BenQ-Siemens S68

Phil

Got a new S68 with a spanish Amena branding. Any idea how I can remove this branding? Thanks for info!

arunas

link doesn't work, if anyone has this software v52 please send it to my email [email protected], thanx

v.52

You can download it from - full version, tested and works perfectly without any resets or switch on the phone.

Alexander

can you pls tell me where i can download fw52? or send it to my email([email protected]) in a zip if u can; thanks a lot

madiraza

you must upgrade your softwer to fw52 version.( i think i have it)this is uk version and it is the most stabile and the best,you must have cabel dca 140 for benq-siemens. first install siemens cd(in your box)softwere on your pc after that install fw 52 on pc(desktop) conect you phone and cabel to pc click on fw52 on your desktop and after that...you must read instruction:)) very easy

Anonymous

main menu >settings (the spanner) >phone settings (8th option) >language

Gusto Maina

The battery is badone. Up to 3 days if you play Chessmaster than 1 day and recharge. The signal strengh is cool and sound too. It can play midi and wav formats. It has 1 hour voice notes memory. Good phone and strong phone - aluminum is good protector also the stainless glass screen.

teresa

how can exchange my phone from german to english?

teresa

how can exchange my phone from german to english?

crank

great phone. it so *ing durable. it got stylish with scratched corroded aluminum.

blur

the best phone I ever had. mines is till working. never had a problem with it since febr. 2006.

Anonymous

if you have kabel dca-140 then you can reinstalled firmwere fw.52. ..no problem..i doing by myself:)

coco

this phone is the best phone ever made.nokia sucks.this is the last phone by made siemens.and the best.simple and very frendly.you only mast have fw.47 or fw.52. and that s all.no mistake.

EMCEE

wat caught my attention d first time i saw d fone was d sleek shape.but nw i got big problem wit d fone 4 abt 4months now.it keeps displaying OUT OF MEMORY n its nt workin.i will appreciate if anybody can help me.mail [email protected]

ArchyBald

Man i have this phone myself but i don't know what songs format can this mobile take.I know that can't take mp3 but is there any other format that this mobile can take ???

sofia

good phone, v. 52 is available to download from the net. Just use google and will find it as I did. Aslo it could be reinstalled averywhere in some small resellers for a price around 7-10 Eur. It is very stable version including PDF and DOC viewers by Zesium. They are for free. The older versions as 30, 38, 47 are not stable and very often the phone frezes. It is able to reinstall the version in Sofia, Athens, London, NY, and Frankfurt as well guys. Other cities I'm not sure. Cood phone for really good working gentlemen - organizer is the best one, voice memo, sond, cool.

Andrew B

What a phone, style though a little dated now. The functionality that a phone should have and no more. I would buy and keep buying updated style and approach until............

godlev

can u explain how or where can update my s68 software?

daniel

this is not a very good phone. i personally think that it's one of the faliures in the siemens company. te main issue? software software software! it hangs, looses memory, and basically it's the best way to spend ur money. (well, if you want to WASTE YOUR MONEY...)

Gusto Maina

its a good mobile phone, siply and smoothy. the software problems are solved with version 52. Just update it and forgot all previous bugs. It works perfectly ! But I sold it and bought NOKIA. Nokia is the best no doubts gays.

qlzio

It would be a perfect phone if it's software would be fixed. Everything is ok with it except that after some time of using it it becomes VERY slow, especialy when writing SMS. Though restarting solves the problem, but it is very irritating.

Anonymous

this is the worst phone ever! :@ it wont let you do things you want it to do! arghhhhh

sdwabhfgm

i have this phone and i used to be able to use predictive text but now it wont let me :S does any1 know how to change it back? please reply!

yamyam

i like this unit its look simple but i love it....actually im using this unit now

GENTLEMAN

This phone makes me happy. This phone is not working properly. This phone is good looking. This phone frezes sometime. This phone is convinient with its Word, Excel and PDFD viewers. This phone has no good connection. This phone has great dictating machine. This phone will be sold by me ASAP.......... Nokia is number one and I will take 6510!

