BenQ-Siemens EF81

skhumbuzo

I want it back, how can I get it? ZA

mii

Are uses suppport

mii

Are uses suppport

kman

it reminds of the Motorola razr.

olly

i hate this telephone because it doesn't have USSD support

aol slow

help me please code master.this my imey phone 35891001883494

Anonymous

can't call out..when dialling a number it gives me a reading of "call failed, redial.

Anonymous

have the same problem.... what to do?

ahmed

the mobil says to me to write the mastercode what is the master code ?

me

There can be used microSD up to 1GB only.

brazaro

i got a problem.i don't know why i insert a micro sd card and its not reading don't know why please i need help,i really need to increase the capacity of my phone.

dejan

i have this phone but i cant operate. i switch on this phone thant time only phone name dislpay.. keypad cant work what can i do? Ihawe the same problem,

Anonymous

i have this phone but i cant operate. i switch on this phone thant time only phone name dislpay.. keypad cant work what can i do?

thusitha

I have a ef81 phone.my brother precent for me my barthday.i lost that battery how can i get that...

Demonc

Please i need a new benq siemens Ef81 battery,how can i purchase it from they company its self,am in nigeria.Thankz

magicano

need battery for EF81

ima

I cannot unlock my EF81 phone

jamie

i need benq siemens battery where do i get some.

catey

it is nice phone to me and i love it . is a phone that never dissapoint me .

AnonD-2530

الجه&­;#1575;ز لا يستج&­;#1610;ب لطلب اعاد&­;#1577; ضبط المص&­;#1606;ع ما الحل ؟

PRATAPNAIR

i am residing in qatar i am having benq-siemens ef81 required servicing. kindly advice where i could service this. regards, pratap nair

Anonymous

yes but it does not work

Marko

My Benq Simens EF 81 Battery is big problem and sometimes when I talk he turns off. But The Thing I really want to know is why I cant open any type of pictures and sounds I get thru the bluetooth?

Mysteoa

For fixing your call history, miss calls etc. you have to change the software of the phone whit new one. i have done so and it fixed the problem for my , but i don't remember from where i downloaded it.

milon

you can call this number 01675481856 perhaps you can get a better result by the way.

iqbalhossain

where is the customar point in bangladesh

Sunburn

Take the picture when the phone is closed.

aalok

EF81 need master code pls help

Isaac

Its such a nice phone but i have one problem.The phone does not recognize the presence of a SIM card.It portrays a message of "insert Sim card " while already the card is properly inserted.is it a memory problem,or what is it? and what do i do about it? please help

twumasi albert

how can change the camera direction?like if i want to snap someone

ef81

12345

T.N

where are you? i could direct you where to get one. alternatively have the old modified.just change the socket of of any siemens charger but check rating. it worked for me.

Sunburn

Mine works so it might be something to do with the setting.

Serbian Man

I have benq-siemens EF81 and my internet is doesn't work. Why???

de-virus

i have the phone but i dont know where to buy the charger

zero

I had a similar issue and I solved it by changing the battery... it then worked for about 2.5 years.

CAROLINE

i was send this phone from germany and when i switch on its asks for n.p code . what is it ?

Jenny

I bought the EF 81 3 years ago and after two and half years it stopped working. I have been very careful and gentle with the phone and amazed why it died after two and half years. The display will come up and dies after a few minutes, nopw it doesn't come up at all. The best part of the phone was the sterio quality it was better than most of the Nokia phones.

Anonymous

u should turn it off remove the battery and the SIM and place it again

aliaa

ماهوالم­;ركز الرئيسى­; لأصلاحم­;وبايل benq.siemens ef81

aliaa

ماهوالم­;ركز الرئيسى­; للأصلاح­; الموبيل­;؟

kogge george

The phone is great just that i can't fine the accesories of the phone in Cameroon like the USB cable as mine got missing and i can't the right battery that could get the phone operate as the ones i bought of approximately $11 only show wrong battery on the screen.if u get me please tell me were to get a genuine battery for my EF81.appraciate

hez kar

when i turn on my phone it prompt me that my battery is wrong,how can i solve this.

iang

Pulled mine out of retirement the other day while my 6110 was being repaired... brilliant phone but the finish was poor... all the paint peeled off. otherwise does the job perfectly.

Ibidunni olwafemi

please kindly direct me how to view my dailling call,missing call,receiving call and total call because have try several option no work,i can recognize who call me or retry number i call.

Anonymous

Yeah its a good phone, but still has a few problems. Now does anyone know how i could fix my call records i see i have missed calls but when i say view the call list is empty so pls. anyone just tell me how to get it fixed allready i got to page 11 and i couldnt read those coments anymore! Realy anoyed now couse i cant find the solution...

Milica

I read that u should remove ur sim and replace it with another than put ur sim card back in ant the call record will work. I havent tried this yet...

Anonymous

that isnt true i have the phone and i like it but still it has a few problems i have the problem with my calls. I guess u were just lucky not to have any problems with it.

Mauritius

Hi this is a great phone. But I have 2 little problems with it; 1/- the battery has to be charged twice daily & frequently in the mid of a conversation the phone shut off, even though the battery level is high. 2/- the micro sd card usually does not function at all. It simply says " no micro sd card inserted" - though the card is in. And when you look for 'device check' it say successfully tested, but you can' t get access at all.

Anonymous

It is the worst phone have ever seen.I have to say that I found great difficulty in installing new themes to the phone. Battery life is the big issue about that phone. I have to recharge it now 2 times a day, though I don't speak more than 15 minutes/day. The operating system restarts once I engage in a phone call. It does that many times and really drives me mad sometimes. Another thing about OS to say is that when I have missed calls, I have a notification of "2 missed call" for instance, but when I click on "View" it simply displays nothing! I can't know who called!it is crazy

Anonymous

I need an EF81 charger, can anyboby help

Nat

Hello there ! I bought this phone last month and I 'm quit happy with it but only some thing which is annoying me about this phone. I have problem when I take photo by the phone. I have 2 problems as follow: 1. After I take about 4 photos the phone will say that the file is failed can not save. 2. I'm a Norwegian and I need to type in Norwegian but this phone doesn't have some norwegian letter. Is anyone can help me with thes 2 problem ? Thank you.

agnes

hi, i'm thinking of buying this phone, should I do it? i'm wondering if it's heavy and if it's working quickly?

claudiu /romania

hello all!!! i just read yours opinion about this phone and i belive that is a nice phone but it has problems with software and batery.... i,ll buy ef81 because in romania it,s price is 60 euro

sasa

if you change firmware of this phone you will get very good phone.I install russian firmware V58 and it work fine,much faster and with some new software inside like acrobat reader etc.Just be smart and before you start instalation take out your sim card(can be damage)

GSMEXPERTT:))

For the stand-by time according to the user manual the batery will last 300 min. not hours.

abdouceesay@hotmail.

I bought this phone but bluetooth is not working. When I try to activate it it says "adress not set" . Can someone help me?

Abdou ceesay

I have same problem, has your problem solved? and how did lasted? Please help me if possible. Thank you.

Abdou ceesay

Could you please assist me to connect the bluetooth.

sydney

i forgot my security code of my EF 81 what should i do?

Anonymous

zajebiscie hujowy telefon

Salvatory

i have my EF81. My battery failed some time ago. i do not even remember the specifications of the battery. Will you please give me the specifications of he battery and where and how I can get the replacement. Remember I am in a place where I cannot use any form of a credit card.

ALEX

I have a Benq Siemens EF81 that I have not used from 2007 and when I restarted it this year, the phone could not unlock because of the phone code and master code which are not accepted by the phone, how can I get the phone to work again? I misplaced the software.

nadja

hello ia av this phone asweland a big problem coz my software is not workin is there someone who could help me coz i would like to use my phone on the computer aswell hope to get some answears soon

Nikola

I have this phone and the FW48 software is nothing bud junk! But when i downloaded the FW58 Russian software the phone got 5x faster! If you dont like it bicause it's slow try Firmware58 it fixes all bugs and speeds up your phone to the max!

Nikola - Serbia

Siemens SXG-75 software can fix any problem in your phone in 4-5 min :)

Nikola - Srbia

Hi there, maybe you should try to install other software on your phone, that maybe can fix your problem. I install software for Siemens SXG-75 and any problem is gone, but maybe you speaker is dead, but you can try, ya :)

Maryn

If anyone have problems with viewing diabled/miss/recieved calls, remove the SIM card, and replace with another, then change it back, and you'll start viewing them. If anyone have problems with mp3 files, you must know that the phone read's fiels from PC if you send them through BT (through cable i don't know, I don't have it), from nokia phones only from Smartphones, and all Samsungs, rest of phones I don't tried.

nick

Hi....Is there someone can help me on how i can get the cable for my ef81. The problem is my hp is, when i make a call i cannot hear anything, no ringging and nuthin. But the other side that i call can hear me.Really need some advise.

SAM

I had the same, Bq-Siemens EF81 mobile, and it works perfectly, i add, upgrade and delete everything with "Brew Mobile Commander software". You can download what you want from : www.mobango.com , That's the best site i have seen for now. If you need some help, this is my e-mail address : [email protected] Goodluck SAMI

marko

how can i update firmware on this stupid phone? :)) i have a cable and cd... please help mi my e-mail is [email protected] please!

Milco

I need new software for my benq ef81. It switch off during conversation and I can t turn on

Charles

I swicht my phone off and when I swicht it on, it couldn't work anymore. What should I do then?

hate siemens , benq

Ibougth this phone and return it back after suffering its a very bad phone and benq-Siemens is also bad in Egypt and provides a very bad service

ds

my phone cqnnot read the meesage...when i open the inbox,the message is suddenly dissapear

Anonymous

You can not hard rest this telefon!

Tanja

Can any1 tell me if they had problems with the `` Call records`` option? It seems that i can`t enter the application. Please helme how to solve this problem. Thank you :)

T Mobile

problem configuration suport internet gprs

emg

the phome has a single good thing and that is the camera i had the phone for year and recent the sim card reader broke and there is no gsm service that can fix it my opinion get sony k770i is the best

petre

can someone tell me if this phone has an Airplane-mode?

Mahender

What master reset code and why it is not suporting mp3 songs showing app. Not available

amicecorp

I have used this phone for 6 months, on my opinion, it's a good phone. The phone have nice speaker and good sound quality with it's headphone. The LCD is good too. Some problems I got is the phone sometimes restart and connection is not really strong so I just listen my friend but he can not heard me. I have update firmware after bough, it's work faster and longer battery life. The bad is the cover, bad paint quality. I have dropped many times but it seems no problem happened.

janine

I have a ef81 cp i download many songs then I have 200 mb reaining memory but when I asked one of my friendto send me some songs for my mp3, the cp said that I have a low memory andit can't beinstalled same as in taking pictures, the savelocation is in the microcard but the pictures I had taken can't be saved in my phone. waht can I do with it??

Tiesto

Hi I have card for 1GB, but when I upload mp3s with my notebook for about 880mb of MP3s (DJ Sets from 30 to 120mb and songs up to 10mb), when I put the MicroSD card in my phone and when I turn it on my phone is seeing only 150mb of music data, where are the hole 880mb I don't know, If anyone know how to solute this problem, please write here or on [email protected] ... Thanks a lot to everyone !

Milionair

i have a problem that my phone can not register the miss call and reciving or dailed call ? cand some one help me how cand and where can i instal a new soft ware....?

ramzi

i have EF81 when i changed the sim operator it couldnt turn it on . What can i do ??? i must install a new soft?

Laertis

I have this phone for 18 months and its great. Of course I have upgrade firmware to 58 version.Ah also have in mind if something goes wrong during upgrading you will not lose your mobile you can just do a force restart and start upgrade again as many time as needed. Mine the first time I had upgrade to firm 58 Russian version and try this 3 times but when i have found the German did it from the first. I did drop it few times and still works fine has many futures you can use mp3 for ring tones and message tones too. Camera is not good battery life drops significantly and side silver finish peels off. Generally it never let me down its robust nice looking. It even has google maps ,dictionary, doc viewer,navigator, can hold up to 100 call records of each kind- missed received and dialed also keeps up to 100 messages and not only 10 as many other phones. But have in mind that Benq Siemens is no more so I doubt if it can be repaired even under warranty

joki

this is a complete waste of money - I've never had such rubbish before - whoever designed this phone should be beaten

sidali

i purchased Ef81 it worked fine at beginning but after a couple of weeks when i took it abroad it stopped working and i couldnt even turn it on what would be the problem the battery or because i changed sim card into different operator

zqi

i have this phone, its crap from top to bottom! bad btooth, bad cam, bad software (upgraded, didn't help)the only thing good is the price 100eur or less nowdays, but you soon find out why its so low :(

omar

address bluetooth

İRİNA BAKO

İ have a problem wİth to take a new pİctures. the pİctures to blocked number 132 thanks İrİna

Seko

@ehsan just update your phones firmware body!!

ehsan

if u have problems with this phone go to this site: www.siemensplanet.com great site for siemens users

Oyunmaa

My call records can't record any call. Tell me,what to do?

farao

i have proplem with network what i need to do pls help i have svn 58

Thomas

How or where can I download the software for ef81.

konan

its a very sensitive machine .. too many options but not inaf quality . its a hard too fiks it and if you do, its not rentable. sorry 4 my Tarzan english.

Dan

Great phone! Just update the software and you get yourself a wonderful phone. Amazing display, Star wars theme. Mp3s work as ring tone! I just love it.

OVIDIU_ROMANIA

the phone is very bad. the software is full of bugs. no call options, no mp3's as ringtones. it's a waste of money !!!! to bad.

alex

It is a very stupid phone,i have many problems with him,oh...

Anonymous

i have the same probleme.i can't view call options.....being mis-call,answerwd or dailed....so if you can in the future find the solution . so plase help me.thank you and good bye.

