Siemens af 51 phone functions.Siemens af51 cell phone

Indeed, the keyboard is comfortable. One hand is enough to dial a number or SMS. All buttons are mirrored black, located close to one another and occupy almost the entire inner surface of the phone. The navigator is four-position, mirror-silver color, easy to use. The rest of the keys are large, easy to press, mistakes are practically excluded. The backlighting is blue, uniform, small Russian letters are clearly visible in different lighting conditions.

As they write in telephone reviews, "terrible external CSTN display" with a matrix of 96x64 pixels and support for 65K colors - in fact, it turned out to be not so terrible. The internal screen differs from the external only in its resolution of 130x130 pixels. In the sun, the picture really fades, but in any light, you can find a position in which the text will be seen quite clearly. Through the menu, it is possible to adjust both the brightness and the contrast of the image, you must agree that for an inexpensive phone it is a rare opportunity. You can see a large clock on the external display even without a backlight, in the dark it is enough to open the phone a little to illuminate the screen for a few seconds.

The phone supports Internet access via GPRS class 8 (1 slot for uploading, 4 for downloading, 8-12 Kbps transmission - 32-40 Kbps reception). GPRS can be disabled through the menu, a trifle, but nice. It was not possible to check the Internet functionality. Access to the network is available both at home and at work. On the way, I use the steering wheel of the car, and not the phone buttons and do not feel an urgent need for the Internet. I will write below about using the phone as a modem.

The phone stores information about received, missed and unanswered calls, up to 10 numbers in each section. There is also a call duration counter. Counting is possible for the last call, all incoming and all outgoing calls. All incoming with date and time. The volume of the phone's memory is about 2 MB, after deleting something, I have more than 500 KB at my disposal.

The alarm clock is simple for one call every day, it is possible to turn off the phone by timer, the alarm clock works even when the phone is turned off. For quick access to the alarm clock or other menu items, you can assign the left function key or create a voice tag. The recognition quality is comparable to much more expensive devices. For me, this is a rather convenient calendar, I call it exclusively with my voice. For each event in the calendar, you can set the type - notes, call, appointment, birthday or anniversary. It can be repeated - daily, weekly, monthly and even annually. Missed reminders in a separate list.

There are few preset ringtones, but you can record your own from the microphone. I came across a similar function on other devices - a very mediocre implementation. Here I experimented with the volume of the sound, and it turned out to be quite acceptable. It is possible to assign different signals to different events. The list is shorter than for dynamic light, but personally, this is enough for me.

Emergency PhoneBook is a good size converter, quite complete and, in addition to metric values, contains information about the sizes of clothes and shoes in different countries, as far as I need it, I find it difficult to answer. And for those who shop for things with import marks without consulting the seller, it may be interesting to know that English-made men's shoes with a dimension of 9.5 correspond to our 43rd size.

Two games as a gift from the manufacturer - Sea Battle (sea battle) with a phone and Wappo 2 - a rather entertaining logic game. The main character needs to escape from one or two villains by moving the sacred fire and using the time portals. The level of difficulty grows as you progress and towards the end, the game becomes quite difficult, but interesting, for lovers of this kind of toys and entertainment in general.

What's not to like? Weaknesses, disadvantages.

Now about the bad.

The biggest nuisance is the weak battery. 660 mAh Li-Ion Polymer battery from BenQ lasts no more than 2 days, when using the phone only for calls for about 15 minutes a day, in my opinion, for a device that is not burdened big amount functions and a high-resolution screen are very few. Perhaps the "difficult childhood" of the phone affected its capacity, but judging by other reviews, this is a congenital disease.

Believe me, I was not going to check the quality of the connection with AF51. It's just that on the very first day of communication with the phone, they could not get through to me. I knew that the signal level in this place was below average, and sometimes old phone dropped out of the network, but so often ... I began to look closely. No, I didn’t walk around the basements and catacombs with several phones in one hand, and didn’t make a meticulous comparison of signal levels by the number of sticks. But I can definitely say that in the same places the AF51 loses the network more often than the old Alcatel OT 512 and the rather old Nokia 6610 of my wife. SonyEricsson's J300 was specially drawn for comparison; this kid with a Loop antenna turned out to be the most resistant to loss from the network. Where the signal level is average in strength, all phones behave the same, but on the verge of receiving AF51 more often than others it lost the network. Moreover, if you do not put the phone on the table, but put it in a "column", the reception is somewhat improved. As a last resort, you can change the operator to another one that provides the best radio coverage in your area. And if this does not help, then you will have to change the phone ...

As I already wrote, the design of the phone is interesting, but the dark mirrored surfaces both outside and inside make it very easily soiled. I wash my hands regularly, but the whole phone is just littered with fingerprints and greasy stains. If the phone is not constantly wiped, then it looks sloppy.

