped up in a 109x45x18mm package weighing 98 grams.

The Siemens S65 is certainly not the most exciting looking phone we've ever seen - which is really the point. It's a clever combination of features and styling that means that Siemens has a very strong challenger to Nokia's range in the workplace - both by having better specifications than most Nokias, and by its understated styling.

This is a good, practical all-round phone that offers a lot but doesn't shout about it.