Litmus Test Review

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Siemens C25 | A35 | S35i | C35i | M35i | S40


Siemens C25


“Hello! Is it me you’re looking for?” asks the C25. You may wonder how it looks so small, and wonder how it does so much, but let us start by saying, it loves music. If Lionel Richie sang his famous love song in the new millennium, he’d do it over this mobile phone. For six of the top international DJs were inspired by the C25 and chose ring tones in Techno, Drum ‘n Bass, Funk, and Oriental styles. Perhaps the sensitive sculptress in Lionel Richie’s rock video stirred the product designer as well. Gentle curves complemented with neatly protruding keys make it comfortable to hold and use. Thoughtfully, the screen display is safely embedded a few millimetres within the casing. With its ultra-low price tag and youthful looks, this mobile is all set to burn to the top of the pops, as the object of your desire.


Siemens A35


Careful! You may just lose that red plastic sheath that slides out from behind the battery compartment and falls into your hands. You need to insert the SIM card into this sheath, and then slide the sheath back into the instrument. Not an elegant procedure for something as simple as popping a SIM card into a mobile. The font for on-screen text display lacks clarity, and you may just confuse a ‘W’ for a ‘V’, or an ‘M’ for an ‘N’ among others. The screen may also be a tad small for verbose SMS chatters. The A35 offers a frugal set of options in its menus as well, which are pared to the bare minimum. Likewise, the battery’s stand-by and talk-time are just about adequate for normal phone use. Colourful and snazzy changeable faces try to make up for its lack of excitement. But then, you may just lose the faces, too.


Siemens S35i


Discover a soul mate in this cell phone. Apart from allowing you to get in touch with anyone, anywhere on this planet, it reminds you of appointments, pops up a calendar on its 7-line display, converts currencies as you travel, offers a calculator, takes voice memos, screens your calls, allows you to browse the net, and can even SMS your business card to other mobiles, or prints it out on any compatible office printer that supports infrared connection via the IrDA standard. An on-screen help makes it easy for even novices to figure out all its features. That alone is worth the price. A fully charged battery can provide upto 220 hours standby, or 6 hours talk time. Yet it weighs 99 grams, and discreetly fits into your shirt pocket. An alarm clock, stopwatch, and countdown meter help you manage time, and a choice of games helps you pass time when it seems to stand still.


Siemens C35i


Ram Lakhan. The C35i, and the S35i reviewed earlier go hand-in-hand as the Ram Lakhan of cell phones. The C35i has almost everything that the S35i has, except the C35i is more emotional. Yes, the C35i has about twenty emotional pictures which you can send in messages, rather than the usual plain text. You can let out steam by creating rudimentary cartoon images to identify incoming callers. A short stub of an antenna sticks out from the top in a cocky poise. The phone lacks the infrared support of the S35i, weighs in at 110 grams, and displays a compact five lines of text. Thankfully, the display’s sharp enough for you not to confuse “One Two ka Four.” Like its sibling, it has excellent call reception, and enough juice in the battery to push through three to five days of normal phone use, and over a week of pure stand-by time.


Siemens M35i


When it rains in Delhi, it really pours. As you get sloshed with an unexpected downpour, does the sudden clap of thunder horrifyingly remind you of that delicate cell phone in your shirt pocket? Get smart. Get the C35i in a raincoat, sans the antenna stub, known otherwise as the M35i. The battery lid comes in a rubber finish, and the inside compartment sports rubber linings as well. You need a coin or the conveniently provided Siemens plastic disc to screw open the battery lid. A helpful pouch in the box also contains rubber covers for the charger slot and the external antenna slot. But don’t jump into the pool with the M35i to beat the heat. Nevertheless, it can handle some rough handling on the road, though the screen may just be prone to scratches. So choose the M35i if you want to get Wet, Wild, and WAPped this monsoon.


Siemens S40


The aliens have landed. These superior life-forms have cleverly disguised themselves as advanced WAP mobile phones, and morphed their three oval-shaped eyes into navigation buttons on the S40. Yet that ethereal blue glow still emanates from their beings, and the blue see-through epidermis skin reveals complex and dazzling digital circuits. Their Triband ability gives them the freedom to roam Planet Earth. A silent alert function, 97 grams weight, and an incredibly shrunken size allow them to discreetly slip into shirt pockets. A fully featured address book stores upto a thousand entries on earthling contacts. About five minutes of human speech can be stored as a voice and conversation memo. An infrared interface via IrDA allows wireless data transfer. A High Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD) sustains upto 57.6 kbits/s speeds. The S40 intelligently synchronizes with Microsoft Outlook for calendar and address book entries. Experience a close encounter of the third kind by calling someone from your S40.