vB Easy Archive - S66 vs 6230 - owners please comment

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S66 vs 6230 - owners please comment
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Posted by: tantrix

Hey Guys..

I've been following this website and forums for a while now.. I moved to GSM from AT&T and got my 6230 yesterday. I was really interested in getting the Seimens S66, but it was way more expensive at the time. I paid a total of $90 for 6230. As I wanted to keep my number, I had to get it from Cingular instead of the -$50 price tag from Amazon..

I found this phone to be a definite player in the market right now with a lot of great things going for it. Let me objectify my findings:
Pros --
- Bluetooth
- Great Menu
- Small and Light
- A LOT of features
- 32MB card included

Cons --
- Found the service to be worse than AT&T digital (get only 1 bar at home.. b4 got 5)

- Have to buy accessories at an extra price.. read $30 bucks for a stereo headphone which is REQUIRED for MP3 playback and FM Radio.. $25 for handsfree which is not the usual 2.5mm jack.

- Comparitively small screen. Not very useful for watching movies and taking videos.

I happened to read the reviews for S66 and it seems that S66 is all that 6230 is but more..

1.3 MP Camera
Huge Screen
..
It doesn't have MP3 and FM Radio stuff, but who am I kidding.. I carry around an iPod anyway and donot want to spill out extra money on accessories..

So what's your take on this? S66 or 6230? I still have 30 days to decide!

p.s. Obviously, 6230i would just void this discussion, but I can't find it anywhere...

Posted by: MattDell

I'm not sure who your new provider is (you just said GSM), but Cingular is offering $150 off the S66 through their website for a total of $99.

I'm seriously considering this phone. I didn't notice it at first because of the low price tag, but then I checked out the features!

-Matt

Posted by: ant-dizzle

I have had my S66 for a while, and though there are some niggling things about it, I'm overall very satisfied. I also got a chance to play around with a friend's Euro 6230, so I can comment on its features, but not its RF.

The S66 is a great phone. My only issues are that it has slightly buggy firmware (the Cingular standard issue, at least--upgrades are available), the camera sucks in anything other than daylight without the flash, the flash causes shadows because it can't be positioned above the lens easily (or at all in vertical shots), and the MMC card must be formatted a certain way, and if it's put into a Mac with any OS, it will mess up that formatting, possibly causing issues.

The RF is much better than any phone I've used except a Treo 650. I get 3 or 4 bars where I used to get 1 if I was lucky.

I prefer my S66 over the 6230. This could be because I prefer Siemens over anything else, I hate Nokias, or I just had more time with my S66 than the 6230. I'm not knocking the 6230; it is a good phone. If Siemens had put the FM tuner and MP3 player into the 66, this would be far and away the better phone. Hope this helps.

Oh, and so you know, there is a mail-in rebate in addition to the instant rebate, knocking down the price of the S66 even more. Cingular should send you an email or a letter with the form shortly after you order it.

Posted by: MattDell

Sorry to hijack, but dizzle, it sounds like you've ordered your Siemens through the website. Would you mind commenting in a thread I posted in the Cingular forum? - http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=658639

-Matt

Posted by: huck-guai

I had the s66 for a while and while it has a bigger screen, the UI was not the easiest to use and the firmware on mine was buggy as well........I actually LOST the bluetooth from the menu for a while. The tones on the s66 must be mmf, my mp3's couldn't be used easily and you had to hold the phone very still to take a good shot.