JMaK

Its a mob 4 Real Good Looking GentelMans... (at least that works 4 dupe)

Sweet

I have a phone like this, it has no mp3, but I like the design, but when u try to lock it with "#" it shuts down, I don't know if it's the battery. It has gr8 colours and the sound is awsome. I like it, but I will change it soon :)

Anonymous

i think that this phone isn't a good choice for people want something works without problem, cause if you have a matters there is no after sales

big brother :)

Does it have mp3 player? And can I put mp3 song as ring tone?

me

how do you update the phone, where did you find the firmware?

user

The phone is perfect with v30 or v52 firmware

sonic

very bad phone! looks good but th software is the worse! a very comon problem: when i hold # to lock the keyboard, in sted of locking it shuts down...

grawity

a short story about this phone... BenQ-Siemens S68 is capable of decompressing ZIP archives. Actually, the web browser decompresses them. But, there's one BUG. Bug in capital letters. When you're unzipping a big archive and you run out of space (this phone has 26 megs), instead of stopping and warning you, it hangs and you have to take the battery out to restart. Now, this OS (firmware) doesn't boot very well when you have about 200 bytes left... The first two times I tried to boot, it crashed right after "Startup assistant" closed. Third time, it worked, but was slow like h3ll. I managed to open "dictating machine" and delete everything from it (I use "dictating machine" as a notebook because it's accessible from Java apps such as Opera Mini -- I record ~1 second and write my note in filename) and freed up about 157 kB. The fourth time it worked. Now I check what size zipped files actually are.

grawity

To enter pause, hold 0 key, the "+" sign will act as "p" when in the middle of number.

Version 52

To FLEMO: Thank's guy, I will try again. How long extends the battery life with BL-4C? The original battery provide me less than 3 days life.

flemo

To Version 52: I tried BL-4c in my E71 and it was working. But it is not 100% same, metal contatcs have just a bit moved position, so after pluggin battery into pnone one of contacts was in wrong position. It needs just to move it with little help of needle to correct position - metal to metal and it should work.

Version 52

I have tried to put Nokia BL-4C battery without success. The phone doesn't recognize it. It is th worts GSM software I have ever used. Now I will sell it and buy Nokia 1112 and will stop to take care about bullshits as bluetooth & USB connections, synchronizations, themes, etc. I've paid a lot of money for GSM in last 10 years. Now I understood that as simlest it is as good will be. Does somebody knows where is possible to buy a new one Nokia 6510 or Ericsson T39m?????

Version 52

I have troubles too when try upgrade firmwere from v.30 to 47 or 52. It is Orange phone and messages sais "denied by the mobile". I use USB datacable. If I use COM port cable with self supply do you know what will be the result?

steve

hey guys do u know how to retrieve deleted text messages from this phone or do i need a software, i have some important text that has been deleted but i cant retrieve it, do i need a software for this or shud i just take the sim card and get it read if thats possible?

Igor

Does someone know how I can enter wait symbol "w" in phone number? It's very useful when you need to wait for reply from answering machine and farther send some codes to it by manual request. Nokia phones let to do it by pressing "*" key 3 times and symbol "w" appears in current position. I've found only "Enter pause" in S68 phone in "Option" menu. If I will not be able to do it I throw this phone to the window.

stacy

People, can it play mp3?

bleak

Jbenchmark show results as for s75 Both s75 and s68 based on NewSGold screens are the same "-" - there are not so many patches for s68 to BG some BL-4C are suitable Bl-5C is to big... m.b. i must take off cover of battery..

PS:

The network sensity is betetr than NIOKIA and SONY ERICSSON too. Only one sign is enough to make a call. For example NOKIA 6230 and Sony Ericsson K750i with 3 signs are not able to establish connection (tested 01.05.2007 at Rila Mountain). Good luck!

Bulgaria

I have used that GSM since 6 months. Software version is 30, built for Orange. It works properly with all domestic networks. No problem. The problem apears when I switch to Bulgarian language. It freezes. When it is in English - perfectly works. Very good phone even than NOKIA 6020/6021/6230i/6233. The voice memo and organizer are great. Only one problem I have it is the battery capacity - up to 3 days and colapsed. It is possible to solve that "power less" when use NOKIA BL-5 battery. The life time becomes 5-6 days but you need ORIGINAL one battery. Otherwise the phone is not switch to on. It is not possible to upgrade firmwere to higher when I use Orange phone. I tried it unsuccessfully.

G.Logi

I�ve been using S68 since last August. In that time I have had all kinds of problems with tihis phone. It freezes, it wont charge, often unable to connect to my PC. The support site has not helped at all. The Icelandic agents not very good. I will not buy a Siemens phone again.

BG

to BLEAK: NOKIA batteries are not suitable. I've tryied with BL-4 'n' 5. It doesn't recognize them. One DCA-140 USB datacable solves many problems - data transfer is faster than through USB & you can recharge your battery via USB cable connected to PC too. Also u can upgrade your software version to 52 if need it (it is not posssible only if your device is made for ORANGE)

BG

TESTS minus: -software problems; -battery bad; -no accessories enough; -no support by the sioemens-benq web; -bad network connection. -if ORANGE = locked for any firmware upgrade. plus: -polyphony is a great. -screen is good; -PDF, DWG and DOC viewers available; -design is good. CONCLUSION: Don't buy this phone only because of the design! Please use Nokia 6021 instead that jewel.

bleak

to upgrade battery capasity use Nokia batteries

Ron

What a beauty in brushed aluminium!!! just the right size and thickness. Only a 3 Mp camera and external memory would make it the best phone i ever have seen in my life. Very loud ringtones and volume!! Only one bad thing: Need to recharge the battery after 2 days with normal use (1 hour calling and playing a little). But overall a beauty!!!