Aigars

I have this phone for about a year and a half now so i can post my expieriance: + after several drops phone works great - silver painting is gone - battery life has dropped dramaticly - phone is starting to bug (software glitch), sometimes does not switch on speaker. Summary: if you intend to use it loger than a year, buy two of them :) or be ready for warranty repairs.

jack

first 1how can i download programs(jar) in my phone 2why the big picture dos not swich on my phone if anyone want answer me plesas send to me massage on my e-mail .thanks

Maria

BenQ Siemens EF81 has many sofware problems but whether it is so smart

Anonymous

tis phone has the potential to do well but they need to take it off to market and re do it because it freezes at times and after having the phone for som wks i am no longer able to view any of my calls.

mrpat

Plz help i have the phone for 2weeks now but i can't view call options.....being mis-call,answerwd or dailed.... i'll be happy if you post me with the tips and how to. my email is [email protected]

phone master :)

I don`t know english very well so sorry if I make mistakes in writing You can get softwer here you must register first this first link vodafone 58 I use this softver and I am very satisfied it`s fast and there`s no problems like loosing callist and so one Bye

Gh0sT

can anyone help me with an ideea how to change the phone software? where can i gat it?

amartsetseg

i have the phone for 5 months now but i can't view all call records being mis-call,answerwd or dailed i'll be happy if you post me with the tips and how to.

emg

yeah it plays aac wma mp3

emg

ups forgot to tell u that there is no way to use the internet alldow the phone is 3g u can use the videocall only

Besi

Does this phone read .mp3 files ?!!!..

raj

its 3 months now since i have the ef81.its a nice phone but the only problem is that no one can configure it in mauritius.i bought it because it was a 3g cell but cannot acess internet.anyone want to help send message on [email protected]

emg

btw the phone is only good for his 2 megapixel that is the good part about this phone the rest ...... poor signal,very small battery life front cover made out of plastic not metal and the website doest work for this phone u cant get manuals updates u name it next time i'll buy a nokia 4 sure

emg

yes u can put a mp3 as a ring tone btw the phone is not so good as it seems mine starts to have all sorts of problems

tomb

i have it atm... have a nice sound, bout on his internal sound and headphones... btw.. u can put mp3 as your ring tone

sean

please tell me if you can use mp3s as ring tunes and text tunes please tell me please so then i can get this phen many thank sean please email

sean

heya s this any good??it looks like the nokia n76 and can u put an mp3 as a ring tune and as a text tune as well please please please pleaase tell me in i love the look of this phone please tell me so i can this phone then if i now this amy thanks sean !email me at [email protected]

cale

It cost 110e in my country(Serbia)

twied73

Hello all, I have had this phone for about two weeks, I have had absolutely no problems with it whatsoever. Granted, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of some of the newest phones, but quality wise, construction wise, I have not had a cell phone that beats it, not even comes close. The construction and quality is grade A, typical German ingenuity. I LOVE this phone so far, I have paid higher dollar for phones of lesser, far lesser quality. I can't believe that BenQ Siemens, as a company, had problems with phones built like these. The funny thing is I paid 160 US dollars for this phone on ebay, brand new, unlocked. I have paid 400+ US dollars for phones that were junk compared to this one. For a no frills phone, that has 3G, and for quality that can't be beat, I highly recommend it. Thanks and good luck.

Anonymous

Update the Firmware to version 58 this usually solves many problems associated with earlier firmware versions.

feliz

i have the phone for 2weeks now but i can't view call options.....being mis-call,answerwd or dailed.... i'll be happy if you post me with the tips and how to.

UKICA

it cost 86 e in my country(serbia)

emg

i have the phone for 2 weeks is relative good the signal drops sometimes pics look good the battery standby is kind is small but i didn't have softwere problems it runs ok i don;t know what is all the fuzz about this problem

PeeDee

Got this phone la summer, had noting but problems with it!! Had to send it back twice because of problem after problem

Paeijho

LOL, it's not me, i don't owned this phone. i only owned the "cheaper" version, E81. it's Karim Ahmed, read again.;) btw, you've got a low price tag for your phone indeed.

Znuff

To Paeijho, the guy who paid $460 for this: YOU GOT ROBBED! I got this phone brand-new at $120, everywhere in the world I found it for less than $200.

Anonymous

The light (display backlight) on the EF81 can be adjusted to stay on for 60, 30, 15 or 5 seconds, go into the menu look for Display click on Display and you will find the Backlight Time option, if it stays on longer than 60 seconds after you have made adjustments I would assume there may be a problem with the handset, it may be fixable by upgrading the software.

sid

please can someone tell why the key pad on back of my ef 81 always on and what option do i have to turn them off? thans in advance

Paeijho

actually there is one good software management for EF81, it called Brew Mobile Commander, google for it. it's stable and fast, unlike MPM.

Anonymous

Unfortunately the software SUCKS you will have to get used to it, try installing the software on another computer I found it appeared to work better on my laptop and the strange thing is my main computer has far superior performance to the laptop, I guess it's not a system performance related issue.

ef81plshelp

hi! my problem is the the data cable once it's work once it dosen't work are there else software than MPM?

Anonymous

I am almost certain you cannot turn the keypad light off, but it should switch off automaticaly after a short while.

Anonymous

how can i turn off the light on my keypad? please advice

Anonymous

The light (display backlight) on the EF81 can be adjusted to stay on for 60, 30, 15 or 5 seconds, go into the menu look for Display click on Display and you will find the Backlight Time option, if it stays on longer than 60 seconds after you have made adjustments I would assume there may be a problem with the handset, it may be fixable by upgrading the software.

sid makki

just purchace ef81 and its amazing phone but one slight problem the light always on in tne front of the phone can someone tells me how i can turen them off it eating up my battery.

Anonymous

Just purchased a replacement (compatible none genuine) battery for an EF81 and I get a message when powering up the phone BATTERY INVALID PLEASE CKECK OR REPLACE, also the battery charging indicator on the display is not moving it just displays as if the battery is flat, can anyone give advise on this?

jack

the ef81 its amazing mobile i like this phone and its best phone in the world from design

ABEN

My Phone can't call out. I don't change any setting. Others function it's ok. However i like this phone.

Paeijho

can't say much about the scratching problem, but for the others you only need to updated the FirmWare. go to www.club-siemens.net for details. good luck!;)

Karim Ahmed

When I checked the EF81 web page for info, I was impressed about its features/benefits. Although it was extremely expensive, I decided to purchase it based on that features. Features included an anti-scratch alloy of outer body, A convinient, easy operating system, a decent camera, a media player and many others. As I tried the phone, I discovered it really had a very elegant screen display. The speakers are loud and clear. However, after two months of my purchase, problems started to arise. Several scratches began to appear around the corners of the phone, which proved out to be scratchable by everyday stuff. It just began to acquire those scratches by being put on a desk or with some coins in my pocket. The scratches increased in size, until it really looks worn out now. The second problem is the operating system. The operating system proved to be very slow actually, although I installed a small memory chip 256 MB. It's incredibly slow. Menu has really some good transition, but is very slow. I have to say that I found great difficulty in installing new themes to the phone. Battery life is the big issue about that phone. I have to recharge it now 2 times a day, though I don't speak more than 15 minutes/day. The operating system restarts once I engage in a phone call. It does that many times and really drives me mad sometimes. Another thing about OS to say is that when I have missed calls, I have a notification of "2 missed call" for instance, but when I click on "View" it simply displays nothing! I can't know who called! For a price of 2900 Egyptain pound/460 dollars, I expected a much better performance, and was deeply frustrated with all those bugs.

Anonymous

Just acquired a second hand EF81 with a problem, when I power it on it just turns off again, can anyone suggest what the problem may be.

Pae

as long as you use 3GSwupFU updater, you can roll back the FW. with some risks though AFAIK.

Anonymous

Is it possible to go back to a previous firmware version without any prooblems, for example from version 58 to version 48 or are there complications?

Jed

This is an update to my previous post dated 05/10/2007, with FW58 installed I tested the EF81 with a Bluetooth adaptor connected to one of my computers, I found that I was able to send music files and photo's to the phone and back to the PC although the process was rather slow, I have never used Bluetooth before for transfering files and have been informed that it can be a slow process, the supplied software with the phone is very slow (quite frankly IT SUCKS) but is certainly quicker than using a Bluetooth adaptor, I picked the phone up the other day to find it had turned itself off this is the first time this has happened to me and I am just wondering if it's a bug in the version 58 firmware as it never happened prior to updating the firmware, if anyone can comment on this it would be helpful, I have read posts regarding complaints about poor signal/reception quality with the EF81 I am on Virgin Mobile/T Mobile, the signal quality where I live is very very poor on this network but I am able to make a call near a window with the EF81 if I keep still, all previous hand sets I have used at this address have been much the same so I don't think there is reception problem with the EF81's at least certainly not with my handset, I have taken some photo's with the EF81 and have to admit for a 2 Megapixel image sensor they are the worst digital photo's I have ever taken so if you intend to take any memorable photos I suggest you use a proper digital camera.

Mediterran81

I have the phone 10 days ago, It came with FW 48 installed on it in A Vodaphone Pack. The phone is pretty fine and everything in it goes okay; I made lotta tests and this masterpiece is just fine to be one of the most robust and prettiest devices... That is not a miraculous phone, you should not expect So much from it, its price will just bring u a mediocre mobile phone... There are some remarks about it : - Alarm Clock does not allow to program several alarms per day. - You cannot have a diaporama for your photos. - The Media Player would not let you manage your playlist. - Excellent screens. - Excellent Keypad - It switches automatically from GSM to GPRS et vice versa and sometimes you cannot know the quality of ur GSM Network... - If it is in ur pocket and u'r in the Tramway and the EF81 is being tortured by a fat girl's buttocks, it will switch off (many buttons pressed at the same time). - If you use 100% Brightness and you mess with the phone all day, battery life is short. - The full battery loading can be done from USB connection not from the Power charger. - Sometimes it is difficult to open the EF81 with one hand, unless you have guitarist fingers like me and you manage to... - I have the call list record working perfectly. - The Video mode and Picture mode are just fine, Good quality..But it is slow to take pictures..You better don't use ur EF81 to take Great pictures, it is just to use in occasions in case you do not have a Camera... - When I receive an SMS, the name of the sender appears and his/her number too. - Sound of that Mobile is just Wonderful, great bass and frequency, the tone is so nice; I heard they used HP speakers in that model. - It is not practical at ALL to insert and get back an SD CARD, neither for the SIM (that is a disadvantage). - SMSs cannot be archived, they remain in the INBOX, so u have to let them or delete them. I will add more once I complete my tests.... All I can say is that is a wonderful phone despite some disadvantages, but they are symbolic... Enjoy ur EF81, if u have any question, just email me and I will answer, I worked in several Mobile Phones COmpanies Hotlines and I know what it is about... HH

mszilard

somebody knows about drivers for vista. the program from the cd (mobile phone manager) doesn't work on vista and i van't find drivers for my phone :(

Anonymous

Yes you can charge it over usb, phone only works good on newest firm, stnd firm sucks bigtime

Jed

Updated to Firmware version FW58 today the german version, I don't know what all the fuss is about and all the problems some people are having when updating I just installed the software on my computer, left the SIM card in the phone, clicked on the update button in the software and about five minutes or so later all was done, I just left the phone alone until the confirmation that the update had been completed and i didn't have to change the language as it defaulted in English, there is a noticable improvement in the general speed when moving through menu's and looking for names in the phone book is noticably quicker as well, I recommend anyone with an EF81 to update to FW58 if they havent already done so it will certainly change there opinion about he phone as it did for me, I will post more info as and when I have done more tests.

craig boyd

can you charge your ef81 from your computer thanks

cvele

my EF81 is crazy. i hawe memory card (micro sd 1 gb) and i canot go more than 100mb!!! why please answer what to do?!?

igor

memory card how much mony?

Pae

LOL, you don't know Club-Siemens.net? you really really have to check that forum out!

rassy

I' ve dowloaded a couple of themes for my EF81 but I didn't manage to install them in my phone. They have a .sdt extension and it seems that copying the files in the phone is not the correct procedure... The phone doesn't recognize these files... Do I need a specific application to install the themes into the phone? I haven't found any forums on this subject. If anyone on this site knows the procedure, please help me! Thanks!

Louise

Am I really dim here? Bought this phone with no instructions. How do I delete all messages? Finding it slow.....

Anonymous

I have the phone for 18 months everinthing was ok until yersteday when stopped working the "call record" menu I can not even call the last number Can anybody help me? THANKS Dimitris [email protected]

Anonymous

Still (4 days old) no problems with phone...

Anonymous

Design- good, graphics- reminds me of LG., features for the asking price- excellent, but the user- friendlyness is scores a 4 out of 10 in my view. The response time is slow especially when you put a memory card. And you cannot safely put a 1GB!! Better icons could have been used for the menu and the filing system leaves much to be desired. I had hell to play an mp3 cause i put it in a 'wrong' folder. Stress.

jhon

first i bought this mobile from hungary the mobile made in germany everythink in this mobile is fantastic camra is good its make very fast it dosn't like motorolla v3x its better than it iam relly happing with this fantastic phone.if anyone wanna talk with me [send me massege in the mail] thanks

site fan

i have read all the post about this phone , one or two praise this phone the rest.... ,anyway... i have it now ,slowest phone i ever seen ,nice menu ,good applications , very good camera , the sound is good(loud and of quality )but in calls its rather slow ,about battery ...3 days maximum ,data cable transfer its slow compared to other phones,but what to ask from its rather cheap compared to V3x , so i am pleased with it

Bargain

Does this phone supports MP3 for ringtones?Pls answer... Thank you

shadey

first of all, there is no driver for the cable, and a decent Win XP SP2 wil want to install it as a modem (damnest thing ever) but the driver from a siemens M55 or later ORIGINAL data cable will work just fine. indeed the mp3-s from bluetooth aren't recognised, but this only happened to me when i took mp-3-s from another phone. from the PC they work just fine. the biggest problem of siemens and later benq-siemens is that the damned things require WAP to be able to send or recieve MMS. and in my country most cell phone carriers have ceased to offer WAP services altogether. in the end it's an annoying phone but with some TLC it can become acceptable. this is true for me. i don't know what others think, but since i got it i'll make the best of it

Green

Don't buy this or any other BenQ-Siemens phone. The company has gone into liquidation which means you won't get any support from them if anything goes wrong. My partner and I bought one each of these phones, which I thought were pretty good... One went wrong, the second went wrong, and is now being repaired again, but not through BenQ as they've closed their service centres. And on the other you can't use half the facilities like MMS and email as there's no BenQ Customer Service line to help set the phone up properly. Best advice - steer clear of this and any other BenQ phone!

Anonymous

The lens rotates from back to front as u open the clamshell.No effort needed on ur part.

marian

How can I rotate camera at the benq-siemens ef81?

Louise

I bought the EF81 last week and thought I would try updating to FW48 I downloaded the software and tried to run. For some reason it said that it found a CM05 phone and not an EF81 it then gave me a message that I was trying to download the wrong software. Anyone know why this would happen? Please help Thank you

Besi

I just bought this ef81 but i got a problem that is making go crazy. when i go to the call records to see a missed call, who have i talked to or who have i called it doesnt show anything. It always tells the list is empty. please help me. will the phone program be deleted if i format it ? please help :'(

Anonymous

can u conect this phone to a stereo bluetooth divace???? pls answer me as soon as posible because i understood that it recuiers i don`t know what version of bluetooth.

jelena

can this phone recieve files from computer by bluetooth,or only my phone is not ok?

cobra

I have one problem with the EF81. When I call in ORANGE network I can't hear when is ringing, any other problem I don't have yet. Can anyone tell me how I can resolve that? pls

ShOnE

Hi.i just bought the phone i got usb cable with it but not any drivers on cd.i dont know what to search.plz help me!!!

JIMI

I have lost my cd with the driver on it, can anyone post a link or something like that where i can download it

Paeijho

sounds like your EF81 need a FW update. do it and i think it'll solve it. the best, people said, is FW58.

LuciBoY

i bought this phone 2 days ago and i allready have problems with it !!!it's turning off sometimes and the battery is terible!!!i have a question and i hope someone can answer it plss: how can i listen to mp3 on it !!i have only AAC sounds and if i receive an mp3 on bluetooth it says that there is no application to open the file !!!PLSS HELP !!!!

