Why is the SL55 so expensive for a "not so good features" phone?

[darkwolf]

I've been checking in a lot of sites and places and they all have like 200-300 USD SL 55. I mean, such a price for a phone with no internal, but external camera, I believe no BT, but maybe IR, the screen not big, etc. Can someone tell me what makes this phone so good for the price? I mean a lot of phones have come out with internal VGA cameras and better features and a bit low or same price.

[Box215]

Some phones are considered fashion phones, and their prices usually dont drop very far even when the become rather old.

[DEViANT]

Well the same can be said of the Nokia 8910. These are all premium phones designed to target a specific demographic and be exclusive and by remaining at a high price, they can sustain this - and people will still buy it. If it was as common as a 3310, it would suddenly lose it's appeal.

Anyway, it has no BT, but does have IR. It's similar specced to a S55 but I think it doesn't even have games on it! It did have a very bare menu system and the battery is tiny (550mAh).

Other examples of phones like this (at their release point): Nokia 8910/8910i, 8850/8890, Siemens SL55, Motorola V70, Vertu, etc.

[DAN55]

the sl is a lovely little phone though. i had real problems upgrading from mine cause it was so good. and my slider still works fine after a year! ;)

[shaheen]

tis all fashion my friend, just like the v80. basic functions yet price is cutthroat. kinda like the the motorola Razr as well but that could be expensive cause of either 2 reasons, 1.cause of its all metal and magnesium body 2. cause its a fashion phone

[Sid]

It's one of the nicer looking phones on the market and can command a higher price because of this. It's exactly the same case as the 8910, as Deviant pointed out, or as the Samsung T500, which retails quite a bit higher than the T400 even though they are internally the same phone.

[darkwolf]

Oh ok, so we can say the SL 55 was the first slider phone?

[cdover]

Oh ok, so we can say the SL 55 was the first slider phone?

Um. I don't think so. The Nokia 7650 came before it. And before that was the Siemens SL10.

[darkwolf]

Oh ok, that's cool, so fashion phones never get their price too low.

[Dynamoo]

It's definitely cute - I'd class it as a girlie phone. The spec is pretty similar to the Siemens Xelibri 6 which is possibly the *ultimate* girlie phone.

Then they went and spoiled it with the Siemens SL65. Bigger, heavier and much uglier. I mean it's not a bad phone, but it won't appeal to my wife :)

[DEViANT]

But then the SL series of Siemens phones wasn't mean to be girlie/feminine all along, I think SL was always fashion. Take the SL45 for example, reasonably stylish in it's time with MP3 player, but definitely not the kind of thing that would appeal to all women. But I agree with the SL55 being a very girlie phone, you won't see me near one (but I do think it's a nice phone)!