Datacable

TO TZOTZO: Ok and thanks! So it seems I have not a chance to upgrade my phone firmware. Anyway I will continue using.

tzotzo

to "Datacable update": my fault, it is fw 47 not 48, sorry!though the 47 fw is not too steady. but 52 rocks!!!

Datacable

To tzotzo: YES IT IS BLOCKED IT SEEMS. IT IS ALSO ORANGE PHONE. If you have upgrated from 30 to 48 it is OK I think. Unfortunatelly I have oinly version 47 and 52 and both are blocked by the phone. Maybe it is problem of ORANGE. Version 30 is not working properly if you use different language instead English.

tzotzo

for "Datacable upgrade": Well, I've had the same problem too. I have 2 S68 phones. One of them is not blocked and I've managed to upgrade it from FW 48 to 52 with a DCA 140 data cable. The second S68 is blocked in Orange network and I haven't managed to update it to FW 52 with the same data cable(the same symptom:" 30b software denied by phone"). Though I've upgraded it from 30 to 48. I don't know the answer of you question but I suppose that the blocked status of the phone is the problem. Please, tell me if u'r phone is blocked too. I'm very interested. thank u in advance!

Datacable upgrade

Can I upgrade my version 30 to 52 with USB data cable DCA 140? I tried several times and the phone switch off with the notice: " 30b software denied by phone". What does it mean?

Anonymous

Thank you! :(

tzotzo

wolf, u can upgrade this phone only with a data cable.

wolf

Can I upgrade my firmware using bluetooth?

tzotzo

to S68: this phone doesn't support videos(any kind of video) and mp3. read the specifications!

S68

Could somebody help me - what video format supports that GSM? 3gp is not supported, avi too. What about h.263? About firmware upgrade - do I need special data cable ot USB DCA 140 is enough? Thanks in advance!

tzotzo

for eben: in this situation you'll need to contact the "customers service support" of benq at This is the only way to keep your warranty

tzotzo

I'm sorry but nowhere u can find a simple soft to do this phone mp3 compatible, just if u try to tune its soft but this procedure need experience and a lot of risk. u can find this kind of patches at www.siemensmania.cz

supergirl

just wondering if it possible to play mp3s on the S68. I know it is possible to download applications, but is it possible to download mp3s to use for ringtones, etc? I currently download wav and midi, but mp3s are just so much easier....please help me!!!

tzotzo

I'm glad to help you...Peace,people! ;).

rob

THANK YOU so much, Tzotzo!!! Your my savior! The Firmware worked fine! Upgraded from v.38 to v.52

S68

TO tzotzo: Thanks man! It works properly.

Rizwan

Hi,I required the GPRS,MMS setting of this phone For Any Operator in world.Manly Indain GSM Operator Like AIRTEL,IDEA

tzotzo

for "S68": u can upgrade u'r phone to vers. 52. U can download this Firmware at www.gsm-multifund.de(yes is a german site but is the only source for u). there u can find the original 52 firmware for S68 but u must register first. u will need a data cable, of course...And that's all! Success! For me it works without problems!

S68

Hi, Have two questions: 1. Is somewhere available higher capcity battery, I mean original one? 2. How to upgrrade my existing software version 30 to higher? It is smoething from Device mng but how exactly? Otherwise the phone is excelent: the calendar is great, the voice memo too.

Anonymous

Hi, I got a technical problem with the phone now: when I turn it on, after two minuts, instead of changing to the screen saver, the screen shows a warning: "The phone is locked, please switch off". In this situation, I cannot be reached via the phone and turning off is the only choice. I am pretty shure the problem does not lie in the SIM card since I tried different cards. Can someone please help me out here? Many thanks!

one sad user

I have this phone for 6 months. its big problem is the uninstabile soft(upgraded to vers. 47). Last days I have lost a large amount of information from my calendar and phonebook...very sad... the battery is a problem to: the stand by is good, but any usage kills the life of the accumulator. the signal is good, even the quality of sound...

Anonymous

yes it is possible to erase mutiple sms with 4 moves:options> mark this > mark all > delete mark

Anonymous

Just go to your Inbox then Options > Mark (any message) > Options > Mark all > Options > Delete marked It's a little long and annoying but it's the only way I found to do this (it's works with the Phonebook too). Now my question: Is there a way to re-send a message that is the Sent box without going to Options > Forward... > SMS > Options > Send > re-enter the number ? It's really annoying. On my previous S55, you would just have gone through Options > Send and it was done.

user

No-nonsense No camera: fantastic Userfriendly Ergonomic Just one little question: Is it possible to erase all the messages in your inbox in with one action? (Erasing them one by one is quite annoying.) If anyone knows this, please share it..