Paeijho

search for Brew Mobile Commander, download it and connect your EF81 with the BMC running and install any Java apps with it. make sure you have both .jar and .jad files. good luck.

chris

how can i install games in this phone?? i think it is very difficult to the the user to know because theres no manual book to install games to pc and download to phone nyone can help me out??tnxs

grafi

i have spend thousands of dallars on phones and always got bored of them....i have stopped to this and could not belive the incredible price,,,i wanted this phone for a long time but was much too expendive...now got it for 130 dollars and im very happy with it...sound in earphones better then every nokia (even 3250) loud and with bass...exceptional photos on outdoors in speaker does sound loud but at maxiumum level not that clear stays very good in hands rafined material display is gr8 very colourfull glam phone worths every penny and belive me im a phone addict and all i say its true:) BUY IT NOW ITS GR8

Serbia

Who has link for firmware V62?

thiago

benqsiemens ef81 is the best mobile ever you can get ! i got this mobile and there was no problem in it, i will face any one who thinks this mobile is bad,,,and everybody who wrote about it was a lyer

dusko

I nid driver for usb!!! HELP ME!!!

Ryan

This has to be the worse phone ever. I cannot believe I left my trusty old Nokia 6131 for this. Firstly, it is huge, the hinge feels cheap and the keypad rattles. The materials flaked off after about 2 weeks. Metal? Yes, I suppose it is, but the edges are so square that you actually hurt your ear holding the phone to speak into it. The media/mp3 player is slow and basic, and the less said about the camera the better "click" goes your photo.... wait... wait..... 5 seconds later "Save image...?" ok "Yes" wait ..... wait...... 5 seconds later....."saved to My photos"...... Zzzzzzzzzzzz.... Battery life is a joke. Clarity is TERRIBLE, when I talk to my wife it sounds like she's in a snow-storm, when really she's sat at home in a quiet room. The menu's are SLOW (and yes I am using fw58...) and frustrating. There is such a delay between pressing a button and seeing something happening. Texting is annoying because the letters are HUGE, like this phone was designed for a 6 year old, and don't get too far into a message because it'll interupt you with "message too long for SMS, switch to MMS instead?" NO I DON'T WANT TO SWITCH TO MMS!!!!!!!! Please avoid this phone. I know it is over a year old, but it really isn't worth bothering with. A mid-range Nokia/Samsung/Sony will serve you much better, really. To all the people giving this phone good reviews, I can only assume that you're defending your purchase even though you know you've bought a notoriously bad piece of kit. I guess the people that like it are in some former Russian republic or Malaysia or Nigeria or somewhere you can't get decent phones..... AVOID AVOID AVOID. Now, to try and find what drawer I put that old 6131 in.......

chrous31

Sorry for all the mistakes on the first post and this one to. So I have 2 working sim card tested in my blackberry. Im my EF81 with FW48 all works ok if I update to FW58 the phone will stay on if there is no sim card in it. When I put a sim card in it will turn off after 5 sec all the time. If I plug the phone in then it will stay on also. That sums it up. Any ideas?

Chrous31

I have the phone and like it I can't get the FW58 running on it thow. I install it and then the phone will turn on for 5 seconds and the off and if I plug the phone in it stays on and if I take out the sim card it stays on also it's as soon that there is a sim card in it and I have 2 working card tested in my blackberry and they both work. Went back to FW48 and now all works ok. Help. Thanks.

mszilard

can you tell me what's for the fw48 update from the benq website? i downloaded it but when i tried to update my fw the program said "you tried to download the wrong software" My SVN was 27, the program recognized it but after that only the error message appeared.

Anonymous

Vodacom still stock EF81! WTH! The stopped stocking the EL71 ages ago! Such hypocrits! How much?

lanu

i woke up this morning and i found out my phone was off, because of low batt.. then when i try to recharge the phone.. but, i cant because the phone keeps ON/OFF- ON/OFF... can anyone xplan this to me.. n how can i actually fixed this... plz...urgent....

Grego

Okay, don't bother with that FW 48. Go to www.gsmmulti-fund.de and register. You can get FW 58 from there. Its Unofficial but is much better than 48. Also a rumor about FW 60/62 has sufaced but it is very likely a false lead. You need to register on a Croatian website and pay a subscription to download the "newest" FW.

Anonymous

micko you moron! have it for few days and its great. Just go to service and instal fw48 (paid 2E). I have SDMini 1Gb and it's still very fast.

Anonymous

just ordered my EF81 from Vodacom, you can get FW48 from the benQ site:

Micko

This phone is good only if you don`t have it... :) Price is only what is good at this phone... :)

djwibe

where i can find FW60/FW62 for this phone? Any link? If realy true that the FW6x existed. THANKS

Jack

This is the worst phone I have ever bought. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly The damn phone kept on turning off which got extremeley annoying!!!

Anonymous

If you do your research and update the FW... this is the bargain of the century. I have two, one that is new for whn this one breaks down eventually:)!

Darius

ok i have the german version 58. can anyone give me short instruction how to apply it? cause in the forums i can't understand some details of it??

Anonymous

Run a search on google for FW58. There are a number of forums out there that will link you to the upgrade.

EF81

can anyone tell me where i can find fw58???

erod45

Update the Firmware to version 58. It takes care of most of the bugs that plagues this phone. I live in the USA and this phone isn't available here, so if I am able to get a hold of FW58, I am sure that most of you guys can get it.

n1ce

I have lost the CD with the driver, can anyone post a link where i can download it? I love this phone, but it turns itself of sometimes... :(

Ron

Have the phone for a week now but can tell that this type is NOT GOOD. I still love the design but the phone went off 3 times without any reason. I know how to handle the bluetooth options but SOME other phones do pair but it's not possible to send at all. Still have to recharge the phone every 2 days. Think that te big screen uses a lot of energy.

carrick

can i have more information on this phone

H.N.HIEU

set bluetooth: turn on bluetooth => "bluetooth visibility":ON => SEE ALL DEVICE ;)

Update Your Firmware

Ron Update your firmware to FW58 Google for gsm multifund and siemens mania cz Use google to translate for gsm multifund (german) and an alternative translater if you use siemens mania cz as its in czech. You need to do this to register and download firmware updates as Benq Siemens no longer supplies any. This will iron out most bugs but not all. Good luck (i left my sim card in but most say leave it out, if you leave it out ignore any prompts to insert it when updating your phone).

Ron

Great design, perfect sound and volume. keyboard has very nice backlight and screen is very big and clear. Camera makes better photo's than my Sony (3.2 mp) cybershot. Only: bluetooth does not work right on most phones. Can receive but not sending on every phone. Very strange software and not easy to let it work. In the 2 days i have the phone, it has been shutdown itself once without any reason.

peter

well i recently bought the phone, and after about one month it just stopped working. when the phone is turned on a message pops up that sais Please insert sim card. however the sim card is inserted and works fine in all other phones. also when this message pops up i am able to press the numbers on the key pad and they do show up on the screen. this does not help. please contact me with any information.

Joca

my bluetooth work perfect with all devices (phones, comp, etc...)

Kostas

I have the same problem with charging the battery.I just noticed that the only way to fully charge the phone is by using the usb cable.ridiculous...

Kostas

Great design but has some bugs.It sometimes switches off by itself.I still could not find how to check the capacity of the phone.Sarra I suggest to upgrade to fw58.

Anonymous

While I charge the phone the battery indicator is flashing and on the screen it is written "battery charging" as NORMAL BUT after I decide to end the charging process(after several hours) the battery indicator stays the same as before the process. This just occurred (so I have no idea if the phone is in reality charged but the indicator is showing the wrong thing). Until now everything has worked perfectly.

sarra

I bought this phone but bluetooth is not working. When I try to activate it it says "adress not set" . Can someone help me?

laertiscy

I bought this phone recently. Its great the best phone I ever have.My advice is to upgrade to fw58 fully charge u r battery since the upgrade takes about 10-15 minutes( but may freeze-if it takes more than 20 minutes u need to start again upgrade froze- and u need to use the emergency download).Me I've try 3 times to succeed unfortunately the phone switch to Russian language but pressing *#0000# and the call button it will switch ti u r providers. battery life increase dramatically have in mind to remove sim during upgrade.

Anonymous

i used the update to firmware 58 software and i killed my phone - completely dead. use the official one from the benq website. I know it says version 48 but at least its the official firmware update

ben

ive just upgraded mine but i dont know how to change the language back can some please help. thanks

Grego

Ali: What FW are you using? If it is 23 or 27 it is old as hell. You need to update the FW to 58. It will solve all of these little issues. Go to this www.gsm-multifund.de and register (it is in German but it is still easy enough to register) then download the 3gSWUP_ru file. It is the Russian Retail version. Just install and connect your phone and run the programme. Easy. Just remember the steps to change the lang back to English. For help go www.club-siemens.net for any help.

n1ce

I have lost my cd with the driver on it, can anyone post a link or something like that where i can download it

Ali

I took this mobile a month ago and it is cool. But from last 4 days I do have a problem that the list of my call history (missed calls, dialled calls etc) is empty and there is no mention of any thing. it says "List empty".Can anyone tell what should I do?? thanx

laertiscy

Does anyone knows if there is a reject list on ef81? On my s81 there is and I can add any contact to it so if someone is on reject it gets a busy line when he calls me

JP

Hi just got this phone and it is really cool however I have a problem in pasting my contacts on my SIM card to the phone memory...can anyone help me with this as I am stuck

Peter

I paid 107,-Euro. No branding, no contract. USB-cable, headphones, CD, charger. Best deal since years. Small (very important in summer!), robust. But what is really usefull for me is, that I can use it as a fast G3 (3G?) UMTS modem to connect to my notebook. It gets current from the USB while I use it. As UMTS consumes a lot of energy, plus bluetooth - I prefer to take the USB-cable and have a fully loaded mobile whatever I do. Really good phone!

erod45

try to google: "EF81 headset"

Jack12

What do I type into google? thanks, jack12

jhon

its very nice,good,fast,sexy,fantastic cooooooooooooooooooooooooooool

caplja

Please help me. I lost my CD wiht drivers, and i can't find drivers on web. Can anyone send me drivers to [email protected] or tell me where to find drivers on net. Thanks

erod45

do a search on google and you can find online stores that sells the replacement headsets that you are looking for. From my understanding, FW58 does not have the Norweigian language and symbols, but I could be wrong

Jack12

Hi, can anyone tell me where to get a replacement pair of headphones as I have lost the original pair!! Thanks

Magnus

Does the german firmware file include norwegian system and t9 languages? Thanks :)

j

Thank you erod45, I manage to fix my phone.

serbia

Press # and Power at same time, and yes it is again benq siemens on a white screen, but try connect it with your PC now! it should be recognised and upload fw58 again.I had a same problem , so I know what I am talking about :)

Chima

Please i bought this phone last 2 days but i'm having difficulty in using my USD.What do i do because whenever i connect the USD cord it shows me something i dont understand please reply me via this e-mail what i can do about this please............

Anonymous

when i try to pres the # key while turning it on it still provides the same benq siemens screen!

nol

PLEASE someone give me advice i tried doing the FW 58 update and it froze halfway throuhg the install and now all i get is a screen that says benq siemens over a white background i tried going through the install again but it doesnt detect the phone HELP HELP!! :(

erod45

To put the phone in emergency download mode: 1. Start with the phone turned off. 2. Hold the # key while you turn on the phone. 3. Keep both # key and power button depressed as the phone turns on - this will make the screen turn white. This is the emergency download screen. 4. Download the FW to the phone again.

j

Thank you erod45 for your replay regarding to my problem, but I do not know how to set my phone to emergency download? and my PC does not recogniese it any more when I connect it via USB cable...

erod45

You can set your phone into emergency download and download the FW again. There were some people that had problems like yours when trying to upgrade to the FW. I was fortunate enought to not have any of those problems. BTW, make sure you battery is at least 25% charged, preferably fully charged and take your SIM card and memory card out.

j

I tried to update 58 firmware,something happend during instalation and my phone does not work any more!So be carefull with that!I tried to fix it in mob. service, but they tell me its dead.When I turn it on, only thing it says is; benq siemens on white background and that is it...

erod45

I agree with the previous post that FW58 dramatically increases the menu speed of the phone. I upgraded mine using the 3GSwupFU FW58 BRDhandel version (German verison)and not the Russian Retail version. I noticed that I have a stronger network connection as compared with FW48 as well as longer battery life. I have read in the forums and have noticed that those that upgraded with the Russian retail version had issues with network connection and short battery life. It also seems that the bluetooth is more robust with the FW58 with my BT headset not dropping the connection with the phone as frequently as it did with the FW48. Overall, I think the is a good upgrade for the phone. I have had the upgrade for about a week and haven't notice a bug - yet. :)

kizilvezir

Ok, I updated my phone from FW48 to FW 58 at last. With the public service motives :), here is my report: For learning if there will be a warranty problem, I tried to contact to the national call center (Turkey) a couple of times, but failed (The support service is always busy with "other clients"). Then I decided to be corageous and do the update. After googling, I downladed ef81fw58.rar from a German site, as I mentioned earlier. Read a couple of forum entries, (but in fact you don't need to read them, everything goes smooth), installed the driver that came in a CD in the phone package and installed 3GSwupFU on my PC. Here is how the installation goes: Not much to say actually. You simply connect your phone to the PC and run the 3GSwupFU.exe file (file name may be longer). But make sure your phone battery is full before the update. I didn't take my SIM card or MicroSD card out of the phone. The software does everything. It detects your phone and the FW version and displays it. When it says "Ready to Update", you click on the "Update" button and wait for the SW to finish the update(5 minutes or so). It resets the phone 3 or 4 times. Wait until it says the update is finished. Then disconnect your phone. That's it! After the installation, my SIM records and MicroSD card data were safe, but the phone memory was reset. The theme was also changed. In summary, the phone forgets everything, as if you just bought it. In fact, as a detail, my network and battery icons are ugly now, they were nice before FW58. I didn't need to change the language, it opened in Turkish :) And about the performance: Perfect! The menu speed is increased dramatically. All menus and submenus appear instantly. Well, I am very very impressed with the improvement in FW58. with FW48 I was thinking like "Nice look, but slow". Now with FW58, perfected! The only exception is the opening (turn on) time. It is still long (~15 seconds). But it is not a big deal I think. How often do we turn on our phones anyway? I just did the update, so I cant say anything about the new battery life. That is all I can tell now. Hope it helps someone.

kizilvezir

I've been using this phone for two weeks. It came with FW48. In general, I am happy with it, especially its style. For the cons, here are some points that matter to me: - The Benq support is awful + the web site is just garbage. They dont answer even simple questions that you type in "ask an expert" link on the web. Even the automated response messages arrive hours after your submission. - The menu looks nice, but is slow. The phone opens in more than 10 seconds. The memory card is accessible a few minutes after you open the phone. I consider jumping to FW58 although it is not official. - The sound (mp3, etc) is clear. In fact, I am surprised with its clearity, especially in the bass sounds. The earphones are better than the speaker, of course. The max volume is not deafening, but is loud enough to suppress outdoor sounds. Also, the outer speaker is loud enough (my friends are surprised when they learn the music is coming from my phone). - The media player is a real pain. You can access to your playlists and mp3 files from the outer screen, and listen to music without opening the phone. BUT: 1) Creating a playlist is a real pain. You have to scroll the entire song list to do that. You cannot add a song to a specific list while you are browsing your files. You have to do it through the media player, from a list of ALL your songs in the memory (ok, to be thruthful, let me say it this way: I couldn't find another way to do it in two weeks). I also failed to find a way to import playlists from a PC. Though, my hopes are not ended yet. 2)When your phone is turned off for some reason, puff! all your playlists die although your songs remain the same way. 3) While playing songs in a playlist, you have to pause the current song for jumping to the next song. 4) There is no equalizer, but the sound is nice and I dont feel the lack of an equalizer. 5) It does not play wma files. 6) mp3 playback kills battery life: 3 days with approximately 30 minutes playback per day, UMTS closed. If you don't listen to mp3, it may last longer. 7) No radio (not a big deal for me) - The fonts are not adjustable. You always feel that the fonts are larger than neccessary, but you can't change their size. - The web browser is not very useful. Even the smallest font is larger than neccessary. - When a new SMS arrives, the sender (recorded to my SIM card) name is not displayed on the inbox list, but the phone number is displayed. The default message sound is unnoticable, but you can change it (mp3, etc). - When you assign your ringtones to something in your memory card, and if the phone fails to read the memory card (This happened once), your ringtones, alarms, etc. silences. I woke up late one morning because of this. Luckily, the built-in memory is large and you can copy such files to the phone's memory. - The direction buttons are narrow and you can accidentally hit to the select button while you try to move (especially if you have fat fingers like mine :) ) - The video phone button on the keypad is meaningless. Anyway, that's all for now.

