vB Easy Archive - S88 is very nice

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S88 is very nice
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Posted by: gforce1997

I have bought S88 for 3 month.The OLED is very bright,and its picture almost as well as digital camera.

Posted by: ant-dizzle

Does it use a Siemens or BenQ UI?

Posted by: Desert_Fox

Can you posts the pics you took with it here?

Posted by: razzb3d

i have an s88 but the forum doesn't allow large files so i can't post them.

Posted by: phenderson

I know that I wanted either a Nokia N73 or N80, the Siemens s88 or the Sharp 903sh.

Posted by: phenderson

Ok, I have my s88 for 2 days now (got it yesterday).

Things I love about it (Pro's)

-Beautiful screen, its like looking at a plasma screen in my pocket.
-Great Sound... nice and loud...
-Great Camera... This alone is why I bought the phone. I did not want to shell out the cash for a Sharp 903sh, or the Sony K750i, or the Nokia models (everyone on ebay wants no less then $350.00 for those phones). The pictures are nice...with a little noise, but they are the best Camera phone pictures that I Have ever taken, hands down... bar none... They (the pictures) are not on par with my Casio Exillium Z750 (in 2.0mp mode)...because they lack some sharpness and a little bit of color saturation...but they are great pictures nevertheless...
-Great reception. How do I test reception? I have a commute, 100 miles 1 way, from my house in Lexington, Ky, to my office in Cincinnatti, Ohio. There are various weak places along I-75 where normal or subpar phones lose connection. Then there is the office... when I pullin to the parking structure, the signal gets really weak on any subpar phone and in most cases, drops and dies completely. Also, the office building itself. I sit near a window, and I normally get anywhere from 1 bar to no signal.... Subpar phones that I am speaking of are (Nokia 3595, I-Mate Smartflip, Audiovox Smt5600). THose phones all lost signal or died at no less then 5 stops along the my daily journey.

My Siemens s66 and this s88, dropped signal once, out on the highway.... In fact, I received 5 bars sitting at my desk, in my office...

-Size and Weight and build quality... the phone is solid... I paid $239.00 for the phone, plus $29.00 shipping and handling (yeah, I know, ebay rip-off on shipping, even if it was shipped from Canada). I paid $270.00 for this phone, and I do feel that it is worth every penny.
-Functionality... the ability to easily sync with my contacts, and OUtlook is a plus... The camera, the MP3 player, all pluses...
-Nice clear legible SPeakerphone

now for the "Cons, or things that I HATE"

-The Bluetooth... this is supposed to be 1.2... the sound quality when streaming to headsets is awesome... but, and this is a BIG BUT for me... I drive a 2007 Camry Hybrid with the BT Navigation system. For some reason, my s66 and the Imate Smart Flip, worked just fine with those phones. As soon as I climbed into the car, and powered it up, those phones would immediately find the "headset" system of the car and connect. The s88 refuses to do this. I have to literally power off the phone and power it back on.

-Not so big to me, is the speed of the Siemens UI... Folks I have an s66...if I can live with that, I can live with the s88.

-HUGE CON.. the STINKING Address book... why does it not scroll quickly... I have maybe 50-100 contacts... and I have to scroll through each, one at a time... THIS SUCKS... it is present in the s66, and now it is present in this phone... I HATE THIS!!! WITH A PASSION... The Smartflip and the SMT5600 would rip through my contacts...this phone, does not...I am seriously thinking about selling it and shelling out extra case for a Nokia N80 or another phone, for this reason alone...

I will try to attach some pictures, comparrisons between the s88 2.0 megapixel camera, and the Casio Ex-Z750. I feel that the s88's camera is more then adequate for quick shots when you are on trips and do not have time to drag another camera with you.

I am unable to post pictures, because the pictures are all 300KB or more in size, and I am only allowed to post 14.5K pictures...

Posted by: phenderson

I can only get them to work as a BT Headset, and not a BT AD2P Stereo set for streaming music...

Posted by: Laguardi

Nice review. Where did you buy this phone in Canada? I am in Toronto......It seams as a nice deal. Is the phone made in Germany or........CLC

Posted by: phenderson

I believe that the phone is made in Germany. I got mine off of ebay, from a guy who lives in Canada. I believe he bought it brandnew from someone who lives over in Europe...