Christa

Hello lost all data onmy phone need to update my phone i do not know how and i need toget a usb cord how do i go about it

Antonio_in_Washingto

I got this awesome phone from Ebay, originally on the Orange Network and I am now using it with Cingular in the US. I got it for Christmas and I have nothing but accolades. From it's stylish looks to its practical functions. It is only a shame that I can't use all of its capabilities due to Cingular's limited service availability. It turns out this phone can tell you the weather forecast using GPRS. A service Cingular does not provide. The battery on this phone lasts three to four days.

krishna

hey i jsut got benq siemens s68 two days ago! its okay! but im not sure if it has blue tooth! does it??? abnd can you transfer songs on it???? also im not sure what phone is better benq siemens s68 or sony ericsson w300i3! which one begtter?

tzotzo

my BS S68 battery life is almost 3-4 days(with sveral strategig settings like usage of a "black"theme). with an intense usage it falls to 2 days. I use this phone since october 2006.

Cueball

I`ve been using this phone for almost 3 weeks.I heard that the battery gets empty very quickly but I`ve recently changed some settings and I`m waiting to see whether it will last longer P.S: The battery used to last only 2 or 3 days.

Anonymous

I've been using a Siemens S46 for 3 years on a Cingular network in the U.S., and I have been really happy with it. I love the look, the feel, the menus. But I'd like another phone and I really like the look of the S68, and I like that it is only a PHONE, which suits me perfectly. Unfortunately, it is not available for purchase in the US so I can't actually check it out in person. Is anyone using the S68 in the US on a Cingular network and, if so, does it work okay? My S46 is a 900/1900 dual band GSM, so it ought to work okay, but it would be nice to have confirmation. Also, does anyone know how the S68 compares to the S46? Are Menus the same? Phone reception the same?

BG

So it's not good to say but the S68 is step down for Siemens - see next: 1. Software is the worst I've ever seen. 2. Software problems are oftwen as well. 3. Aluminum is very soft - one drop of water damages everything - keypad, buttons, paint cover too. 4. Design is greatfull but ... I can't speak only because of the design is gerat... I need strong phone, something like S45i, SL 45, Ericsson T39m, or Nokia 6510. Where is possible to buy newone such phone, not recicled???? Does somebody know where from?

Pulp

I am using S68 for almost a year now. Had M35, SL45, ME45, S55, M65 before. This is the last proper siemens phone, and there will be no other. Great design, very good keyboard, slim body and very light. I love the built-in recorder, and it works GREAT when recording in-call, internal memory is enough for 1 hour recording. Battery lasts at least 3-4 days, and I'm happy with it. My first Siemens phone with bluetooth, and it's very useful in the car (Tomtom, handsfree). First firmwares were bad, but v47 is stable and does not annoy me any more like the v20 :) Tried to switch to a smartphone many times, but coming back to my S68 always, as it's what the phone should be!

tzotzo

the most annoyng thing with this phone is the instability of the firmware:it freeze , unexpected shutdowns etc...

alina

What others have reported already: poor battery time (2 or 3 days at the most), a nearly useless user manual, unstable software. What I also find very annoying is that even when the profile is set to silent and info tones are off there's a beeping sound with the "battery is empty, please recharge" message. Meaning the phone has to be turned off if you need it to be completely silent. Lovely looking, though.

dream maker

bought 2 s68. one for me and one for my gf. Tried for ceramic but was too expensive. 1. Its the most proper phone I have seen. No extra music,camera etc 2. I would have loved mp3 ringtones on this though. 3. I am yet to check if it syncs with Outlook. 4. One of the best built phones. I have the desk stand and it rocks. (got it for free with the phone. it has lots of themes options as its same as the old 75 series.

Rob

Thanx for the advise!

Carl

Upgrade your software version to 44. This is done via Settings, Phone Settings, Device Mananger. My filtering problems are solved and any other as well.

Rob

Anyone that knows how to make the "filter" stay on "phone memory"? because everytime a leave the contact menu it revert back to default "most used" very enoying. Please help!

echo

"Benq-Siemens" bankrupted? Damn

David

The S68 is the best phone I ever had. My other workhorse is a S55. The functionality and everyday practicality of Siemens phones are really good. On my S55, I could program my left soft key to anything, especially an emergency number. Now with the S68, the progammeable soft key is on the right, including a dedicated fast dialling key on the side of the phone. I have my S55 now for more than two years and the battery refuses to degrade in capacity and talktime. The internal battery as well. I was a Nokia fan like most people. Tried Samsung (even better). I use to fix all brands of cellphones. Siemens is just in a class of it's own. Components used are the best on the market. Build quality, reliability and finish is just exceptional. My new S68 is even better. Love the phone and all it's functions. BenQ-Siemens fan for life.