Anonymous

ivan. why don't just read the spec'?

Ivan

Does this phone has a radio if so please contact me THANKYOU.

125dAni36

Nice phone. Feels great in hand.I recomend it.

kizilvezir

To those who search for FW V58 update: google for "ef81fw58.rar" you will see some russian and german pages. Due to more familiar alphabet, I preferred the German one. It is a forum site, but you can find FW 58 in the downloads section. You must register to the forum to download the file (alhough german, it is easy to guess what to do to register). Those who are uncomfortable with german, altavista babelfish may be an option (but you have to register in the original german site, not babelfish translation page). In the expansys.de forums, some nice guy named jcak49 explains "how to install fw 58", but for the russian version. I guess the german one is not much different. I haven't installed it yet (I recently ordered the phone), but in many forums fw 58 is reperted to be well and fast. But still, network connection problems are also reported. I will write about the installation when I get my phone. IMPORTANT: fw 58 is not an official release and it is said that using it may void the warranty. the latest official release (available at benq-siemens sites) appear to be the fw 48 version. I think the wise approach is to install fw48 first and try fw 58 if fw48 is still unsatisfactory.

kizilvezir

To those who search for FW V58 update: google for "ef81fw58.rar" you will see some russian and german pages. Due to more familiar alphabet, I preferred the German one. It is a forum site, but you can find FW 58 in the downloads section. You must register to the forum to download the file (alhough german, it is easy to guess what to do to register). Those who are uncomfortable with german, altavista babelfish may be an option (but you have to register in the original german site, not babelfish translation page). In the expansys.de forums, some nice guy named jcak49 explains "how to install fw 58", but for the russian version. I guess the german one is not much different. I haven't installed it yet (I recently ordered the phone), but in many forums fw 58 is reperted to be well and fast. But still, network connection problems are also reported. I will write about the installation when I get my phone. IMPORTANT: fw 58 is not an official release and it is said that using it may void the warranty. the latest official release (available at benq-siemens sites) appear to be the fw 48 version. I think the wise approach is to install fw48 first and try fw 58 if fw48 is still unsatisfactory.

Paeijho

FW/Firmware is the software that run the phone, you can look for your phone FW by typing *#06# and go to the next tab and find "SVN", it written there. the downloadable official FW is 48, the latest, it's down here. or if you want unofficial FW 58 you can find the info at on EF81 section, it's the best according to the users there. good luck and congrats with the new phone! ;-)

sue

hi just ordered the ef81 bin wanting it since the summer.i dont no much about computers so can some1 tell me wot an fw is, wot it dose to the phone and how to get it

sajesh

i have this phone since seven months.i have a problam with this phon,that when i connected with bluetooth the phone is going to the mutemode,ie i cand received the call.some one have this problam please assist me what to do with this problam

Anonymous

Bad memory? Are you mad, this thing has 72mb onboard, most other brands put between 10 and 30mb. Anyway, the phone is great and works really well in Europe. I can't use my GPRS as I live in South Africa and have upgraded to FW 58, Russian retail, so any help would be cool. Tried almost everything!

Paeijho

for FW updates you can get it somewhere else, the unofficial ones, FW 58, the best according the users i know, google for it. the official one you can find it at: are you talking about the offline mode, did you understand what it means? it means that you can use the phone WITHOUT connected to the phone service provider, you can listen to the music, play games etc. very useful when on the plane, so you don't have to switch off your phone, this feature is getting quite common nowadays. 40% death phone? very unaccurate info, the people that don't like this brand probably said that. this phone is one of the best Siemens ever designed and built. don't give up the phone for problems that can be solved, just get to where people can help you out. these forums are the best i know to ask problems and else.

Anonymous

Got this phone a few days ago. Looks great but claims to be offline and doesn�t connect to the network(tried to switch it online,following instructions but the phone is lacking that option) and "requires service" shows on the screen. can�t make calls. I called to the consumer service and they said the chip needs to be replaced. I read somewhere on the net that 40% of these phones are deapth somehow...couldn�t believe, but now I do. So, not a great first impression. I plan to replace this with another phone.

python

i`m about to buy one, but i really need the fw update, and the official site is down.. anyone can help me? where to download the firmware, so the phone to work decent??

dragos

I bought the EF81, very nice phone, the software is moving quick enough. the problem is I cannot connect the phone to PC using the USB data cable: can anyone please send me a link to a free downloadable driver to install USB, cause I couldn'n find one.PLS!!! overall, a very good phone, HQ.

elroy

@darknight/ Check siemensmania.cz. I also have some questions. What do I need to change firmware and how to do it? Do you know any working page with an instruction?

darknight

Good phone. But can someone direct me to the firmware upgrades please? I tried the Benq-Siemens website,Club seimens, but all the links are dead.If some one can e-mail me the files, that will be awesome too.

h3dy

wanna ask,how about the mp3?are they sound good too?thanks..

Marc

Had this phone for a while now and i am really happy with it. It looks cool, is easy to use and comfortable. If i have one criticism it is that for all the features it has on it, the memory is a bit rubbish which means you need to get a memory card, its not a huge problem but would of been nice to have one with it

Andrew

cool phone, i have bought and I'm happy....cool !

Anonymous

Cool phone !

madhulika

I liked the phone EF81 The best feature is to learn multiple language superb for a tourist. Does any other model possess more of dictionary n multiple language learning skill . Do u hav eany shop in New Delhi India so that i can purchase the same. My mobile 91- 9868812874

b

hi i just got this phone, i dunno how to read german does anyone know how do i change the language cuz i dunno where to go since the strt where i turned it on some weird language came up plz let me know thnx

Anonymous

what's wrong with it ?? I just have a new one but I can't switch it on it always shows: "wrong battery - change or replace" so what should I do?

Anonymous

There is a problem with this phone. I work in wholesale GSM business and I noticed that about 40% of these phones are DOA (dead-on-arrival), most of them with software problems. The average rate of DOA is usually 10%, but 40% at this price level is a bit too much, I think.

erod45

I agree, the FW updates do a tremendous job to transforming this phone into a more competitive phone for the market. At least get FW 48 (which is what I have), and I guarantee that your outlook of this phone will change. Mine has and I can't think of a better phone for me to have right now.

Anonymous

If you say you have this phone and hate it then you obviously havent done the crucial thing and upgrade the firmware to FW 52! Don't moan and go check the forums on the BQS webpage and you will find links to these updates and how to install them. With all this info on updates I can't believe people still complain about this phone!!! I love mine and it surpasses the V3 and V3x I owned before one hundred fold.

Anonymous

It does come with a data cable in the retail package but it may be market dependent... so check with sales people before you buy. SX1 data cable will not work because the phones connection point has been changed adn hence all previous Siemens accessories won't work.

edza

i have it, i hate it :(

Anonymous

I am highly considering buying this phone, but can someone tell me if the pack includes a data cable? I live in a country that does not sell BQS and trying to source one elsewhere will be a little hard. By any chance does the SX1 data cable fit?

Anonymous

to get rid of the starwars theme, just change the themes. :)

Petter

One more thing. Does anyone know how to get rid off the starwars intro??? Thanx

Petter

I�m wondering were xT$p (below) found the FW 62 update and were Nxsf (below) found the FW 52 update. I can�t find it and now i have 48 and it�s ok but i could be better. Please HELP!!

Pedjo

Did anybody know the song on EF81 video?

mohammad

pure siemens..reminds me when i got the sl45i and next the sx1,witch was a perfect choice for me,i can feel this will be my next mobile,if it has radio,thumbnails,and at least arabic sms,it would be perfect though i dont need the language on the phone,some may send me sms with it so iam waiting for an aplication to do so...is there any?

blue

give the new color and glasses like SE Z610i

kosova

this is the best i have ever had jus you need to update it and you will enjoy great things that ef81 offers.Sound is great much much better than nokia or samsung design is great to much much better than motorola v3 but you can feel the difference only when you have it in your hand (not with look)

Hello

how do you download this fw thing?

Anonymous

This is the worst phone i have ever had. It only works when it feels like it.

Anonymous

Awesome phone, especially with the FW 62 update. It makes the phone more user friendly and with quicker menu speeds. The media player is vastly improved as well as the blutooth function. It is now the phone it should be and is well worth it.

Anonymous

This fone is great! After loadinging FW52 it has absolutely no problems, the menu speed is great and browsing as well as system stability has been vastly improved. The best mobile I have ever owned... and thats saying a lot since I am a refugee... moving from one manufacturer to another with each new phone I get.

erod45

Firmware updates are located on the Benq-Siemens home-webpage.

Anonymous

where can i get update for my firm ware plz help me . url of download update firm ware .

Anonymous

This really is a great phone. Lost of comments mentioned below are related to software problems, (released too early??) and have been fixed with the SVN48 version. looking forward to the next software update!

KT

I bought this phone, from Germany, about a week a go and it is slow before the firmware upgrade. The firmware upgrade does make a different and I am very impress. Well for those who have the old firmware (version 27), you should go to www.benq-siemens.com and under service&support, then service download, you will find instruction of how to update your firmware. That all I got to say, can't complain anything about the style, material, and affordable. Very happy with it.

erod45

Those that complained about this phone are obviously those that didn't get the firmware update and/or not technically inclined - well, after reading the posts, that is what it seems. Anyway, I have had the phone since this past August and couldn't have been happier with the phone. The firmware update did improve the phone's performance by ten-folds and the phone's operating and file system runs similar to a desktop's OS. If you understand computers (and logically, we should given the fact that it is in our everyday lives), the menu system is very intuitive. Understand that I am not a computer nerd, however I do use them for work. The phone has rebooted on me a couple of times, but I have found out that if the phone's built in memory is close to it's full capacity, it will slow down a bit and would have trouble opening up new menu systems. That isn't unusual since it happens to ALL computers that are close to it's full memory capacity (for those that have the priviledge of doing that). A simple "desktop clean" will bring things back to normal. Given these facts, this phone works similary to a computer and not like your everyday plain-jane phone. Non-technological folks need not apply. ;)

VVo

this cell phone is a nightmare...when I first saw it I was really excited: great design, high quality crystal glass display, cool metal keyboard and box, one of the smallest and most thin UMTS (3G) cell phones. But first disappointment when I used it first time after purchase: if you are not a StarWars fan you will hardly bear the horrible themes installed. Next problem: getting other themes loaded...the EF81 can be connected with PC by USB, but themes can be downloaded by a quite tricky way by bluetooth only (so bought I bluetooth adapter for my PC just to get some acceptable themes on the display). But now the really tough problems: bluetooth connection does not work properly with my car freespeaker system (works without problems with Nokia, Motorola and SE), Software crashed several times so that I had to switch the cell phone on and of, Software extremly slow, sometimes the transmission of keyboard commands is that delayed that it is impossible to write messages or even enter just names, battery power is sufficient for 1-2 days only (!), total software crash which made impossible to start the cell phone (!), phone required repair (2 weeks) by service then, in addition two software updates by Siemens-Benq service sofar...to make it short this cell phone has more bugs than a dog has fleas...I am still struggling to get my money back because Siemens-Benq went bancrupt in Germany !

Mac

Got it yesterday.Typical Siemens.Slow and crashing.The sound,display and design are excellent though.I used to have razr V3i.I find this device easier and more pleasant to use.I would recommend this to any razr phone

liutas

this phone realy have several bugs, and slow. camera not bed, photos are medium quality. video has about 15fps, so movies you make are slow....

Gina..

Hiya.. People Are Sayin That The Phone Has a Bug And Runs Slow i Was Thinking Of Getting It For Chrisstmas, Is This True.. cheers

nikiy

i think that this is a very good phone it has many options and solid camera but is to slow mobile phone that is my opinion...

tkim

why do every mobl company must copy RAZR? but da thing is dat l like it^^;;

dhanish

i am using the phone from past 6months bought in italy. sleek design good battery life but not comparable with nokia or samsung, lacking features available in siemens s65. good display, good audio sound.

Mobile King

Contact the Salora Service centres. They are the authorized distributors for Benq-Siemens phones.

charan

hi frnds, i m from INDIA, and i had bought this mobile in UK 2months back only.. it had worked properply for a month only after that it raises problem regarding its software... now it is not starting also... and now i m able to get software in INDIA, its been a great problem to me.. do any one about this service centre in india... please reply me soon

XIII

Im having this phone for a month now and It's really great with new FW. bugs are gone and phone is much faster.the only probblem with rhis phone is camera that hasnt flash and night mode the sound quality is great with handsfree or loud speaker i love this phone

Anonymous

I hope HTC buy Benq-Siemens. HTC phones really rocks...

joshee hiko kimura

saw this at nearest biz cntr..it looks huge but kinda cute though...

mouse

the phone worked only for 10 days... the service is horrible .. the phone is for allmost 40 days at service...

beatbox rocker

Does anyone know what kind of OS this ophone is using? It is not WM, not Symbian, what is it?

Hui Lee

Local Newspaper quote today. Asus and HTC looking to buy Siemens mobile from Benq.