Posted by: cpthk

Quote:

Originally Posted by phenderson

I believe that the phone is made in Germany. I got mine off of ebay, from a guy who lives in Canada. I believe he bought it brandnew from someone who lives over in Europe...

Doesn't really matter of Made in Germany. From the insider info, the phone is originally designed by Benq Taiwan.

Posted by: phenderson

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpthk

Doesn't really matter of Made in Germany. From the insider info, the phone is originally designed by Benq Taiwan.

*sigh*

Does not matter if it is Benq Taiwan or Germany or even China... Benq Siemens just announced that they are filing for Bankruptcy, 2 days ago...

And here I am hoping for just one more firmware upgrade to allow AD2p sound from my BT 1.2 on my Siemens s88...

Posted by: cpthk

Bankruptcy is only happening in Siemens Germany. BenQ will still make phones, and the BenqSiemens brand will keep going, unless Siemens doesn't let BenQ use the brand name. But for sure the phone department will stay. Siemens Germany wasn't doing well before BenQ taken control.

Posted by: Panda Martin

Quote:

Originally Posted by phenderson

I know that I wanted either a Nokia N73 or N80, the Siemens s88 or the Sharp 903sh.

I would buy Nokia N73. It is better phone with more features and Siemens going to bankrupt and I won't want a phone of the brand that not exists.

My blog: Two Pandas

Posted by: CellWhore

does anyomne know how or if I can remove the carrier tag from the screen ??

I have usb cable ansd the s88 software ..

anyone ?

Posted by: goldhead

Quote:

Originally Posted by phenderson

-HUGE CON.. the STINKING Address book... why does it not scroll quickly... I have maybe 50-100 contacts... and I have to scroll through each, one at a time... THIS SUCKS... it is present in the s66, and now it is present in this phone... I HATE THIS!!! WITH A PASSION... The Smartflip and the SMT5600 would rip through my contacts...this phone, does not...

Back in the S66/65 days there used to be patches for faster menu. My S66 phonebook scrolls at warp speed.

Posted by: phenderson

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldhead

Back in the S66/65 days there used to be patches for faster menu. My S66 phonebook scrolls at warp speed.

Ummm, when you say HUGE CON, I feel like you are calling me aliar.
I mentioned how slow the UI was... It is crap. But the camera, the battery power, and the antenaee and reception, and the phone options make this phone a winner..

BTW...
I had the Smart flip, I loved the fast address book. But I did not like the WEAK antennae which dropped a TON of signals... same goes for the SMT 5600, I had 2 of those... and could not get rid of them fast enough. In fact, I had 3 of them... I love the MS OS, but the HTC build quality is CRAP. I actually sold my SMT5600's to get a Smart FLip, but HATED it, so I sold the SMART FLIP to get the s88 and LOVED it, but I wanted something that could do t-mobile's my faves... so instead of giving my $270 phone to my wife who would have demolished it, I traded it away, for something else, and bought the Pearl... But I miss my s88, and the guy who has it, at first did not like it, but now says it has grown on him...

Benq s88 is a good build quality, just bad UI....thats all...

Posted by: goldhead

Funny that I would say exactly the opposite about my S66. A good UI, but not good build quality.

BTW: I'm not calling you a liar, it's just that after I applied a patch to my Siemens, the menu scrolls really fast, 5 times faster than my Motorola L7.

Posted by: Holedeux

I have the N73 and the Benq. By far the N73 is a better phone, but if you want a phone just for the phone the Benq will do. The Benq I bought two of in Hong Kong for way cheap. N73 has a better camera, better sound, better display and I've had the Nokia for since Jan/Feb. One of the most popular phone in Hong Kong.

Posted by: trickster_qc

nice reviews!

I'm using the S66 and the pictures are great for a 1.3 MPX camera phone. Better then a Nokia 6126 and as good as pictures taken from a SE K510a.

Is there many applications in the s88 as there is in the s66, cocktail manager, emergency phonebook and dictionnaire etc??

Posted by: mitchy_mitch

The address book really sucks on the S88. They're using the benq format instead of the Siemens format.