Kestas

I want to buy this one, but I wonder, can download a short part of mp3 in this mobile and make it as a melody ?

Anonymous

It seems that BenQ moves its production to Germany according to this article Hopefully, this will drastically impact on quality

Anonymous

How can I enter a pause in a stored number? For example, I want to enter a pause after a voicemail number and before the numerical password. I have never seen a phone that can't do this but I can't figure it out on my new S68. Thanks

Anonymous

good job benq and siemens

Ardita

1) I've been using Samsung, Nokia and Alcatel and found my old Siemens S-35i as the best phone in terms of "Alarm & Calendar Management" (S 35i has daily, weekly and certain date Alarm options, as well as "To do list" with alarm). A question to anybody who is using this phone: Does S-68 has that ability as well? 2) I'd like to ask whether this phone will ever enter Asia market? Thank you.

Colin

I have had this phone for a week and find it very good with one exception. Does anyone find the maximum volume too quiet? When I try to use it on the street, I have a hard time hearing with the phone pressed solidly against my ear. My old Nokia 6100 was much louder. Thanks, Colin

grawity

Bluetooth: EDGE: no GPRS: yes Supported file types: * JPEG/JPG, GIF, PNG * WAV, MID/MIDI, AMR * TXT (text files) * HTML/HTM (HTML documents) * VNT (vNote) * VCF (vCard) * VCS (vCalendar) * ZIP (unpack only) * SDT (Siemens theme) * JAR (Java archive) * JAD (JAR description) * UDB (T9 user database) * maybe more... (I don't know) Cons: * No filesystem manager (as in C65)

grawity

>math> You're right, the "E" dissapeared after I updated the firmware.

SP

HERE WE GO AGAIN. It seems like every phone brand today needs a brain therapy! REASON: Look at this great mobile phone. This would be the best simple phone if it was thicker , thus would have normal batterry capacity. How the hell you can have a bluetooth in phone and make the phone so thin that it cannot fit more than 600 mah batterry?! BEN-Q or whoever the hell you are: GET SERIOUS!

math

It does NOT have EDGE! There is a bug in some of the early firmwares and it shows EGPRS instead of GPRS on the display.

olmo

Yes you may be assured that this phone works great in every aspect. Specially after upgrading the firmware to version 38. I've always both and used siemens and before nuying this model I must have read these comments thousands of times as well as any other coments and infos I could find on the web. I was a bit afraid of the fusion benq-siemens (although I had a c62, which is part Eriksson). But I can assure everyone that it has been my third week with this phone and I love it. The battery runs great and it can run for a full week if you don't talk much. I do an average of 45 min. to 1 hour per day on calls, plus using it as a modem for my laptop and downloading stuff and the battery just won't die. It's agreat phone if you're not interested in multimedia. I was dividede between this model and the s88 for the multimedia options (for once in my life!), but since I'm in the multimedia field I really don't need any more video or photographic cameras than the ones I already use everyday. Specially if they have less image quality. As is just a phone, and it's suposed to make calls and receive calls and thank god it can handle data! Downsides: some aspect of the menu like adding contacts ad stuff could be easier, umts would be great for professionals that need a fast moem on their phone. Even if they don't count on videocalls.

Toni

I use it very often talking and playing chessmaster on it, and my batery lasts more than 4 days. To anyone that consider this phone: Don't look at the pictures, try to get it in the hand. Much better looking than it looks at the pics.

A

I would like to know if the battery is good, with normal usage, say 10min/day plus some sms and clicking. How long does it last?

catalina

Does anyone else find it doesnt pick up network as well as other phones, eg:Siemens ones or Nokia?

Roger

The BenQ Siemens S68 is my 7'th phone and it's the best one yet. The screen size is good and large. The design is perfect. The metallic and elegant design is just perfect for me. The software am. is perfect too. Best of it's class.

sam

If your s68 gives u software problems download a new firmware from the benq-siemens website

Rob

Very nice phone! I have been using it for 2 month. Perfect basic phone for people that do not need camera and other stuff. Very good looking. Phone quality is very good. Very sturdy, no creaking. Speakers has Good sound too. I have read that many people have problem with the phone shutting down from time to time, it is because of the old firmware. The new firmware (v.38) is very stabil, no shutting down. Batterylife is impressive, i have using it for 5 days (5-10 min talk each day) still have 2 dots left on the batterybar (out of 5 dots). I have everything unnecessary turned off. Ex. animation, bluetooth, gprs, brightness 40%, contrast 20%, and epecially the screen saver, it drains a lot of battery. To summit, a great phone!!!

