Siemens SX56
Average Ratings
SWEET PHONE
PDa is Nice has windows,,,WARNING VERY EASY TO screw up! iv had to send mine to siemens twice now
A Simple Review
If you are a business person, invest in a better PDA/Phone like a Handspring Treo 600.
If you're like me and you just want to look cool with your phone/pda, buy this device.
With new service on AT&T Wireless's website it's only $99. You can upgrade for $99 through customer care as well.
Do NOT pass this up! A $500+ device for $99!
Love it!
I've owned the SX56 for 11 months now on the AT&T network. I love it - I have stopped carrying my laptop around for email access and now rely solely on the SX56.
Size: Very good - I carry it every day in my pants pocket. It fits very easily in a sport jacket/suit pocket. I can also carry it in a shirt pocket if it is a heavy shirt, but the unit is a bit heavy for this.
PDA functionality: fantastic. I use email, outlook, games, Windows Media Player for music extensively. I have a 512k SD card that is full of music. You need to get a headset jack adapter to fit standard headphones (www.pocketpctechs.com).
Wireless Internet Browsing: I find it pretty useless - too slow. The AT&T GPRS network just isn't up to the task. You can get at wireless optimized sites, but even these are too slow. I only use this for emergencies - ie. when I have to get a flight schedule, or movie time online.
Email: Great. They had a problem with sending POP3 email for about 6 months, but it is now fixed and works great. Sending/Receiving email is easy and great from pretty much anywhere. The performance is great.
Phone functionality: Very Good. In SF Bay area AT&T has good coverage. I have recently moved to Amherst, MA and the coverage is weak. I might have to move to the Verizon network (which should improve the internet browsing). Using the phone is easy - I disagree with the other reviewer that said the touchscreen is not good - I find it great.
Overall, I will never be without a combination PDA/Phone device, I am a convert. It really comes down to who has the best phone coverage in your area and go with their supported phone.
The best phone ever
Everything you could ever want in a phone the Siemens SX56 has it. I had this phone for a few weeks now and I just can't put it down. I just upgraded it's memory to 256MB and I can listen to my mp3's while surfing the net on the go, or watch a short video with windows media player While at work. The Games for this phone is almost endless. Emailing from your phone is only a click away. The best thing in my opinion is the speaker phone in the phone. No need for a head set just hold the talk button and your hands free of talking.
So far I only had 1 drop call with this phone.
The phone last about one day of use before needing to be recharge.
For the price of the phone make sure you will plan to be with the wireless company for a long time. I think it's worth the money, just get insurance on it went they start offering it in January.
If you want the best one of a kind cell phone ever then pick this phone. It's something your kids and whole family can enjoy too.
A Work of Art!
As an employee of AT&T Wireless, I was excited to hear that we were going to FINALLY get a decent piece of equipment to compete with the other carriers. Iâve had my SX56 for a week now and am completely blown away! Prior to getting this phone, I was dragging around my PDA and cellular like conjoined twins. When the opportunity came along to combine both needs into one wicked-cool device, I jumped at it. For a while I weighed the price against the need but decided that it was worth it. My original plan was to sign up for Earthlink and buy a modem for my internet access which would have run me about $49.99 p/mo. Figure in under a year, I would have spent enough to buy a Siemens SX56 and would still be paying afterwards. I get free unlimited Voice AND Data with AT&T, you do the math. This was a no-brainer. Now on to the phone. Call quality is excellent. Reception is clear. The phone fits comfortably in my rather large hands. The stylus holder inside the antenna stub was a brilliant idea. I spent about 2 hours last night updating contacts and email with the backlight on and only used 5% of the battery. The unit fits snugly in the holder, but you donât need a screwdriver to get it out. This device was well thought-out and gorgeous. I have a crowd of people around me when they find out that Iâm using my PDA to place calls. Awesome!
It's a great phone!
I've had the phone for two years, what a wonderful phone/pocket PC. With the 1 GB SD card I felt like I'm taking my most important office documents home with me all the time. With the large screen display, internet was a great feature to use on the road, friends e-mailed me information I needed on the fly too if I was driving so I don't have to surf the net for it. Phone was always clear, very easy to use. Pocket PC 2003 version was the best (back then) with Word and Excel. The only drawback it was slightly big to carry around but I loved it.
pretty good, but bad reception
It's a good strong unit (I've dropped it a few times and still works good), but it simply was not designed to pickup the gsm signal very well. I have since bought the audiovox ppc4100, which has great reception. The sx56 does have a better speaker than my ppc4100, which just doesn't get loud enough for me, even in speaker phone mode. Also, the sx56 has a screen that seems to wear down easier than my ppc4100. All in all, my ppc4100 is quite better than my sx56.
Disappointment
This phone is a great PDA. But I bought a phone. Mere dual band GSM. Unacceptable signal strength and reception almost anywhere you go. As a phone it is marginal at best.
Still beta quality?
The biggest advantage of this phone is an all in one device at a great price. Once I got it I never wanted to go back to carrying my iPaq and a phone. It's big, but sits reasonably in my front pocket (I'm a big guy). I like being able to call any contact and having phone numbers cross referenced. The battery life is a little better than I expected (compared to the iPAQ). As a PDA it's pretty decent (especially at the price).
As a phone...
- service coverage could be better. It's GSM, and AT&T's GSM is problematic (although it seemed to get better a month or two after I got the phone).
- the phone locks up and quits working, but you often can't tell until you try to make a call and can't connect. Rebooting fixes the problem, but you've missed six calls in the mean time...
- the phone reboots on it's own, for no reason. And you miss calls until you power it on manually.
- the UI could be better. You can only dial contacts, and only save numbers to contacts. Standard Windows style editing of phone numbers is not supported.
- it's a good thing the vibrator is so loud, because you usually can't feel it. On the belt clip I NEVER felt it vibrate, even when I knew it was. In my pocket I sometimes feel it vibrate. More missed calls.
- ActiveSync stopped for a few months, then started up again? Probably not the phone's fault, I'm sure I did something on my computer.
Bottom line, it's been a love-hate relationship, but I'm moving on. My company's switching to Verizon so I'm going to try Samsung SPH-i700. Pricey, but hopefully it addresses all the problems without losing any of the advantages.
Siemens SX56
Let me explain my rating. I would give it a 5 for functionality. It does everything you need it to do except email right out of the box. The email is pretty easy to setup by calling AT&T. No sweat there. Just ask for the office online feature. Although I wish it did hotmail. I connected it to my Netzero account almost instantly. A monkey could figure out how to use the device.
On the other hand, and this is solely my experience, my forst unit broke in about two weeks. I had the protective leather case on it at all times, and it dropped onto a cement floor from the distance of my hip to the floor (about 3.5 feet). The screen startes to bleed immediately. I should think that if you use the protactive case all the time, it could take some punishment. Unfortunately, this is not the case with that particular unit. The AT&T people told me that they are very 'delicate'. That did piss me off royally. To sell me a computer for $550 and call it 'delicate'? Are f---in' kiddin' me? This is a not a cheap piece of garbage. The fall in my case was not extensive. I did not thrust it down. I did not raise it up really high and drop it and expect it to be undamaged. I just dropped it from where I am told to keep it - from the belt buckle to the floor.
What AT&T did was send me a new one, charge me another $550, and told me to send them back the old one, and if the damage does not appear to be caused by me, they will give me credit. I pray they give me the credit, and this does not haunt me.
Shame on you AT&T for telling me this $550 piece of equipment if delicate!!! SHAME ON YOU!!
