Siemens CX75 review: Bluetooth, MP3 and chrome

There will always be plenty of memory

There is not much to be found on the side parts of the device. On its right side there are two oblong, chromium-covered buttons, which start the camera or activate the Push to talk function. The same pair of buttons regulates the volume of the earphone during a phone call. AT the bottom part of the opposite side of the phone you will only find the slot of the infrared port.

System connector and memory card slot • side buttons • Infrared port • nothing else to be found on phone's left side

At the bottom of the device is mounted the system connector, which is identical with the one in the CX65 series. Above it there is a narrow door, which protects the slot for the memory cards of the RS-MMC type. We did not obtain a memory card together with the test model. The phone however turned out to be fully compatible with a memory card from Nokia 6630. Similar to Siemens S65, the CX75 model can use regular size MMC cards. The problem is that such cards overrun the frame of the phone.

Memory cards are inserted from below; they can be removed while the device is working

The memory card is most exercised as a storage space for multimedia data. As for the messages, the phonebook, the applications and the rest of the emergency data, they all use the internal memory of the phone, whose capacity is 14 MB, according to the official description, provided by the manufacturer. The indicator in the tested device, however, measured 8.29 MB only.

Memory control • Drive info

Smaller display, big keypad

The display has undergone many modifications. The most remarkable one is the increase of the pixel density, which used to be frequently battered in the older Siemens models. Unfortunately, the fineness of the picture has not been managed by increasing its resolution, but by decreasing its size. Unlike the forerunner, this model's display is finer indeed. The grating among the pixels becomes visible only after extremely close examination. The color performance is also better - the new model is capable of viewing 262K, which is a significant step forward, compared to the 65K in the older one. What a pity the display is so small. The one of the forerunner could have fit into this new body and provided it had featured higher resolution, the result could have become a heavy weapon against the competition.

Display at direct daylight • the picture is finer than the one of the forerunner

Just the opposite is the situation with the keypad, which uses the entire surface available on the front cover of the phone. The numeric keys are big enough. Even if you have bigger fingers, you will not happen to press the wrong key. Each line is slightly bulged, easing this way user's tactile orientation; the columns are separated by clear-cut channels. The keys require a bit stronger pressure. On the other hand, they respond with a clear reaction accompanied by a click. The click sound of the keys is quite loud and could become a disturbing factor in certain discrete moments.

Keypad is brilliant; the keys of the numeric keypad are big and comfortable to use

The main element of the functional part of the keypad is the joystick. The joystick of the testing piece is placed a bit off its middle which reminded us of the forerunner Siemens CX65, which suffered this infirmity even after having been launched on the market. Due to the jelly cap the joystick is equipped with your finger will not slide sideways. Yet, it is much too imbedded, which makes it a little bit difficult to control. Moving the joystick sideways is effortless, confirming choices by pressing it is sure and, finally, your finger sits firmly on it and does not slip the wrong way.

Joystick is much too imbedded

There are five functional buttons around the joystick: two context keys, highlighted by juts, the green and the red earphone and a button for quick access to the internet browser, which you won't even notice at first sight. It is praiseworthy that the internet button does not interfere with the rest of the keys preventing this way the user from pressing it unwontedly.

Pressing the joystick opens the main menu; each way has a fixedly assigned particular function: phonebook, camera, ringing tones and event list (messages, missed calls etc.). Both the functions of the context buttons and those assigned to the individual keys of the numeric keypad are possible to change.

The backlighting of the keypad is white, making both the legends of the keys and the gaps between them dazzle.

Backlighting is intensive enough

The graphic designers were on a holiday

When you turn on the phone, the device follows the standard procedure of asking you, whether you are being serious of your intention. Provided you confirm your decision, the phone welcomes you into the old familiar environment. Nothing has changed: the indicators stating the coverage and the battery or the state icons are displayed in the top state line; below them is the logo of the GSM operator. In the bottom state line are the legends of the context keys' functions; above are given the details about the current date and time. As usual, you can use your favorite wallpaper as a background.

Quite an unpleasant surprise is waiting for you in the menu. It is standard, with a matrix of 9 units. We used to comment on Siemens CX65 because of its weirdly designed menu, which looked as comics. We also criticized the main menu of the S65 model for being much too abrupt; its icons were quite rough and difficult to differ one from another. The main menu of the new CX75 model resembles the one of S65 model. Its icons are small. They are white, with light grey shades and orange decorative elements. The problem here is that one hardly tells them apart. When selected, the icons get slightly bigger and get wrapped into a pale blue color shade. I am far from being a fan of the coloring books many Asian mobile phones are full with, but I still think that too strong stylization maligns.