Weejun

Used it for a couple of months. Great features (bluetooth, good contact templates, etc.) and lovely design. Downside: Awful software!!! Turns off by itself every time adding a contact to SMS from SIM-card. The software lags when writing SMS' and is really slow. I've tried to get a firmware update but seems impossible over bluetooth, and most retailers don't have the new cable which fits. I'm on Apple Mac system, which was a bit of a job to get around with iSync but works for now. And yea, one more thing, they only seem to publish Windows-updates so can't update firmware on mac anyway. Too bad the software sucks, because otherwise it's really a sweet one.

Jeffin

Its finishing is excellent, sleek model with all good features Jeffin

finnish

p.s For me it took seven days to get the battery empty.

finnish

I am absolutely delighted about this phone. I haven't yet seen any reasons to complain about the battery life, although I only speak with it only about .15mins a day. With the default settings : egprs is on. Switching it to off does make the battery life better. It DOES turn itself off for no reason, when playing with it for about half an hour, so it isn't the right choice if you need to use your phone call the time.

Mike

Does anyone here know, is it possible to remove the front cover ? I have somehow gotten a small dent just nex to the Benq-Siemens logo. So can the front cover be removed without opening the screws ?

Anonymous

You must switch it off during the night because Siemens phones protect themselves. Huh??

Bee

To extend battery life an option is to turn off bluetooth and gprs if you don't need them.

Anonymous

Corrections: 1. *Has* EDGE (=EGPRS) 2. Bluetooth version - 1.2 (10 meters)

Ilian

Does anyoneknow what kind is the instant messange? Wireless Village, ICQ or something entirely diferent. Does it work if my operator does not have official IM suppor eg via GPRS?

snatch

I work in a phone shop in belgium and we have sold 7 S68's since last week. 4 of them have allready been brought back because of the batterylife. (about 1 day tops). they also complained about the on/off going of the phone......

Anonymous

A major problem is that it does not connect with the bluetooth headset automatically when you make a call, making it useless for "hands free" use in a car. More info here:http://forum2.mobile-review.com/showthread.­php?p=423479

Carlo

I've buy this phone 5 day ago, now it is return to de dealer: Soft with a lot of buggs. Don't buy this phone.

Anonymous

Just Another Pretty Face Have had phone for about a month. You can't buy a new battery either here in US or in UK (I haven't yet searched for in in the other countries). The users manual is virtually useless. It is designated "short version" however there is no "long" or "full" version. Benq-siemens offers no support in the US but you can call the UK (for $1.35/minute for the advice) plus the cost of the overseas call for help. One would think that the seller of a battery driven device would make the battery available and not charge for support when there is no meaningful users manual. But it sure is pretty.

billstamaniac

support video 3GP?

Dan

Review after 1 week: (please see also my previous comment) I had the S68 for almost a week now and used it daily. PROS: - the same as last time, mainly design and quality of materials CONS: - same as before PLUS - battery life is very short, less than 3 days with moderate usage (less than 15 minutes talk per day); - it turns off by itself for no reason (3 times in 6 days!) - it has a tendency to stall (it blocks and does not answer to pressing keys) - 1 time during this week. Conclusion: STAY AWAY FROM THIS PHONE!

dan

Bought it yestarday, so these are the first impressions, after 24 hours of use and testing. I used before this various phones, from Bosch to Siemens, Ericsson and Samsung, so I think I can make a pretty good comparisson. PROS: - great design, thin, nice materials to touch. - good display - good manufacturing (everithing is in the right place, no sharp edges, no cheap-looking materials) - acceptable weight (almost 80 g) - price CONS: - terrible menu (complicated, even worse than previous Siemens). This is a general problem at Siemens: they make good products with a lot of functions, but they fail constantly to make these functions user-friendly. So they are useless... - useless manual (limited information, no online support for advanced functions) - if your mobile operator does not offer over-the-air settings for this phone, do not buy it! It's too complicated to set internet access. All in all, a good phone if you use it exclusively for calling and sending SMS. If you have any need to get online with it (say to synchronize your contacts) it's nightmare. If you plan to buy it, wait a few months until operators will offer its settings over-the-air.

Anonymous

This seems like an exelent phone for me, ive had a few cells over the years and some with camera. And i think its really useless overall. I want a phone that is simple easy to use and stylish, and it needs to have good buttons, all the complex new phones always have one bad button that doesent work like the others, bad plastic faults, i always get that. but this one seems totaly different.