Mobile Maniac

Its not over yet. Benq-siemens has the ability to produce phones till December this year. Also siemens is helping benq-siemens with extra payments. with job cuts and payments dissolutions, it will easily go on into the next year. It's a big company and wont go down easily.

mmd

BenQ Mobile � end of the story for Siemens !!!

ben que

my brother bought this phones its very nice and very durable camera is good ,sounds is good, screen is good , design is good and the preinstalled aplication is very helpful i recomend that you buy this phone and for others that are teasing this phone you dont know what are you saying or impleting bcoz you dont have this phone you are just making up stories to make the phone not good Ryt ;p

BQSX

this phone is awesome, i would recomend it to anyone. it is fast, small, easy-to-use, and sexy. buy it buy it now!!!!!!

Anonymous

I really detest this phone. I upgraded from a motorola v3, which was superb, apart from the battery life. I have found that the EF81 is heavier and for some reason keeps crashing on me. It seems to take an age for it to start up and often will switch off with no warning. It has also refused to open messages from time to time. I really regret switching and will now go back to the V3.

Kuwait

I bought this around 2 months ago and i can tell u 2 things the camera SUX and phone remindes me of WINDOWS, so unreliable.Other than that its great

Anonymous

good job benq and siemens

richey w

I've had phone about 4 months and it no longer stores any calls in call records. So when I miss a call I dont know who it was. I also have to use the phonebook each time to make a call as pressing the green phone button just brings up empty call lists. Overrated phone with bugs wouldnt get another BenQ

nikky

hi, i am thinking about getting this phone but i want to know if it is has MS office and acrobat reader is among its features cos I would need to use it. So can someone please tell me more about its features. Thank you

monkeyboy

I love this phone, but before I buy it, I want to know if it has MSN Messenger support. Can anyone help me?

Mouse

better than expected..... i think one of the best phones ever ... everything works perfect..

jack

Please, what does it mean "the in-call volume is terrible", are you referring to the speakerphone? I didn't understand what you meant. I am thinking about getting this phone, Thanks, Jack

Janry

You should avoid carrying it in your sidepocket, it collects moisture, so its your fault, not the designs. This is common for all phone models across all brands. I've had this phone for 2 months now, and I'd have to reccomend it. It's not your common everyday phone, so it turns heads, definetely catches others attention. At first, there were some problems, as others have complained already. All you have to do is send it for a firmware update at Benq-Siemens customer care. My phone is now running at SVN 48, and it solves most of the bugs and issues. The menu runs smoothly, and is really very fast. Now I wish someone would include shuffle in the mp3 player, and make an option to off the camera's shutter sound which is really very loud. Loudspeakers are still the best I've heard on any phone. What impresses me with this phone is the build quality. It's definetely made to last, even though I've dropped my phone many times and once even slept on it with the clamshell opened, it still works perfectly, and I expect it to remain that way for a while. Really good phone with a timeless design.

Tony

Had phone 7 weeks, looked good, easily carried discreatly due to its slimline design. However one day after carrying the phone in my pocket whilst answering a call on opening clam action there were no graphics on interior screen. Still working otherwise! Told by engineers/insurers it was liquid damage,pos condensation. NO WAY, DESIGN FAULT MAYBE!! STEER CLEAR

Anonymous

Overal, a great phone to have. Completely superior to the original RAZR, except for a couple of problems NOT mentioned in the review. First, it's a bit awkward opening this phone with two hands, and almost impossible to open it one-handed, since the grooves for your fingers are too small for most people, and because of the two open-stages, the phone always gets stuck in the half-open or "sitting" position, and you have to change your grip and open it the rest of the way. Second, the in-call volume is horrible; even when jacked up all the way, I frequently have problems hearing people on the other end. That said, a beautiful phone with a breathtaking display and great build quality. It's unique, and the simplified contemporary design of the exterior and keypad is pretty sharp if you ask me.

erod45

For Steve -- You can set the phone for it to answer and end calls by opening/closing the clamshell. Just go to the phone setup menu and adjust the settings.

eric

I was wondering if anyone with the phone knows if it has MSN Messanger capabilities. Because I sent an e-mail to Benq and apparently because I don't know German, they couldn't help me. I just love this phone.

Steve

Only had mine for two days. A great phone. My only critisism is that having previously had a Motorola V3 I cannot get used to having to press a button to end a call. A clamshell phone in my opinion should work by opening it to answer a call and closing it to end it.

Anonymous

I've had this 3 months now and love it to pieces. Any signal issues are down to your provider, not the phone!!! I have four full audio books, the complete works of Philip K Dick, Brian Aldiss and several work textbooks on the micro card for those spare moments. You can download mobipocket publisher and make free ebooks from any text file (then go to gutenburg). The MP3 player/headphones/speaker are crystal clear and better than any other phone I've seen. The camera is superb - with a few tweaks on a PC it can produce publishable images. The bundled applications are extremely useful and would normally only be present as demos, where here they are the full apps. Video calls on this phone are particularly cool. The only niggles I have with this device are that there are one or two redundancies in the menu structure (once you know you avoid them though) and the battery life is poor when using the apps. This is an industry-wide problem that isn't fixed yet. We were going to solve this with fuel cells, but 911 made sure we can't take butane on planes. All in all a fully-featured phone that looks superb. You do need to customise it to your needs and it is a little quirky in places, but anyone who is used to high-end smart phones such as the late lamented SX1 will not be disappointed.

filo

i think the appreance look good..very catchy and adorable. the only problem is when i make a call, i can't even reach and cant even call anyone..sometimes when someone answed my call, it sound like an alien... and when i'm sending msg, it's stuck and fail to send. i really dont unserstand.. are there anyone out there come tru these problem to?

di

the phone has a lot of problems. signal is really bad and no chinese characters ( i was jus told they are not going to have any software upgrades which is really disappointing) and currently my call record list is not working.

Ivan

The phone is great but it: - is wery slow - somebody know how and where to improve or update a software, please? - has bad signal - same question? Thank you very much.

Cesc

This is an absolutely fantastic phone. The screen and camera quality are superb, even when running videos. Put a 3.2mp camera and it would trounce all over the N80 and K800i. Sublime!!!

erod45

great phone, especially after the firmware updates. I would recommend this phone now to anyone wanting a good quality phone that can compete with the best that nokia and sony ericsson has to offer! And for the non-believers, I say PEACE !!

YANG

Had anybody here tried to use this phone with bluetooth stereo headset? Did you manage to get stereo connection?

gurjit singh pandher

the mobile hand set Benq-Siemens EF91 IS VERY GOOD SET but if you make a single change in it's opening then this set will beat tese sets 1.N6270 2. W800i 3. MOTORAZER V3i 4. samsung d500 the change is just make it's opening like a motorazer v3i i.e it's flap will just open from one inch above from the bottom like a motorazer v3i.then i will sale many of the sets in my city.

XIII

great design,big screen,great sound quality,2 megapixel camera,mp3 player,.... i give 9/10

Lucky Sam

I have never buy any benq siemens phone before and use only se or nokia phones. After saw this ef81 because of its nice design and bgt it. My verdict: very disappointing camera quality and battery performance. Worst, to review the photos had to open one by one as there isn't any small photo thumbnail to see. Video calls, receiver can't hear me clearly.. Fortunately, manage to sell it off (loss) within few days of not, I think the values will certainly drop very fast.

Sad to buy EF81

The only good about this phone is the design and made of stainless steel body... Performance compared to nokia/Se, long way to catch up...

Eric

I just got the EF81 for Vodafone a couple of days ago. Anybody knows how to watch Mobile TV on this phone. Thank you very much.

Spectrum

I'm impressed at the battery life - I've also got a Samsung A300 which will last 2-3 days maximum so the EF81 easily beats that.

cakey

went back to phones 4u and said where my free mobile tv,they said call up the menu and select vodafone live then mobile tv ...............i said it aint there after playing with it for an hour they decided it wasnt there and so i would not get it ..... Ive seen a review with the right menu on a early ef81 but it looks like they have changed it now

Joelle

Is it possible to put Chinese Language into this phone? Thanks.

Neutral User

For those who undermine this phone probably they cannot afford to buy this phone... No phone is perfect but this phone near to perfect...

Happy User

Very Class and solid body... Very Good MP3 player... Very unique Design... Very Good 3G functions... Overall, it's a very good 2 mega 3G phone of all time today technology...

Disappointing EF81 U

I'm puzzled why the rating so high but this phone not really good... First the so called 2 mega camera is disappointing... Secondly, the bettery life not lasting... Thirdly, when you talked on the 3G & the caller can't hear you... Regret buying this phone, somemore quite expensive...

pk3278

Hey, ereryone I think most important is the 3G so how it go.....

Disappointed User

Sorry, typo error.. Camera no good!

Disappointed User

Quite a nice design but not a nice performancer.. Camera 2 mega but good, compared to K750i.. heaven and earth.. When go to the picture folder, it doesn't show all the pic only the words on the size of the pictures. Need to open one by one & close one by one in order to view all the photos. Battery life very disappointing, when I bgt, it printed on the box made in Germany and I thought suppose to be of high quality.. The only good is the sound output from the speakerphone beside the external display, aluminium body and slim design but a poor performancer. My rating 5/10. NOT GOOD!

cakey

my battery life has gone up twofold since i turned off the bluetooth still dont know how to get my free months mobile tv

Harvey

Had the phone 3 weeks now. Do not like it at all. . Very slow .NO BAT LIFE AT ALL . bad signal DO NOT GET THIS PHONE I AM WELL PI**ed OFF..

peewee

i dont like this phone.i think its ugly but not everybody has my tastes.

kenny

to lisa,,,,,you also have to have 3g reception in your area to use 3g...i only get a 3g signal in the town center so thats another point to remember as well.

lauris

please tell someone about that sound recorder format? is it .amr?

Gangsta Moto

You need a UMTS sim card to get 3G Lisa. Also.. go into your network settings...look for network band or whatever has the band in it i.e 900,1800 or 2100(UMTS)...select 2100/UMTS or select automatic. Note that you will only get 3G reception if you already have a 3g enabled simcard...aka USIM (u stands for UMTS). Also.. seems to me the v3x smashes this phone as there are loads of moans about it. Motorola v3x still rules!!!

Gangsta Moto

You need a UMTS sim card to get 3G Lisa. Also.. seems to me the v3x smashes this phone as there are loads of moans about it. Motorola v3x still rules!!!

Lisa

Does anyone know how I can find the 3G option on this phone. I am on the Vodaphone network. Bought phone from phones 4 U was given one months free 3G. But can't find in a menu. Rang Siemens but got indian call centre. Didn't understand what I was on about!! Vodaphone say they don't know as they don't supply this model direct. Can anyone help???

Anonymous

Perfect=It's typically for Siemens always to make the best phones ! :)

Lauris

please tell in what format this phone writes sound records?

consumer

it's a small incredible 3G 2mega slimmest phone small.. WOW!

Cakey

love the phone.....nice one Benq & Siemens anyone know how to get the free tv please ??

Anonymous

1. Install Mobile Phone Manager from CD. 2. Run "Mobile Phone Manager" 3. Now connect phone with USB cable 4. Phone gets recognised as new disk (in windows explorer!!!) 5. Copy any mp3 file to the "sounds" of the phone 6. Same way copy everything (games, applications, pictures etc) to phone!

Spectrum

A love the phone which I bought SIM free from Siemens. I haven't yet managed to work out how to use the MP3 function yet though, specifically how to move tracks from the PC to the phone - anyone well versed up on this already who can help (in not too technical terms)?

RC

I've tested this phone two weeks ago. So here's my opinions: good -displays, camera, video call, allot of features, bad - actually is a big and heavy phone, not so good keypad, annoying twisted and slow menu, low battery life. So, if u can live with that and spend around 500$, could be a natural choice... I wouldnt recommended..

Anonymous

Thanks LOTR, but can u tell me what does it mean all this profiles type?? what is z different between general and meeting or outdoor profile for example?? about ur question u cant write in cinese coz it does not contain this language.

LOTR

the little head is actually profile for General icon. can anyone know how to input chinese for EF81? coz apart from not able to read and write in chinese, i have nothing to say about this phone. one of the best i've owned so far out from 50+ from others!!! cheers for BenQ-Siemens!! (",)

bob

have had the e81 for 3 weeks and can only get 30 hours of battery life not the 300 as claimed. unable to download files sent by bluetooth. apart from that not a bad phone

sg - london

Love the look. 2 problems: Keeps dropping calls on Vodafone for no reason and doesn't always pick up the signal. Has anyone else had this issue? Can't seem to get connectivity to the PC working thru the cable. Doesn't "see" that phone is connected. Any ideas?

Alaram

Can anyone tell me what does the little head at the top of the screen mean?!! thanks

jc

the soft is a little bit slow it seems that video record length is: 5 mnts ..not more... confirmation of reception sms to be set every time before sending the message. have flwd bug: no sound record on my video.. But: camera,screens,sound of mp3 are good quality..battery charge thru usb aswell.. Built in material is good as well as the design

yunx

i think it would be a best mobile phones camera quality than SE W850

Spectrum

The phone has been in phones-4-u for a few weeks now (I believe they will sell it exclusively till the end of the month. I bought mine directly from siemens (also cheaper that way. I know the Link have decided that they are no longer going to take it in but Carphone Warehouse still hope to have it soon

Anonymous

For all of you in the UK wondering about what networks the EF81 is going to available on, I can confirm that both three and T-mobile will be stocking it at some point. Not sure aboyut other networks. But lets just hope it actually comes out this summer! One thing to think about is why has it been delayed so long? Surely there must be some problem with it? And if so are BenQ-Siemens going to dleya release until the problem is totally fixed or like some other unscrupulous phone providers, just bring it out anyway? I can only hope that its out soon and problem free.

Graham Stewart

Hi I have only one poroblem, how do I get MP3's from my PC onto my phone, I got the data cable, cant figure it out. Any help would be appreciated.

Sam

Design: The design of the BenQ-Siemens EF81 was the first thing i recognized. It was very important for me to have mobile without rubber or plastic, because I had negative experience with that. It was not that important for me to have a brand mobile, but the design convinced me. It had to be slim and light so that I can carry it around comfortably even in bermudas, plus it had to be suitable for business matters. Material: Because of the different kinds of metal (stainless steel, magnesium) the EF81 is very robust, even the keypad on the backside is made of steel.I have to clean it from time to time because stains are easily visible,but this makes the phone even more classy. Machining: The workmanship is really what you would expect from a Siemens phone carrying the label Made in Germany, very solidly crafted.The hinge is robust too and very durable indeed. Functions: I havent missed a function yet, the adress register has extensive options (Outlook alike) but I had to search for the Birthday function. An Onlineforum knew what to do, I had to klick all the way to the bottom and there I could link every person in the list to theit Birthday. The instruction manual wasnt helpful in this case but apart from that qite good. The use of media player and camera is easy but i havent tried the video telephony. Display: BenQ provides the EF81 with very sharp digital readouts and a high resolution display- It is fun looking at it! Camera: Of course the camera works best in good lighting conditions. 2 Megapixels are quite propper, the quality of printed photos is O.K. The Ef81 camera rotates, wich I like very much because the handling with the outer keys is unhandy. Battery durability: I was positively surprised that the battery lasted quite long- especialy for a siemens mobile. Its helpfull putting the UMTS function off if you dont use it and you want to save energy. Connectivity: Up and downloads on the pc and from the pc were no problem.midi mp3 and pictures are quickly loaded. The synchronisation with Outlook makes it easy to update the adresses. Siemens: After some time with siemens mobiles, I had a motorola last time. I realy must say that motorola made a step back with the V3x. I think the Siemens-BenQ marriage has lovely children. specials: If you purchase early ( like I did) BenQ-Siemens provides a free personal gravure of the phone on their webpage, i am looking forward to that. Recommendation: I would recommend the EF81, now that UMTS starts off i wouldnt purchase a GSM cell anymore, and the EF81 is a very good looking one. For Anyone who sets high value on a well crafted product with design and good businessfunctions, it is the right choice even I you dont use UMTS

gary romano

hi!i bought tis Benq.Siemens EF81 1 week ago,,yes!it is slow.but it's ok,one problem is,when i use video call.i actaully can't talk with my bluetooth earphone on(ear piece)!is there anybody kind enough to tell or teach me how to use it if you happen to be a Benq.Siemens EF81 user??,cause the munaul did not actually say's how to use it..

