new BS phones!

[difenbaker]

BenQ-Siemens EF81, S68, S88 handset trio unveiled

A trio of fully featured handsets debut as BenQ-Siemens unveils its new brand; the EF81, S68 and S88 boast among other traits 2 Megapixel cameras, 3G and audio playback.

Unveiling its new brand at a press conference hosted today in Berlin, BenQ-Mobile is set to join Sony Ericsson as the industry's second dual-name handset maker. To retain the vast majority of handsets from Siemens' pre-merger portfolio, three new handsets were unveiled sporting a plethora of high-end features, signaling the intent of the newly formed brand to compete in the high-end space.

BenQ-Siemens EF81

The most capable of the handsets launched today is the EF81, a slim clamshell in the vein of Motorola's RAZR V3x and Samsung's MM-A920. Boasting a 16 mm thick magnesium chassis, it combines 3G connectivity with tri-band GSM and dual 262K colour display, the internal one of which is of the high-resolution variety. Meanwhile, the external display of the handset also doubles as a viewfinder for its 2 Megapixel swivel camera, which records video in addition to taking stills.

Due out this March in Europe, other highlights of the EF81 include Bluetooth, USB connectivity and a stainless steel keypad. Additionally, BenQ-Siemens also found room for 64 MB of onboard memory and a microSD card expansion slot for making better use of the built-in media player which supports MP3, AAC+, MPEG4, RealVideo and H.263 formats.





BenQ-Siemens S68

At 13 mm thick, the S68 is even thinner than the EF81 - but it's also a candybar and offers a considerably reduced feature set, leading to a featherweight measure-in of 79 g. Highlights include a brushed aluminum exterior, Bluetooth and USB, to which a 262K colour medium resolution display offers an interface along with PIM and utility suites.

A tri-band GSM phone, the EF81 also harbours 8 MB of onboard memory, likely for the purpose of storing Java applications or e-mail attachments in Microsoft Word/Excel or Adobe Acrobat formats which can be viewed sans conversion. Claiming up to 5 hours of talk time and up to 300 hours of standby, the BenQ-Siemens S68 is slated for availability throughout Europe in February.

[difenbaker]

BenQ-Siemens S88

Also a candybar, the S88 raises the bar right back up to where the EF81 left off, harbouring a 2-inch, high-resolution OLED display, a 2 Megapixel camera with video support and a microSD card slot for memory expansion. The 16 MB of onboard memory is unlikely to tide users over for long as the handset is also fitted with a media player supporting MP3, AAC+, MPEG4 and H.263 formats - unless frequent use is made of its Bluetooth 1.2 and USB 2.0 connectivity.

Equipped with PictBridge support for direct-to-printer output, the S88 also sports the A2DP to allow for stereo audio streaming over Bluetooth, but leaves out the 3G connectivity of the S88 in favour of plain old tri-band GSM with GPRS. To compete with handsets such as the Sony Ericsson K750i or Nokia 6233, the S88 is expected to hit European shelves some time in the first quarter of 2006.









cheers!

[TheZodiac]

The flip (top) is ok - sleek. The rest look like the bastard children of a broken up SonOkia relationship.

Oh, that was hilarious.

[oneclick]

I like the features of the S88, seems to be very good, having A2DP bluetooth too. But the EF81 looks great.

tnx-1clk

[Jose_R.A.M]

Lol, BS phones. The name is so fitting

The first one's not so bad. Aesthetically - its more than acceptable, not innovative but good enough.

s68 and s88, thezodiac summed it all up in one.

s88 - It shouldnt have been designed just to compete with the k750i, it should have been given enough features that were clearly more superior and thus worth getting.

The k750 has dropped in price...are they going to sell it at the new reduced price? Cos if not, i ask myself why get this over the k750i.

How much resolution does this 2inch oled display have...?

[brad]

176x220 pixel.

[Jose_R.A.M]

Are there other GSM phones with OLED main display?

s88 does look nicer than the 6233.

I think all they really have to worry about is the price and how theyre going to market it. Unless they plaster this phone everywhere, people arent gonna want it.

[brad]

Originally Posted by Jose_R.A.M

Are there other GSM phones with OLED main display?

No, this is the first.

[Jose_R.A.M]

Originally Posted by brad

No, this is the first.

Thought so.

Haven't had much experience with OLED displays...not good ones anyways. But thats because theyre usually Low Res 2nd displays...still looked worse than LCD 2nd displays...

Because it(s88) uses OLED, that means battery life should be pretty good no?

[brad]

7.5 hours of talk time, or a little over 8 days of standby time.

[Jose_R.A.M]

hmm..doesnt the k750 do 9h


I forget what michael experienced in his review (goes and checks)

[stephanie]

I like the S88. The EF81 looks good too - but Im tired of all the "slim" flip phones that's out now, they all look alike and I find it boring.

[carcomptoy]

The EF81 actually caught my eye, and I must concede the S88 looks pretty slick...now BS just need to get their act together and market this these things!

[Jose_R.A.M]

I have a strange feeling its gonna flop..i dont know why.

[brad]

Psychic...