BeeG

Just loving it. But there's one MISTAKE in the specs: this phone absolutely DOES have EDGE. Or I don't know about your s68's, but the one I got yesterday has EDGE, and it's running well (just tested). It's looking gorgeous. It's like made for me. Big very very nice screen, nice features (unless you need those shit-like "phone cameras" that suck like a pack of *****s), a good, well-lasting battery (I'm using this for a 2nd full day now, so it's been nearly 48 hours, and only 1 pixel length of the battery meter is off; this is promising me a week of use with one load - just remember to reduce the screen light/brightness since it's very bright & uses more battery if you don't, take the annoying beeps off at bootup/shutdown, and consider changing the default screensaver to analog clock or off). The only bad thing I've about this s68 is that when I first downloaded wap/mms/etc. settings, they went fine but for some reason wap settings didn't change the name like I thought (so though the settings were OK, I thought they didn't install), and when I downloaded wap settings for 2nd time and tried to install, the phone just beeped and shut down. Twice in a row. So I guess it's not a good idea trying to push the wap/mms/etc. settings twice over...or then I made a mistake. Really a good, cheap (compared to what it really is!) and cool phone. I really have to say, this is something the other manufacturers just haven't been able to create. And if Siemens did have some cellular operating system/software faults and problems in the past, this seems to have got away and is working (almost, that is, as well as possible) perfectly. If you plan buying a cellular, buy this - you won't regret.

Anonymous

Press the upper button on the left hand side, then the cenral square button and then record (the button above the green one). It works during a phone call at the same exact way. You can also read the manual.

George

According to my experience to Siemens mobiles the battery should last for about 3 days including a decent talk time.

Anonymous

I bought it 4 days ago. I only wanted a "normal" stylish phone without camera and unnecessary features to use it with SMS, phonecalls, calendar and contact list. It performs great. The display is amazing and the user can read it even in direct sunlight and it has a great and easy menu. A good thing about it is that it works like a PC, so it is very friendly to the user. For instance as soon as someone connects to the PC it can copy and paste files (wav, doc, pdf, java even zip files which can the user unpack them from the menu), create new folders, search etc. I noticed like many of you that it switches off on its own, but in my case was because I was playing with it all day. You must switch it off during the night because Siemens phones protect themselves. I only buy Siemens mobiles. I used to have a Nokia but the only impressive thing about it was the battery. It had no functionality and the user could not personalise its menu which had limited function comparing to Siemens. The last Siemens I had was the ME45 the black one (I had it for about 5 years and got bored). It still works like a new one, even the colour and the sense of its keypad. And I used it alot. At the S68 model they succeeded to correct all the mistakes the older models used to have - for instance the low battery warning which was appearing a few minutes before the phone goes off. I hope they corrected the standby time as well. I am sure that someone can compare its menu to others, even more expensive mobiles and find it much better. I used to compare the ME 45 with Nokia and other mobiles even models that were produced one or two years later and it was simply better. Also S68's memory is more than enough for the organiser, contacts and SMSs(26MB). One thing that someone will notice is the space provided for the contacts. Someone can put full details, including two mobile phones (business and home), URL, fax and phone (business and home), birthday etc. The bad thing about it, is that is quite slow when someone browses SMSs.

jay

I've had my phone for two days and I think I'm in love with it. I must say it is a bit worring that it turns off for no reason and the battery doesen't live forever...

Aivar

About deleting all SMS-s: look for "mark" or "mark all" and "delete all marked"

costas

I have this phone for a week now. the design is really good! It feels good in the hand and has a very user friendly interface. the sound quality is excellent and the display quality really good! the bad is that the software is not so stable. it freezes and it shuts down without a reason. the last happened to me at least 5 times till now. the battery could also be better. I dont use it much and it hardly lasts for 2 days

kohook1

I swear to god, they've delayed the release in the US like 3 times.

Anonymous

I've had this phone for a little while now and I'm generally ok with it. It's stylish, thin and very user friendly. It also seems to get excellent reception and voice quality, with only a minor exception for the speakerphone's microphone. I'm very unimpressed with the battery life, however (note: I'm used to Nokia and my last one was a 6610). The s68 seems to stay on a for a decent amount of time (around a week), but if I start to use it for calls or play a game on it, I only get an hour or so before it dies. My old phone used to give me about 5 hours of talk time before needing a recharge. Also, while it is very easy to use, it's certainly not up to the level of Nokia user friendliness. For example, this phone does not give you the option to simply delete all text messages at one time (which is annoying when you start getting full SIM card messages). The software also tends to hang from time to time, which was unexpected given the simplicity of the interface. Another minor point... I miss the ability to program a profile to expire a certain amount of time later (i.e. have it set on silent for a couple of hours and then automatically return to general). I'm a forgetful person :-) and this feature really helped on my old Nokia.

pee

This phone is genious. Just a plain stylish metal PHONE. I LOVE the concept. And there is a great market for this i believe. Nice start Benq-Siemens

E

Hi there! Do you know how the voice recording works? Does it work during phone calls? Does it beep in specific intervalls ( i e every 10 second), like many other phones with the ability to record phone calls? /E

Flubber

OMG, such stupid comments here without even having one in your hand. I bought this cellphone lastweek. It's the best professional phone I ever had, and i work in a cellphone shop, so... It has a good battery, very nice screen and Bluetooth. In Belgium, you even get a bluetooth earpiece with it! I love it!