Anonymous

I have it - now my rating: -display: perfect -sound: perfect -design: great :-) I love it !!!! :-)

Alaram

I resolved the problem! thanks anyway....

Alaram

Hi, I bought the EF81 yesterday, its a wonderful cell but i have just one problem that the phone cant read all the contacts that i have on my sim card!! what should i do?? should i re-insert all my contact list again in the memory of the phone or what?!!!!! anyone please have an answer? thanks

Anonymous

Have you got any negative opinions?

lauris

pleace help! i want to now! mobile phones have bluetooth games? or something like that? witch you can play with another phone! and where i can get it?

dm_ON

Hi user from Latvia, I'm from Latvia to. Here is the link about currency 49 Ls is 70 Euro its true!!! Info from internet shop: 300 Ls is 428 Euro.

lauris

hi! i'm from Latvia(Lettland) and we have ef81 since end of april! in here we must pay to operator (Tele2) 70eur to get phone! must get contract of 24 mounths! but if want buy it in shop must pay +-500eur!

Dan

How do you add smileys to texts? Still cant figure it out....apart from that the phone is excellent and you can hardly feel it in your pocket as it's so super slim!

james

Had the phone for a week got it from fones 4 u on vodafone. the only bad point is the battery had to charge it every nite so far but no complaints about anytrhing else it looks good easy to use and if your a star wars fan you'll love it

martin

i love it it looks so mint and i hope it does everythink that my samsung z500 has but when will it be in vodphone. My contract runs out soon and i want it now. Does anyone know if it can hold mp3's and can it really play videos also does it hav GPRS. so many questions !! but and a big but some people hav said that it is slow. i hope that it is not ture!! thanks 4 reading my view on this good/bad phone get back 2 me soon

kevin

i hope they going to put the phone in 850MHZ pleas???????

squal

To Joelle, ofcourse ot is possible

Joelle

Is the sms ringtone customizable?? Thanks alot!

Grolsch30

Hi, Me & my other half are in the same boat mate, were also on o2 and have been waiting for this phone since Marc. Originally Carphonewarehouse had it to be released in March but they have been postponing it every month, spoke to o2 in the shop and they said that they would be stocking them but don't know when exactly, apparently sometime this month. I also phoned o2 customer service up and they did not any clue at all when and if they would be getting this phone!!! Just seems weird how no one ever has any concrete information about new releases and I'm losing my patience as I've been waiting since March for this phone. Also how can Benq Siemens just give exclusive rights to phones for U if they want to establish themselves back on the uk market?!!- by limiting the phone to one provider for X amount of time! I'd imagine that they will lose out because people like me who want it from a specific provider/ tarif/ upgrade will just stop waiting for it to be released on the other networks and opt for the usaul competitors i.e sony erricsson, nokia, samsung. I know i'm not going to wait for much longer!!! ranr over & benq siemens take note!!!!

Anonymous

I really want this phone but it seems that in the UK noone other than Vodafone are doing it! I'm on O2 and I don't want one of their contracts and certainly do not want to pay �300 for it, I've been due an upgrade for ages, please someone tell me when it's coming out on O2, they still won't tell me anything! Help!

matrix

Legiongr When I said "still waiting here in Greece.." I ment at the stores.I don't want to buy it from the Internet! I want to upgrade my contract with a new phone

Anonymous

Just upgraded to this phone from the D500, and its great. My only problems with this phone is the poor battery life which i suppose is due to all the features, some of which seem odd why would you need a coctail manager? nice novely though. my second problem with the phone is that it seems a bit sluggish opening some applications but hey its cool so who cares. not too bothered by the fact it hasnt got a flash but like how the camera works good, quality anyway. love the tv but can be a bit slow, suppose it depends on the area your in. the sat nav application is cool, but you have to pay for it :( screens are impressive and im addicted to the battle ships game, but not liking all the star wars stuff on it yoda freaks me out. Well all in all pretty damn good phone, even though i havent found half the stuff thats on it

Legiongr

@matrix Benq Siemens EF81 is already available in Greece. Since yesterday I think. www.e-shop.gr www.megamarket.gr the price is about 360 euros

LIZ

Hey guys, I'm interested in getting this phone, can someone tell me if this phone has a speaker phone on it or not? Is it a good quality phone & what about the volume..low or loud capability.

matrix

Same here in Greece.. I'm waiting its arrival since March-asked several times Benq-siemens about it but they didn't have any specific answer to give me!!! Getting tired of waiting..I am looking to LG chocolate(too expensive though) or be a little bit patient for SE W850 (which is-by the way-great!)

htex

i have the same problem here in portugal! i ordered mine in 20th april and i still waiting for him. When benq-siemens release the phone??? i�m getting tired too! the only thing that keep me waiting is the good critics of the specialists such mobilereview.com and t3 magazine! greetings to all lucky users of ef81 and to all crew of gsmarena...

Scorp

i have used this phone its pcked with everything you need and amzaing voice quality its a bit slow but that i guess with evry 3G phone

Grolsch30

Hi, I'm getting very frustrated about this phone! It's been so long (since March), with the release date being pushed back month after month! Finally it's out in the UK but only at Phones 4 U! and just on Vodafone1. Now I'm nearly 6 months overdue for an upgrade and having looked at the tariffs at phones 4 u well they are for me personally crap! The carphonewarehouse website has again put the release date to June and O2 haved said that it's due out anytime but don't know when! now they said this over 4 weeks ago!!! I am now thinking of getting a different phone as I am totally fed up with waiting. Why would Benq Siemens want to come back into the UK market when it's only available to one network/ supplier! Going to wait another 2 weeks tops and if it is not available on 02 than I shall go for the competition simple as. right said my piece, for those who have the EF81 I hope you are happy with it! cheers now

iain

i like this phone but cant seem to find who does it i.e. orange or o2 or vodaphone ???????

Amer Asim

Hi everyone! Just to let you know that no doubt this is a nice phone but it is very slow in performance and operation wise.When I used mine to navigate through the menu or sending text etc etc, I feel like I am using x286 pc. Too slow in all aspect:(:(

skillz

OS means operating system does any 1 kno if there releasing a firmware updatew to fix the bugs the phone has

pezza

o ye what does OS mean?

pezza

hi i think that im getting thi phone, i live in the UK and i think this is the best that i can find for my needs. i had a demonstration of the phone in the shop and it is ace! but i do not understand what it means by T.V phone? could some body email me or post please, i would really like to know before i buy the phone. thanks!

Fukuso

Thanks Squal and Drazen, much appreciated.

rob

Doesn't look to good.... No mp3's? Is this true? A �300 phone without the best features of a modern phone. Nice design though

squal

To Fukuso, of course you can do that (whether by data cable or bluetooth)

The Lil Haitian

To Sean, It is the Ronaldo Phone, you can actually have more info on google.com, just search for " the Ronaldo phone " then you'll see the results of your search and then simply choose a link. There you go

drazen

to Fukuso ofcourse U can do it U are getting usb cable in a package together with a phone...........

Nathaniel

This phone is excellent. Slightly large but the screen quality both inside and out make up for this small flaw. Slightly cheap looking back black cover. Star Wars edition is a must for any fan of the films. Basic flip design but very 8800 in appearance. Best phone since D500 2 years ago. BUY IT NOW!

sean

hi is this the ronaldo phone?

Fukuso

I am thinking of buying this phone when it comes out in the UK, or hopefully Japan, and i was wondering before i do buy it, whether you are able to download the photos you have taken to your computer. If so please post a.s.a.p please.

santa

not as good as it seems, another razr copy cat, menu interface is so so, the only good thing is the weight and thickness. no others than stands out....hmmm....battery aint lasting,would say daily charging for frequent users like me 2hours talk time and 10-15 texting...buttons are a bit stiff on the fingers, colors are a bore to me as white or sliver is so norm...anything new choices can be incoperated???outer screen aint tat good and inner screen is soso....lol not recommened ....

Tom

Hacko, this phone should come in just over 300 pounds sterling without a contract.

Tom

n$ew, the software/profile for Three is slightly different than for Vodafone (Phones4u have this only on Voda). So I wouldn't count on everything working absolutely right if you just put a Three SIM into a Voda unit. But this product is dynamically profiled, so it may _try_ to change its settings to Three if you put the SIM in.

earthangel

fyi, benq-siemens recently opened a shop at the foodcourt level of robinsons galleria at ortigas, philippines. according to the sales consultant, they will start selling the ef81 model this june. they dont have the srp yet but the sales person said that it wont go beyond php25,000.00 they have a dummy model on display. why dont you check it out.

Nodo

Thanks GSMArena for reviewing this phone. who knowa when will it be able on Plemix.com

td

I've just tried the settings for Voda TV and it's now working fine. Thanks Tom for the tip. There is no option to watch TV in full screen mode which is a pity.

Tom

Hi, all. Here's the Voda TV fix I've been given - can't test it myself as my SIM is not provisioned for it - company phone :( - turn phone on with Voda SIM in - press centre key to get icon menu - move highlight to Media Player and press centre key - move to the bookmarks tab with the right navigation key - press left soft key (Options) - highlight will be on Settings, press centre key - change the connection profile to VF GPRS and press the left soft key (Options), select Save This should sort it, would be really great if someone can confirm on the forum if this works!

CAMERON

hI TD Please give too the fix for vd tv. Thanks

TD

Thanks Tom. Would greatly appreciate it if you could get the Voda TV fix. TD

Tom

Hi, TD. There is a fix available for the streaming Voda TV, just by changing a setting (2 minutes, about 20 keypresses). I'll try and get the fix for you.

Anonymous

D. This phone is also available on 12 month contract FOC on Phones4 u website !

td

Had this phone for a week now and find it a big letdown. OS slow and lags as reported by others. In pictures folder no thumbnail preview only icon with with jpeg, gif etc written inside it and no facility to scroll through stored images. Camera ok in daylight but average in bad light conditions - no camera light or night mode. Video 5 mins max and quality not very good. Battery life 2-3 days with light/moderate use. Won't support streaming/mobile tv on Voda Uk - unsupported file type. Themes are very dull. Good points - good looking and stylish, good screen, ringtones very loud, good quality sound on mp3, ability to answer calls with phone closed. When firmware updates are available to solve software problems might be an OK phone but at the moment wouldn't recommend.

skillz

ive had this phone for about a month it is great but a few problems that drive me crazy are the OS is super slow which i wouldent mind so much if that was it but my phone turns off and reboots way 2 often it cant multitask if you giuve it 2 muc h2 do it will reboot thats wat drives me crazy bout it but other then those 2 things its the best phone i ever had

D

Went in to P4U at lunchtime, they now have this in stock. I had to sit through their sales pitch for 45 mins, but they eventually let me play with it. Very nice. The screen is excellent, and I do not think that the OS is slow at all. The only problem, they are selling it on an 18 month contract.

Anonymous

Talking to rep at phones4u (England) they said they should start getting the phones next week, they started advertising the phone but had to send the first batch back cos of software issues

rchambel

to foosoomin: I really don't have this phone but had several bad experiences with Siemens mobile phones. That performance issue was sooooo anoying that kept me away from Siemens. This mobile seems quite good, but I wouldn't spend my money on something with poor performance. Cheers!

Naranja76

I am eagerly anticipating the release of this handset. I am strangely drawn to it inspite of its plain anterior design.

Anonymous

this mobile is very good....

mathias

I already have him 2 weeks... any questions? mail me [email protected] and btw standby time is +-2-3days

Legiongr

I called BenQ Hellas and the guy said that the phone wil be available in Greece on the 20th of May.....which means a week ahead...

Anonymous

No sign of the phone in Bulgaria, too!!!

htex

not yet available in portugal too!!! i still waiting for his launch...

Anonymous

does anyone know if you can assign mp3s or voice recordings as a text tone?

mouse

Still waiting here in Greece. . . . .

Nodo

Please GSMARENA review this phone and can someone tell me links where I can find reviews about this phone

RB

I rec'd mine last week, and took it to my Cingular guy. Everything is hooked up & working. Three e-mail accounts are @ your fingertips.Ringtones for each person/group work great, as is the reception. my phone guy was jealous! He may even start carrying them. No problems at all experienced. Delivery from Mobile Gadgets went with no problems/delays

Upham

I am really interested on this incredible mobile phone, and here in Spain is now available. It is a bit expensive, 440 euros..... I thought it would cost less than 400 �..... Is it worth the price?. I can't find any other phone like this from Nokia/Samsung or Sony Ericsson.

htex

Please put the ef81 on sell here in portugal! I�m tired of waiting for mine!!! It never comes. I ordered mine two weeks ago!!! SELL IT QUICK BENQ-SIEMENS...

Anonymous

Now showing as coming soon on 3 on phones 4 u website !

grolsch30 UK

HI, I've been waiting for this phone since March when it was apparently due out but it has been postponed every month but it should be out sometime in May now! All networks have sighned up for it and according to the link below Phones4U have some kind of exclusive deal with Benq Siemens so they might receive it first who knows! I'll check there website... anyway here is the link: cheers now

Anonymous

Internet settings available from www.benq-siemens.com. EF81 product support.

skillz

any 1 kno the internet settings for cingular

Anonymous

have one :-) and its great!

Anonymous

Does anyone know if the external screen goes black in standby mode or is the date/time visible?

