It has flashing lights, extreme-sports games and a great design but is this mobile really as tough as Siemen's scorpion advertising would have us believe? Read our Australian review.
Its tough appearance is not just for show; the Siemens M55 feels a lot sturdier than some of the mobiles on the market right now. Its hard plastic shell is durable and the non-slip rubberised case can be easily slipped over to provide an extra level of protection.
Despite its rugged appearance, the M55 maintains a trim build. Measuring in at 101 x 46 x 21 mm and tipping the scales at 87g, it is only a tad larger and heavier than the Siemens S55.
While the Siemens SL55 dazzles us with its unique sliding design, the M55 impresses us with its liveliness. There are two flashing LEDs on each side of the mobile which you can set to illuminate in a range of ways for different events. For example, incoming calls could be set to "strobo" where the light rapidly blinks in a manner that might induce an epileptic fit. Alternate settings simulate a lighthouse, runway, waves, trance, beat, speed and eternity.
Siemens have given the M55 an energetic colour scheme comprised of burnt orange, dark grey and a silvery white that Siemens describe as the precious metal, iridium. An orange ellipse covers the earpiece and exposed slices (not dissimilar to Trivial Pursuit pie) reveal metal mesh underneath.
Siemens advertise the M55 with a scorpion and we felt the sting of the tail as we tested the buttons on the phone. The tiny answer and reject keys are shaped like two slightly raised triangular pyramids. The soft keys are similarly shaped and this makes the apex of each jab into your thumb with each key press. It is not at all painful, but certainly not the softest of soft keys we've used.
The keypad numbers are much more friendly to the touch and are split into three lines with no two buttons having the same shape (although two groups are mirror images of each other).
Siemens bundle a range of extreme-sports games with the M55, a nice complement for a phone marketed towards young, vigourous people. The implementation of BMX and Halfpipe are similar to the gaming classic California Games, although we found the M55's versions a little slow.
The operating system is also a bit sluggish to load and exit applications.
Sixteen polyphonic melodies come pre-installed on the M55 and Siemens include Steinberg's Cubasis Mobile Synthesiser where you can experiment with composing your own melodies. The synthesiser's interface is a 4x4 grid representing four bars and four tracks--drums, bass, chord and melody. Each of the four tracks has three variations and can be switched on or off for each bar. The tempo is represented in the top-right and can be increased and decreased accordingly.
There are no wireless connectivity features on the M55 and aside from the cloudy rubber jacket there are no accessories included in the box.
An additional extra is the Siemens QuickPic (IQP-500) Camera with an integrated flash which is a separate AU$175 (RRP) purchase. This snaps on to the bottom of the phone and can be used to send MMS.
Siemens claim the battery on the M55 will survive for 250 hours of standby time or 300 minutes of talk time. We found that the phone lasts an average of three days during normal use.
Siemens M55
Company: Siemens
Price: AU$499
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 665 366
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