GUI

I hope that S68 will have a stable software. Not only this phone but all BENQ-Siemens phones!

PORTUGAL

Great phone, it�s a shame that it doesn�t have a camera on it...They should realese two versions one with a camera and other without one.

Anonymous

I'm holding it in my hand right now. My first impression is: cool and somewhat expensive-looking. Very thin. The back is plastic of a horrible quality if you see it on the inside. the outside is ok. I would say it is a cool phone to have for a night on the town or at a party, if you are on a budget.

Still Waiting

So, the Benq website says it's 18mm deep, or 36% thicker than the 13.2mm this website and many other websites day. Also, I don't think anyone has any idea when it's going to be launched in the US. All I want is a cell phone that doesn't immasculate me. They killed the CC75 and I'm still waiting.

squal

It is made of Aluminum.. that's GREAT.

Don

Descendant of the siemens CC75?

Aaron Thompson

I love this phone so much its quality.

Ziaul Kabir

Nice phone with standard set of feature & memory but without the boring camera, the one i am looking for for a long time. But what about its battery? Will there be any improvement? Or it will be as bad as siemens phones are from battery point of view, i wonder!!

Uros

This is an awesome phone, good rival to nokia's e60. It needs bigger memory or SD slot. I like that there is no camera

mantas

i think benq make something fresh. and we waiting somting from nokia.and i thing so that benqs is cheep.

Tacho

Not a bad start but tha Qs is siemens floped becoz of batt, are you not making the same mistake? please maintain on working on batt otherwise its a boom.

St

Well the product is good but can be target to middle class section or for users who dont use camera, Mp3 etc which is like the old generation. But the target should be towards the younger generation cos thats the area where you make a lot of good sales. I am sure sure if it had a camera, mp3 player it would hae sold much more than what it would do now!

Iqbal

Wow, this is exactly the phone I'm looking for! A simple phone that does what it's supposed to without looking like a toy. I'm all for it!

zafre

Seems to be agud 4n with nyc features as well,I guess so.

Jos�

Do you know which terminals will they use?The siemens ones or the BenQ ones?

Coolieo

Exactly as I expected They canceled the CC75 just to change its name Stupid

dwrbudr

I like its design and its features. Design reminds me of Samsung X610 which I always wanted. As to the features. Its great that it doesnt have many of them. I dont wanna pay for camera, mp3 player, watching videos and other crappy things all modern manufactures try to include for "comfort". However I admit more memory wouldnt hurt this device.

YESTERDAY

well, it's very exciting for me to see the developement of BenQSimense. Those three phones really have the rexpective advantages of the two companies. And they really look very beautiful .I am looking forward to expecting other BenQ's phones in the following days.

Kalcool

Well every company has some basic phones. There are only 3 out from this joint venture. Ofcourse we need some basic phones without camera, memory and mp3. Looks promising to me.

cowyeap

I must admit being a Siemens-loyal fan, i was a bit doubtful when BenQ came on board, but they have a convincing start. This is the kind of phone professinals are looking for... no nonsense phone with superior build quality (well, at least the material convinced me for now.. till we see the actual ones). Wonder how soon they can start selling in Malaysia though??

comm

Just to refer to appy: Where do you see a mix of Nokia and SE? I gotta commit that at the beginning I wasn't convinced at all that BS would make its way but if you look at those 3 models who just make out 1/10 off all mobiles that will follow this year, I think it's too soon to judge so hard now. Well. In fact, I still see the good, old Siemens elements in this mobile and if you watched the today's press conference you could guess how excited I am at the moment ;)

BS Fan

This is really for people which want just making calls and sending SMS (and there are still a lot of them out there!). But it has also a high end finishing - real material - really great!!! I would say it is a good start for BS. Keep movin' on!

maurice

the basic phone... this would be best suited for a cellphone dumb2x. if they cant understand how a particular feature work or how the camera works... then they should consider going for the basics. its a nice model for an entry phone. i love having this for my parents. hehehe.

Appy

Looks like a cross between Sony-Ericsson and Nokia! Very bland No Card slot. Not a lot of Memory. 3 Out of 10 Try again....

tech addict (aka N L

this phone is brilliant for a backup phone.. just in case my EF81 broke :P

zeeshan

wow.... excellent phone for beginners.... nice stylish phone....