Jack

This is the best. My one is on the way..

lei

this phone is the best on its class with the best materials. It cost about 3000 Danish Crown and is already available......can't wait to have it!

skillz

the phone has a nice good feel i got it from mobile gadgets i recommend them not the cheapest but i got expidited shipping fropm germany to the us and it came next day so there a goot site no bull about its in stock but it takes weeks 2 get it on 2 the phone the battery seems great mp3s play great with the phone open or closed the alarm and organiser and camera are great good quality i like the zoom feature alot its good clean zoom i havent tried the video telephony yet because i lve in the usa and its not fully up here yet they say it will be up by mid june there are a few bad things my bluetooth head set is kind of staticy ive used with 2 other of my phones so i know it works good but on a positive note holding this phone to your ear is a pleasure it is comfortable and 1 other bad thing the its alittle buggy it turned off twice randomly and rebooted it self and ive only had it a day but all in all its seems like a great hand set keep in mind the more features the more buggy a phone will be and this 1 isent bad at all from what i can tell now ill give a full review in a week or so i need to set a few more things up on another note does any 1 know the internet settings for cingular for unlocked phones theres a default code i usto have it in my old phone but it broke on me and if i call cingular it takes hours 2 get the codes seeing as i know more about phones the most of them and does any 1 know where to get good acceseries for this phone

samke

here it costs 399.. not worth the money :)

htex

lucky yoy skills! i still waiting for mine ef81 here in portugal. i already ordered mine a week ago! tell to the people your first impression of the phone ok!!! thank's...

skillz

I just got mine an hour ago it seems great ill give a full review after i play with it for a while just wanted to say for now good camera loud speaker and great outer screen the 1 flaw is that every 1 keeps mistaking it for the razr which really pisses me off considering this phone is 50 times better than any razr even the v3x doesent compare

Digital Boy

Please, for any one who has got their lovely EF81. Please give your comment, I can't wait to hear that!:) A question, is it still don't has shuffle option in media player??

htex

the price of ef81 have changed but not my will to get one!

htex

Siemens change the price of ef81!!! yesterday the online shop sell it for 380.08 but today the price is diferent! that must be a mistake and the new price is 459.90 �! sorry the wrong information but i'm been cheated too! be well...

Anonymous

Thank so much .... :) i will try to buy it online.if anybody have a link to a review or any important detail about the phone please help me :) the themes for this fone are the same the siemens SXG75? best regards joao

htex

you can also read a complet review on www.3g.co.uk!

htex

you can see a 3D view and also a trailer on www.benq-siemens.com! i heard that the ef81 has the best tftdisplay of his class and a excellente 2 magapixel camera. Also suports the most important media files and works in gsm or umts! the critics siad that was a xcellent phone manufactured with the most quality materials available like magnesium, stainless stell, aluminium and mineral glass! it's not a plastical phone like the others! buy it and you won't regret!!! be cool

jmsurf

Thank you for the help :) What do you think about the phone?is it fine? can anybody post a small review or a link to aa review? best regards

htex

you can see all the specifications and critics such as videos of ef81 on www.mobile-review.com but i sure you that this is a great phone!!! greetings...

htex

jmsurf you can buy the ef81 here in portugal in the next few days on www.siemens.pt (online shop. his price his 380.08�! i hope you enjoy it!!! i already ordered mine... be cool!

MentalT

Mine is in the mail today! Happy!

obolon

>Digital Boy> Loudspeaker quality not so good.....but loud.

Anonymous

the ef81 will be on sale on siemens online shop here in portugal in the end of april and i ordered mine ef81 without any contract! I want him to be free...

Digital Boy

@ obolon Please tell me about its loudspeaker quality when playing music. Is it good or bad like older Siemens phone? It would be good if you can compare with SXG75 or S75 too... Thanks

obolon

I have this phone for about a month now. using with Cingular Wireless. Build quality is great- nice and heavy phone. Made in Germany. Too buggy- because I have "Not For Sale" prototype. I dont know what interface the "real" EF81 has- mine shows SXG75 on startup.

david.g

orderd mine in portugal too,but the problem here is that even if you take a contact for 18 months with ****fone and change your point in you still have to pay 175 euros for it.it only comes out in may here.

Alex

HEADS UP FOR EVERYONE! EF81 NOW AVAILABLE!!! www.mobile-gadegets.com, www.mpx.no and www.club-siemens.com --- Mobile Gadgets has it in stock TODAY!!! The other 2 sites will get it in stock within the next few days! Also Benq Germany has it in stock on their online shop. GOODLUCK EVERYONE!

Htex

I already ordered mine ef81 here in portugal! it will be launched in the end of this month. this beautiful phone it will be mine!!! His price here in portugal is 380.08 �. to cheap isn't he...

Anonymous

hey gsmarena.com plzzzzzzzzz review this phone plzzzzzzzzz

foosoomin

To : rchambel Where did you purchased your EF81 from ? Germany ? Can you post some reviews on this phone ?

rchambel

Does anyone know if Siemens managed to solve their bad perfomance problems? It took me more than 20 seconds to open the contact list after switched on.

ALONG

Hey guy, this phone available at M'sia. TQ

lightage

When will it arrive in Singapore ? Saw it first in the tech mag here and then in this website. I am so in love with it ! :) I sure hope this phone will be here... soon... Might just hold up the thought of getting myself a PDA phone. By the way, why doesn't this site have anything on Dopod ?? Is it possible to make reviews available here ? Comparing them with some other PDA like phones. :) Thanx a mil !

Grolsch30 UK

Seen the EF81 readily available in Germany for around 345 euros +/-, and on contract from free. They always seem to have contracts with a minimum of 24 months!!! WoW Getting very impatient over here in the UK now as I need a new mobile!

Grolsch30 UK

Just phoned the Carphone Warehouse as the phone does not appear on there website anymore! The sales person told me that the phone has been delayed until the end of May/ begining of June, no reason was given but they assured me that they will be selling the EF81! Getting quite frustrated now with all the delays as I need a phone kinda NOW and I would really like the EF81 instead of a Nokia or Samsung which every man, woman and dog has if you know what I mean!!! Cheers now :)

Anonymous

GOD make this phone available in the Philippines . . . GSMARENA PLZZZZZZ make a review on this phone. . .

fangs

just played one of the pre production modules and this phone rocks

Anonymous

it's not a bad fone

YEAH

it will be availiable on sg in april!!!

Marco

Nice Mobile phone. Hope to have it soon in Switzerland.

Anonymous

Just been in to carphonewarehouse today and the release date has been put out to May !

noor

this fone looks cool but can anyone tell if this fone can play videos in full screen? cuz i had a sonyericsson k700 which got stolen and i think its screen was bigger and the display was gr8,also i m looking to get my hands on a 3g fone can anyone tell if this is available in pakistan and if it can display full screen video and plus whats the cost here???? thanx in adv :)

foosoomin

Hi Bubble, Please add me into MSN Messenger at foosoomin"at"hotmail"dot"com I cannot add email address into this post, so i created this way I'm also a Singapore Citizen, please to know you through GSMArena

Bubble

Hi foosoomin, Yes, I'm Singaporean. I'm pleased to add you onto my msn. But how to get this done? BTW, I'm not a siemens fans but will in the future. So how? You still wants to link me up on msn? CHEERS..

foosoomin

Hi Bubble, No worries By the way, Siemens careline is actually diverted to Philipines, which basically means those CSO there will answer your question, get what i mean ? By the way, are u a Singapore Citizen ? i would like to invite you into MSN Messenger chat, since you're a Siemens user

Bubble

Hi Foosoomin, Thanks for the info & looking forward to buy this phone.. :)

foosoomin

To : Bubble, EF81 will be available in SG, no need to be disappointed To : Digital Boy, I have not tried the EF81, but i know that SXG75 speaker is much better than S75. Also, EF81 uses the same platform as SXG75. So, i'm assuming it uses the same buzzer for EF81

Digital boy

To foosoomin: So, how's speaker performance when playing music? Does it have bass? Is it as good as S75 or SXG75?

Digital Boy

Wow, that's absolutely stupid decission! I'm from Indonesia and EF81 will be available here, but I'm sorry to hear that news. Because I want to see EF81 be popular everywhere... Anyway, EF81 soooo cool! Can't wait to get it, it will be my first clamshell phone...

Bubble

Hi, I have called Benq-siemens Singapore careline on EF81 launching date. Surprised to hear that this model might not be selling in Singapore!... Disappointed as I really love this phone.

foosoomin

EF81 is running on Brew platform, which is the same as SXG75. For those of you knows about SXG75, you'll know the features. The ringtone buzzer provide very good quality, i'll get EF81 once it's available in Singapore

needaphone

I really like this phone, hopefully it is better than razr v3x. Don't see this phone on the ebay yet, probably only way to get it in the US.

Anonymous

but I better have poor pictures at night that just a black picture due to no flash.

Anonymous

It says on the home page that this phone is in stores now ? Anyone seen it on sale yet ? The only place I've seen that even mention which networks it will be available soon on is www.directmobilephones.com. They say coming soon on Vodafone & o2, but neither of these networks mention this phone as coming soon on their own websites. I'm hoping to get it on Orange but I haven't seen anything about orange releasing it.

Anonymous

I'm not too bothered about it not having a flash. I have a 6280 at the mo and the photos taken with the flash are poor anyway !

Anonymous

check www.mobile-review.com for a review of BenQ Siemens EF81

Anonymous

this phone sucks, it`d all be good but without flash light it is useless, u could only take good pictures with perfect light conditions

Tom

After reading the phones spec. I cant wait for it too come out; I am very anxiouse about the price, I expect it to be quite expensive, I cannot find any websites that have posted the price of this phone, so I guess I shall just have to wait and see

Anonymous

hey gsmarena.com make a review on this phone plzzzzzzzzzz

Anonymous

plz gsmarena make a review on this phone . . . . . . .

Anonymous

I've read the review on mobile-review.com. I still think this is sounds better than the phone I bought 6 wks ago - Nokia 6280. Slimmer, smarter, better build and the camera is poor on 6280 anyway. The EF81 still seems one of the most appealing 3G handsets available in the near future. I beleive that if you want a quality camera then you still need to get a seperate digital camera. Camera phones at their best are still not that good in comparrison. I also have a SEW800i, which supposedly has the best camera available on a mobile available to date, I'm not impressed by the camera on that either. The autofocus is sometimes a pain in the butt. The 6280 camera is absolutely hopeless for close ups.

Andy Burgin

Anyone wanting to read a review about this mobile an to see it meets you requirments go to www.mobile review.com ,this might be BenQs first mobile but they better improve its cameras an screen pixels thats why Siemens never Challenged the others with there camera mobiles,

rubio

the phone is almost coming out in Belgium. Normally in a few days. The price should be 399�.

Swiss Phil

I saw this phone a few weeks ago and have been trying to find a high street retailer in Switzerland who may know a bit about it... alas even Swisscom raised their eyebrows when I mentioned the word "Benq". Am looking at comparing this with a Nokia N80(got to love their predictive text - they have that sorted). Anybody got any hints or tips that I should take into account? Cheers

Simon UK

According to the Carphone warehouse website it should be available in March sometime. I have been in the shop to ask for prices but they could'nt tell me as they said they only get there info on very short notice!

Anonymous

Cheaply made ? Obviously haven't read much bout this phone av you ? This phone uses just about the best quality materials I have seen ! Stainless steel, aluminium (black anodised), magnesium & mineral glass for the display. Yeah obviously ch3eaply made ! Doh !

Anonymous

Big deal! Looks dull,cheaply made and it's not a flipper. A 2MG pixel camera is useless and the sound of these mp3 phones is bloody awfull. Do young buyers have tin ears? Where's the diserning listener in the 14-28 age group that buys phones? How important is music to this generation anyway? This phone will fail to catch on I almost guarantee it.

Nastya

this phone looks nice to me, does anybody know the release date? if the video of this phone is like on samsung d600 (352x288) i will defenetly prefer this one, so I'll be very pleased if anybody have information about the video recording, please!!!

dr-r

Just spoke to Vodafone UK - they have never heard of this phone!!! I wish they had some kind of idea if they'll be doing this before I plunge for the 6280 which might become a mistake! This phones looks and specs are great!

Markus

to Jason Siemens is from Germany and sold their mobilephone divison to BenQ from taiwan...

Andy Burgin

Just got my "What mobile" magazine an they have given a review of this mobile they say.This is impressively slim phone an appealing 3G phone that should establish BenQ onto the UK market,the only drawback of this phone was its slow response times,the multimedia features are impressive an the music player couldn"t cope with high volumes,the design is slick an accomplished an draw in a fair few admirers who have seen bulkier 3G handsets,scores Performance xxx ,Features xxxxx,Usability xxxx an Verdict xxxx all out of 5 not bad hope that helps people wanting this mobile

Jason

where is the brand coming from?

Anonymous

Can the camera be rotated?

danny

the fone has an amazin feel...trust me whn i say its a jaw dropper! plus..u can use the fone with the flip closed 2 take pics, video record n mp3 player! even pik up calls n the handsfree is on automatic... amazin!

sam

I like this design more than moto v3,buy ef81

Anonymous

rofl! u must be joking when u think that the moto looks better than this one. I already had a sample in my hands and it's fantastic! wait for Cebit and test by yourself!

Tomi

That is your choice Nick. I like the design of this phone more. The options are the same but this phone is smaller than tne moto. I think that it will be out in the midle of march, so you will only wait a little.

Anonymous

Come on people.v3x is just a plastic phone with good features. On the other hand ,v3i is a very well build phone but...no features. This one, has the quality of v3i and the features of the v3x.

DesignAddict

Whoever thinks the V3x is a better design does not have a good eye for design! The V3x is quite cheap and tacky looking. The EF81 looks luxurious and chic with classic, clean and seamless lines. The EF81 has an excellent combination of materials and finishes. The NEC N500iS also looks better than the V3x. Motorola, rethink design please!

Nick

I prefer the V3x design much more than this baby. The features are pretty much the same, so, why wait for this one to be released?

Tomi

to euroraver... look at the dimensions and you�ll notice that it is smaller than the razor, also you should know that is made of metal not plastic and the design is 4 light years from the razor design. so?

euroraver

How is this better than RAZR V3x? Seems like a rip off of Moto's phone...

tomi

Really nice phone. Does anyone know is it going to be out on three network and the approx. price? Thanks

jB

The only NON-PLASTIC phone with very good features!!! This phone is a REVOLUTION.

tomi

This is one of the best phone I�ve ever seen. It has a beautiful design and it is so small... The options are awesome too! Great phone, great phone :)

Anonymous

a wonderful i have seen ever in my life.

Terry

This phone rocks, by far the best phone on the market

SE Supporter

Striker: Yes u r rite.. lol but i found 1 thing this lil baby dun have but SE babes have it.. that is the Radio!! :P lol so they r almost equals but this is still 1% better lolz

Anil.B.R

It's a good design but the best part, it's a 3G phone, so gud. However, still it lack in features like 'Infrared'. A phone should have all the features of old phone. Like the Nokia 6600. By the way what is price of this machine.

Anonymous

good functions and design is great. but the brand name is unpopular. trading cost will be low. hais...

w8jiro

Long time after SL45, maybe next good phone.

bogus

nice ;) I want it

Striker

And SE Supporter.... I know what u mean - good quality clamshells like this is something that SE have missing in their portfolio - they really need to produce a good quality clam soon or they'll lose loyal customers (like yourself!) The Z520 is about the best clam they have and it just don't cut the mustard! Compared to this little baby the Z520 terrible.....