The communication capabilities of this device seem to be very illusory. There is no infrared port, like the AX75 has. For Bluetooth, the price category is not the same. But the phone has a COM port! But I could not buy the DCA-100 data cable intended for BenQ-Siemens AF51. In the eighth or ninth store selling telephone accessories, I realized that it was not possible to buy a data cable either earlier, now or in the near future. With corded headsets, the situation is the same! The cable was found only in online stores, at a price (including shipping costs) from 600 to 1000 rubles (this is when the cost of the phone itself is about 90 USD). Of course, those who really need it, for example, patching lovers, will probably buy it, especially since there is an unofficially modified DCA-110 on sale (with a USB connection and charging function), at a price of about 800 rubles. But for an ordinary BenQ-Siemens owner, using a GPRS modem or synchronizing a phone with a PC will not be easy and expensive.

When opened, the phone emits a squeezed squeak. The top cover crawls along the bottom of the phone, while the battery cover is loose and suspiciously easy to open.

In general, one feels that the model is outdated. The processor works more than leisurely, constantly throwing out the inscription: "Please wait" - with or without reason. It took me more than half a minute to load the game (from the moment I opened the phone to the start of the level). A weak processor and a small amount of memory will severely limit gamers in their choice of software.

MP3 as a call is now almost the norm even for this price group. WAV format melodies loaded into the phone must be 4 bits and only mono, otherwise the phone will refuse to play them.

There is a function of recording sounds for a call, but no voice recorder. Why? Unclear! The call strength is average, the speaker in the phone is one and is located in the cover, which, as you understand, is closed in the normal position, and all the power goes to sounding itself. There is no way to compensate for this with a good vibrating alert, but, alas, it is not one of the strongest. Unfortunately, I have already missed several calls in noisy places.

What are you missing in it?

A rather serious notebook, in my opinion, should be synchronized with a PC in a simpler and more convenient way than buying a data cable via the Internet for a third of the cost of the phone itself.

A good battery is not a luxury. For me, let the weight of the phone be a little more, although perhaps someone is interested in the low weight of the device.

What phone features do you use frequently? What phone features do you use occasionally? What functions are you not using at all?

Functions implemented in this phone so bad that you have to use them only occasionally or not use them at all - no. And what I use often or not at all does not depend on the phone.

Did the phone have to be repaired? What kind of troubles happened with the phone? What glitches have you noticed?

Siemens mobile products are notoriously raw software to good hardware, alas, this device is no exception. The phone spontaneously turned off three times, and in a variety of situations, not related to each other. Twice the clock on the external display stopped counting the time, but as soon as the lid was opened, the time was restored. Compared with complete shutdown- sheer trifle, but without it it would be better.

Try to compare your phone with other models that you have used.

Let's see what you can buy besides Siemens AF51 for the same money.

Motorola L2 has onboard Bluetooth, built-in memory of 10 MB, MP3-files as a call, interesting design. True, it is more expensive than AF51, but there will be no problems either with phone synchronization or with choosing a comfortable headset.

Nokia 6030 - quite a bit more expensive, but it has TFT screen, FM radio, Li-Ion 900 mAh battery, differences that are less interesting for me personally, but as an option for the same money, it is more profitable.

Formally, the list can be continued with the phones of Korean, Japanese and Chinese manufacturers, but to finish off "SIEMENS" with handicrafts from the East - somehow the soul does not lie.

What else can you say?

The phone was released at the end of the former glory of Siemens mobile phones. The title of the review describes the situation with the cell phone division of the German company. Even people far from the world of mobile phones probably heard the news about the bankruptcy and the closure of the telephone business. The merger with Taiwanese BenQ did not save the situation. The only asset of the alliance - the trademark "SIEMENS" - was replaced by the distrustful one among potential buyers "BenQ-Siemens". Foreign sellers, of course, know better, but the volume of sales fell, but the cost did not decrease, and very soon such familiar and close to the Russian user German pipes with the Siemens logo (there are quite a few fans of this brand, you can verify this by visiting the sites http: // www .siemens-club.org and http://allsiemens.com) will disappear from the shelves. The harsh laws of the market ignore the interests of the minority. But I will have a copy of a GSM phone with a silver SIEMENS inscription.

Unfortunately, today Siemens AF51 is not the best in its niche. Not surprisingly, it is outdated. I can recommend this device only to those who are interested in dynamic light, the design has sunk into the soul and there is no money for a more advanced model, and will not be. I recommend everyone else to look for a more recent solution, perhaps for a little more money.

If the phone was evaluated at the time of its release, then my AF51 would have been - 8 points. Now the situation has changed, and not in favor of this phone.

Thank you for your interest in my review.

Tolik