Stand-by display and main menu

If you run into difficulties with recognizing the symbols of the individual icons, help yourself with their descriptions, which appear in the upper left corner of the display. Displayed in the upper right corner is the number of the according shortcut selection. The nested menus are texts only. The display can view seven lines. If you feel the font is much too small, you can view the menu in one line only and get this way a really big font. The overall picture can be automatically changed in accordance with the ringing profiles.

In fact, the structure of all menus in the new phone is identical with the one in Siemens S65. The standard graphic scheme has not been modified either, which means it is inverse, again. The phone offers five preinstalled graphic themes to choose from.

Two more graphic themes; you can choose out of an overall number of six

Pictures taken with a megapixel

One of the most interesting innovations, which differs the CX75 model from its forerunners is the megapixel camera. The camera of the previous models used to work with the standard VGA resolution only. The new Siemens mobile takes pictures of 1280 Χ 960 pixels, i.e. in a 1.23 MP resolution, and not 1.3 MP, as stated on the back cover of the device.

Camera's view finder • setting options

Camera's environment is identical with the one of the previous Siemens models. You can lower the resolution, set a color mode, a self timer, or balance the white color tone of the pictures. The camera lacks both a night mode and a diode for additional lighting. By using the joystick you can change the compensation of the exposure as well as activate the digital zoom, which works on the crop principle only.

Sample photos

The sample photos show a significant improvement compared to the S65 model. The noise is lower and the colors are remarkably true. The stronger worm color shades, which were typical for all older Siemens models, are this time evident in one of the sample photos only.

View finder in the video mode • setting options within the video record

Siemens CX75 records videos in a 176 Χ 144 pixels resolution, offering the user various setup options. The duration of a video record, however, is limited not only by the available free memory, but also by a 90 seconds time interval.

Calling is a game

While we were testing the phone call process, the sound that came out of the speaker was relatively clear, but it would have come in handy if it was a little bit louder. Especially louder should have been the build-in handsfree, which is otherwise pointless. On the other side, there are no croaky or creaky sounds, which other models give out, especially when the volume is up.

Ringing is based on 40 voices or can be assigned any sound or piece of music in a MP3 format. The volume of the ringing melodies is surprisingly good. When the volume is set at maximum, however, the sound becomes distorted. There is no doubt a bit more bass elements could have bettered it as well. The ringing profiles are a matter of course.

Ringer settings • ringing profiles

Further on I am going to write about something I have already commented three times. The structure of the phonebook, the calendar and the rest of the organizing functions is just the same as in the older Siemens models. If you need more details, look them up in the Siemens S65 review .

I am not going to comment on the phonebook. It fully repeats the phonebook of the forerunner and does not offer much space for improvements. You can choose whether to use it in the phone or on the SIM card. I believe making the right decision will not take you a long time, considering the fact that the phone can take in up to a 1000 of multi-item entries. Each entry can be assigned a name and a surname, 5 numbers, two email addresses, a web address, nicknames for the communicational programs, a company name and a street address. You can even enter a birthday date, which is saved in the calendar and then serves as a birthday reminder. Assigning a picture to each entry is a possible. The picture is displayed every time the contact calls you.

Searching the phonebook • contact view • contact editing

The phone does not offer an option for assigning a particular ringing melody to a particular contact. The contacts, however, can be sorted into groups, each one of which can be additionally given a certain melody. There are 8 available groups. Each group can be given a melody and a special graphic symbol. Incoming calls can also be filtered according to the preset groups.

Groups of contacts • selecting the phonebook

All kinds of messages

The new Siemens is well prepared for work with messages thank to its forerunners. It manages all text messages including EMS as well as multimedia messages and emails. It seems that the phone does not hide any unpleasant surprises as far as the T9 dictionary is concerned, which is nothing but praiseworthy for the messages do not get shortened and writing is fast.

All functions are prepared in the message menu. When creating a new message, you can choose what type you want it to be. The phone then sorts the individual types of messages into folders, which you can list when searching in the incoming mail. Just like in the models of 65 series, you can choose out of three font sizes to help you crate a new message. This option is however not applicable when reading messages.

Writing SMS • creating MMS • writing emails • setting the font size consists of three steps

The text editor is well organized. An entire message can fit into the display, if written with a small font. When writing a message, the editor bases its countdown on the overall limit of characters available, so you will need to count yourself how many characters you have left before another SMS is started. The editor informs you about the number of already written partial messages.