Striker

Loz You'll see I already knew this and my post was actually a reply. It was SE supporter who was asking about the 3G cam, not me.

Loz

I quote STRIKER. "does this phone have the 3G camera? i mean can it talk with video talk?" When the phone is closed, it's like a camera for photos. When it's opened, the camera rotate and it becomes a camerato video talk.

lavender05

So does this phone record Good quailty Video? How much would the 1gb memory sard cost? thank you

SE Supporter

Striker: thanx this may be the next phone i gonna buy haha :X tho not SE but gd :P

Striker

SE Supporter Yep. You can see the swivelling 3g videocall cam on the pics on the spine of the phone.

SE Supporter

does this phone have the 3G camera? i mean can it talk with video talk?

ajmak

damn! what a great job BQS moto's V3x fan got mad and cannot accept that EF81 has smash V3x haha there is no way to compare this beauty with that

Nickthegreek

hey does anyone know if this mob. s got a loudspeaker ?

andrew

this mobile have a flash on its camera? and when will this mobile be available to buy ?

andrew

can you please tell me when this mobile will be available?

danny

guys, i have seen and felt this product and compared it to the v3. let me tell you that there is no comparison other than the flip! this model has no chunky base, it has a full magnesium/aluminum casing, and is a 3g phone. so stop comparing apples to oranges! wait till you see the product, im sure youll be impressed

Nol

Can anyone let me know whether this phone will be released in Canada? Thank you!

Anonymous

if compare with the design wif MOTO, i prefer V3x this phone design is like a steel box... SUX!!

Jaxx

I agree with BCB. Why argue about which phone is the 'original'. As long as it looks good that should be it. Frankly, the V3 was a dissapointment. Mine kept crashing and I had to replace it. I found the firmware pretty slow generally. And in terms of looks - yeah it is nice, but why keep going on about it. Your beloved Motorola also seem to be running out of ideas (V3, V3x, V3i, PEBL) just churning out more and more flip phones with the same old features. I now own a SE W800i and can say hands down it is the best of the big phones available in the UK at the moment. However, I had to pay a premium. I only hope that BenQ-Siemens do release in the UK and price their products fairly according to their reputation (they don't have much street cred really :-p)

craig

will this fone be out in the UK on vodafone contract, and when? thanks

BCB

I don't think its a copy of the Moto V3 at all. Apart from the basic flip phone and the slim body, the rest are pretty much different from the V3. All Moto V3 series phones have that chunky thing below the keypad which I think it looks plain ugly. You see the same chunky part in the LG P7200 and Samsung SGH-Z510. With the EF81, no, you don't see it there. There are additional buttons beneath the external display, which with the Moto V3 series, you do not see it there. There are many phones with similar looking keypads, not to mention P7200 is one of them too. The slim profile body is just a trend, and definiately not a copy. The same trend goes with most other electronics devices. Why do mp3 players get smaller, but not bigger? I don't hate the Moto, in fact I think the V3x is a great phone. I just think it is pointless to keep on arguing which phone is a copy of another or vice versa. There will always be similar looking phones, but what really matters is how they perform when you use them. I am sure the functions, the UI, the feeling of the EF81 is different compared to the V3, and whether or not you will choose the BenQ-Siemens, the Moto, or another brand all depends on how what really suits you best.

paul

It looks very simular LG P7200. I think it's Made in china product. wooooooo. Replica!!

Gangsta Moto

To Kal... Think you should get ur life and facts right cos it's obvious that you are oblivious to reality. The phone looks, stinks and most definitely will feel like the V3. What absurd statement did u make about the V3 screen?... mate please go check the facts. What silly control button are u talking about?.. hope it's not the D-pad ur referring too cos helloooooooooooooo... look at the V3. Again u mention the bottom of the V3... look @ the BenQ and u realise it is also there but differently shaped. Talking about Samsung... u guys were born yesterday obviously. Motorola started the clamshell design with the Startac back in the day... came back and blew everyone away with the V66, V60 (first aluminium phone)and the rest of the V series i.e. Vdot that got everyone and their moms runnin 2 get one... then u get Samsung making phones copying the Motorola designs and stuff but aimed at kids with all sorts of bright colours and silly tones. Now u get these kids who only got their first phone 5 years ago talking bout Samsung was copied. Ya'll better jump on the internet and read the facts.. dont be fooled. Look... no need to holla @ suckaz for imitations... feel free and jump on the band wagon. All i know is it's a very good feeling to think that BenQ-Siemens and everyone who gets this phone will secretly feel kinda 2nd class knowing the Original is still handling biz and killing the imitators once they see the V3. Ya'll betta recognize!

Fen

Man, what a rip-off of Alexander Graham Bell's telephone! The man must be spinning in his grave.

Kal

My apology about the 2.2" internal screen. I was wrong. The resolution is different though. About the keypad!!well, any new phone that use the same technology (made from think metal sheet) will unavoidably remind us all of V3. Its not just v3. MOTO used the same concept on E1070,SLVR L7,PEBL U6,L6 etc models. Even VK Mobile VK2100 has the same.The layout is ofcourse different. Can't help.

MikeR

Does anyone know if and when this is being released in the UK?

w.

the first thought that comes to my mind looking at this phone is: v3 looks better :))

xciter

very well said kal.=) so, should we say we don't have any respect for samsung, nokia, etc for copying siemens' slider phone (SL10)?=P EF81's keypad and main body will just remind of the V3, but it doesn't look like a V3 clone. you're absolutely right, thin phones will just look the same (for now)...similar designs are unavoidable. it's also very evident on cars, gadgets, houses/buildings, etc.

Dumb

You stated a wrong statement. I used to own a v3 and it does have a 2.2 inch internal display

Alvin

hey do any1 noe the price of tis fon?

Kal

By the way, to my knowledge Samsung first came up with the idea of putting contol knobs on the front. So should we say they copied Samsung as well? Im a designer myself, and I dont see anything else can be done on a thin clamsell for now. Reading all these useless comparisions making me sick. If you dont like it, buy one that you like.period

Kal

To Gangsta moto: From which angle it looks like a copy of V3? Get your eye checked. 1. does V3 has a large external display? 2. Does v3 has any contol knob on the front? 3. Does v3 has camera inside? 4. Does v3 has a 2.2 inch internal screen? 5. Do you see any ugly useless bottom part in this phone? Im not even going to the features..just talking about design. So any Clamsell that is thin is a copy of v3? Give me a break! You are talking as if thin clamsell is MOTO patent. get a life.

Gangsta Moto

I must say... I have absolutely no respect for BenQ-Siemens or whoever thought up the idea to make this phone. Of all shapes in the world they had to copy the V3... just like I always thought.. motorola rule hands down. Could'nt they think something else up.. I mean the V3 has been out for a year already and i can bet you Motorola have some new stuff up their sleeves they just waiting to unleash on us. Sorry to offend anyone on here but whether you like it or not if you buy this phone everyone WILL think it is a new RAZR or just another COPY OF A RAZR! It's so embarrasing to even think they released this phone... absolutely a company that have no vision and thats why the failed there first time around... and it dont sem like a very good start to me cos they absolutely did nothing but load a RAZR on to their PC's... did some editing with whatever software they use to modify design... added some new software and claim it's some new phone. ABSOLUTE BULLshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

wong jowo

typical siemens: the gap date of the product released and announcement is a year ;P

zenol

lol!!! this not an ordianary fone.the body was made by high quality steel. if you want the radio just download the software....

Fen

Beautiful. I'd dump my RAZR V3 for the EF81 in a heartbeat if the performance is comparible.

SE Supporter

Andy Burgin: y not the other way round? BENQ-Siemens copied V3 just added better features thats all?

bubbles

this phone is good! too bad, it does not have a radio. this would have been perfect.

Andy Burgin

This mobile would have took the V3 to the cleaners if it was out at the same time so stop saying its a copy the V3 didn"t have the features on it when it came out an do bring it out as soon a you can please BENQ-SIEMENS to see how the other react to this superb mobile,i bet they all panic an change there designs to compete with this gem

Ken

Keypad reminds me of the V3

Alps

Motorola V3 Razr envious! A new name without any unique trademark!

Gabi

i think it isn't to good to call this phone "Benq-Siemens". It's better SonyEricsson V800-Motorola V3.

Loz

A really good phone, I'm impatience to try it in my hands. At the first look it's fantastic in the design and in features. I hope that this union between BenQ and Siemens will be a godd job:)

XIII

this is the phone I was looking for!but IU prefer siemens not benq-siemens

astra

This is the best phone yet. Mineral glass external screen, no plastic anywhere (all stainless steel, magnesium alloy and aluminium!), TFT screens and 3G!!! Me want!

nina

oh my God.....the sexiest phone i have seen....i gotta have it....how much it will cost..plz smb tell meeeee!

Lucky star

This is a beatiful cel, but it�s the copy of v3 from motorola trademark, siemens know how to do a perfect celphone without make some of the other phones

landry

mama mia , SIMPLY SEXY!!! with such a design u can be sure dat u r havin a VIP fone , can smbody temme where i can buy it , and hw much plssssssssssssssssssssssss

kade

this is the best phone ever.it is an all in one phone. wow it has 3g,2mp cam wif autofocus,mp3 comptiability,hot-swap ability,variety of video formats. nice one . do it once do it well,

zallman

keypord is similar to V3

miji7

Absofuhhkinglutely nice n good looking phone. 3G wahh.. quite a smart phone. i prefer it antena. few question in mind... 1. is it a simbion phone 2. where can i get it huhu.. 3. how much is it ( d' pricing ) job well done B&S..

mitsarakos

With no radio,it's worth nothing!!There is no need for further coments.

cluster

phone looks good but how is the battery back up and its software

simon

another boring flip phone,no new features to many other new phones on market, hell you can get a 6mega pixel phone. changing your branding doesnt stop them churning another clone.

Dominic

Ah damn, thought I was sure about upgrading to Nokia N80 when that comes out- but gotta love the design on this one! Pretty good features too, if they release a black version I'll be totally stuck between the two! Any opinions on which to go for people? N80 or this!!!!!

lucky i

Exellent one this time by siemens(benq-siemens)hope it fullfills the desire for us this time.it seems to be a very appealing phone but when will this be officially launched in the gulf market.waiting for it eagerly. 1. What should be the price? 2. Is it as expencive as siemens models used to be. 3. Quick release should be a good advantage and not let others copy as NOKIA copied SIEMENS SX 1 from the net because it said releasing soon and NOKIA bought it before them and conquered market with 6600.

Jon

Really a very nice cell :) Specs are outstanding for the dimensions. I still prefer the look of the v3i, but I'm not so sure, which I should buy. Have waited for the razr v3i a long time. I hope Benq raised the volume of the siemens cells, because that's the reason I want to switch to another manufacturer.. We'll see. Though a pretty design and an overall 9.5 ;)

pema

What a nice phone, it wil certenly bee my next mobile phone Good work BenQ Siemens

Anonymous

very big size

celeste

this phone looks good but looks can be deceiving. I hope that the BenQ-Siemens will work out new and good phones like Sony Ericsson. Keep up the good work..

Kalcool

Finally a clamshell with all the right features and waoo a big 256K external screen.Impressive. Guess others will follow them. And why all the slick and thin clamshell has to be copy of crappy RAZR? Please Give it a break! it looks way much better.

Omar

Wow... a great mobile from BENQ-SIEMENS..

ayu

this phone is available in singapore.

Dale

Well!!!!!!! now a days there r a lot of crappy phones launching into the market but this one seems really good,i really like this kiind of keypad and all the other features are also really cool. tell me some thing is it a symbian phone or not

fonefanatik

This partnership looks promising,finally a well specced,very attractive looking handset- unlike the majority of siemens pig-ugly efforts.....defo one i'd consider buying.

Anonymous

Bluetooth Yes

Damascus

where can you buy this phone?

D@ve

A very nice phone, I hope the BenQ-Siemans partnership works well. There are obviously big strides the manufacture has made with the looks of the phone. But there are many questions that need to be answered. One for myself and the most important is the old Siemens menu. Does this handset have the horrible and un user friendly Siemens menu, or has the handset been overhauled internally too? Secondly, will many of the useless features that were riddled all over the Siemens handset be removed? Eg, call barring. But things are looking good for this little partnership, I hope we can have another big contender in the handset market. The phone looks very nice and has a very good weight and size. But the big worry for me is the in inside, will it the book be as good as the cover... Good work B&S.

wildchild

I liked the desing! Remember my Motorola V3, but no bluetooth? What a shame... Good battery stand-by (if this information is really real). Anyway, sweet desing. I hope the system which this phone runs is not that $#%�@ like all siemens phones do.

Andy Burgin

Well done BenQ ,Siemens have been producing models that could not compete with the others thats why they need a big kick up the arse an you"ve know make the others panic about the Quality of the mobile an you will certainly be make the others lose out if your camera is better than the Son Ericsson K750i (bring it out asap)

SE Supporter

not bad a phone.. nice design stylish.. hrmm nice 1 =]

maurice

the creme dela creme of mobile technology for 2006. it almost have everything that you need. this would definetly beat other clamshell designed phones in the market. rock on BenQ-Siemens!

Salman Aziz

It looks like a gem what else to say. Cant wait to try one out. Full of fantastic features and options and with a wonderful and elegant design, BenqSiemens seems to be up there with the best 'SonyEricsson'.

Appy

This phone looks very much like the V3 or The Samsund D800. Seems to have more features than both mind. Looks like this could be a good brand. It seems to have it all.

tech addict (N LOVA)

This Phone is Amazing,B-S u have outdone ur selves... design is perfect! very attractive and elegant.. one small problem though... the small screen.. if only the screen were bigger its wouldve been the phone for me! very very very nice though

DEREK GRANT

terrific mobile!!!! never seen sucha sexy handset... valoptous is the perfect word 4 dis sweet clamshell stuff... such an eye catch at very 1st sight, bravo folks (benq-siemens)... anytime a tough competition for poor guys... nokia,sony ericcsson or may b samsung!!!! no match 4 dis sweet devil!!!

Babe

Does tis fone c/w auto focus n flash 4 pic taking?

kraljm

wow .. im actually suprised with this one, i know its a RAZR copy .. but atleast it has good features and looks pretty good too! good one BenQ-Siemens

Like BenQ

Currently i m using panansonic vs2. EF81 gonna be my new 3G phone. This phone looks great.

FaWzY

this phone is definatly better than the V3X the most importan thing is that's it's gonna be released 1Q 2006 for 390 Euros which is really fantastic, hope they make a black edition

sx1

this phone is better than the Motorola V3x and LG U880 and it loox far better good work BenQ.Siemens :)

TheOneDazz

bout time da fone giants got shuk up abit

zeeshan

wow.... what an elegant phone.... really nice and smooth.... hope so B-S will produce goood, up to date and stylish phones....

Striker

Well Well Well..... Benq-Siemens....If this is anything to go by, Nokia, SE & Samsung better watch what they're doing as they've some serious competition now.

ajmak

Cool thats mine no doubt nomore nokia & moto crap

Anonymous

Benq mp3 player inside?