The MMS editor comes out without any significant modifications. Texts, sounds, pictures and videos can be inserted into each multimedia message. The only preset limit you are given is the size of the message - max. 300 kB.

The email client has not been modified or improved either. It manages up to 5 accounts, works with POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP protocols and handles attachments.

Time organizer

For most users, the most important time organizing function in a mobile is the alarm clock. In this respect, Siemens will perfectly meet most customers' requirements. It offers a classical alarm clock, which can be assigned various melodies and preset to get activated on particular days. It will even wake you up when the phone is off, unless you have activated the airplane mode of the phone.

Alarm clock

The calendar is remarkably well organized, even though it does not feature any innovations. It offers a month, week and a day view. When you select a day, the event assigned to this particular day appears in the bottom part of the display. The calendar's view is clear. Yet, on the larger displays of the older Siemens models it used to be even clearer.

A month… • …week… • … and day view at the calendar • entering a new reminder

You can enter up to six different types of reminders into the calendar: from a simple text reminder up to a call, meeting, birthday or holiday reminder. It is also possible to record voice notes.

The phone is equipped with a standard task organizer.

The tasks can have various priorities, according to which they are additionally sorted. The phone also offers a text note manager function. In it, however, for some unclear reasons the text can consist of no more but 160 characters. A matter of course is the voice memo option, which allows for saving any number of records, whose duration is then limited by the size of the available shared memory only.

Organizer menu • task organizer • notes

Extra functions and multimedia

The extra functions menu does not lack anything significant: a calculator, a unit converter or time zones indicator. The phone has also a stopwatch and a countdown timer. Once again, none of them has been changed since the older Siemens models of the 65 series.

Extras menu

The innovation here is the multimedia player, which allows you to create various playlists of your favorite pieces. Yet, its functions are not so numerous. The joystick helps switch from one piece to another or regulate the volume. It is also possible to start or stop a playlist entry, or set it to repeat. Unfortunately, the player does not run on background when using other applications. It also turns off when the context menu has been selected.

Playlist • playing music • context menu

We still do not know whether Siemens plans to deliver earphones together with the CX75 model. If it does, it may be easily possible to use the phone as a common MP3 player. I tried to play music through the loud speaker only.

I should not forget to mention the Push to talk function. Its concept is similar to the one in the CX70 model, which means it is significantly different from the concept of Nokia mobile phones.

Push to talk menu

If you happen to miss a certain function in this phone, you can download it as a java application. The manufacturer has prepared several interesting programs - a simple picture editor and a cocktail manager, for example.

Applications menu • Cocktail Manager • picture editor

Still, Java is most used with games. The phone offers three games, none of which is new. All three have already appeared in one or another of the older Siemens models.

Games menu • demonstration of the Worms game • the Siemens 3D Rally game

Connectivity

Bluetooth is the application that grips you the most in the data services menu of this Siemens mobile. By the way, this technology was not present in the previous model. The phone also offers an infrared port and can be easily connected to a computer through a cable.

Connectivity menu

What the phone lacks is software, which helps manage the device from a computer. Apparently, a completely new version of the said software is being currently prepared for Siemens CX75 denies communicating with the software created for the older series of the brand. It should also be possible to synchronize the phone with Outlook and Lotus programs, as it used to be with other Siemens models. The menu contains an option for distant synchronization, as well.

The two-way file traffic between the phone and the computer ran without any problems, both through infrared port and Bluetooth. I also tested Bluetooth using the earphone and everything worked according to my expectations.

Data communication in the GSM net is represented by GPRS Class 10; the phone does not have EDGE. Feel free to use the phone with your computer, provided the latter needs a hardware modem. The phone is equipped with an internet browser. WAP is a matter of course.

A mobile for everyone?

Siemens CX75 represents both the older CX65 model and its manager sibling - the S65 model. It offers plenty of improved functions, being suitable not only for work, but for multimedia activities, as well. The design of Siemens CX75 is somewhat controversial and will hardly appeal to everyone, which may hinder the sales. Anyway, we are being offered a pretty good mobile, which does not lack any significant feature any modern phone should have.

Luxury or kitsch …

This new model is going to be launched at the end of June or the beginning of July and is expected to cost approximately 250 euros. Considering the quantity of functions the phone is going to offer, its price is quite reasonable. Siemens CX75's most serious competitors will be the older high-class models of the other mobile brands, whose prices have fallen since they first hit the market.