Rating: 
Summary: Not Bad
Review: After trying many phones (and phone services) I am finally content with this phone. Since reception is different for different services all I'll say is that I live in a city and get better reception now than I have in two years. The buttons are the same size as most other phones and I don't find them awkward at all. Internet on any phone is a rip-off so I wouldn't bother cause all it's for is games anyway. For those of you who hate lugging phones around, this one hardly weighs a thing and its small size causes it to disappear in your pocket. I don't think its size makes it easier to lose either... if your the type to lose a cell, it probably doesn't matter what size it is. On one last note, I have been pretty rough with mine and it has yet to break... must be one of those hit or misses?
Rating: 
Summary: Bad Combination-- Poorly Manufacture and Poor Performance
Review: I am writing this while on hold with Cingular Wireless, attempting to get a replacement for this phone.
Let's start with the positives: It looks cool. Unfortunately, that is the totality of the positives.
Now, let's discuss the negatives.
First, it is poorly manufactured. Buttons began falling off within two (2) months (I hope that you are good at dialing with your thumbnail). Some of the remaining buttons worked only intermittently thereafter. Finally, the send/receive button gave up the ghost after ten (10) months of use. Cingular and Siemens have taken the position that buttons falling off the phone is not part of the warranty.
Ahh, but when it did work, it worked poorly. First, the buttons are an ergonomic nightmare. I had friends with small, dainty fingers, who would hand me back my phone with disgust, as they were unable to manipulate the minute keys. The four bars AT&T advertises? I never saw more than three, and then I saw three only infrequently. Make a lot of calls? No battery life. You have your choice of either a charger or a handsfree connection, but not both simultaneously.
When I was younger, a friend of mine opined that owning an MG was a true luxury. You not only needed to be able to afford the car, but you had to have the full-time mechanic to fix it. This phone, sadly, while lovely to look at and fondle, is a disappointment to own. Take a pass.
Rating:
Summary: Bad Clumsy Phone With Bad reception
Review: I bought this phone at first by looking at its compactness. It proved me wrong. The keypads on this phone is clumsy and it comes apart after you use it for a while. Although there are features like internet and games wasting 129 bucks is just not worth it. And it doesnt get reception that well and drops call like crazy. Although the slider feature might seem like a nice touch to someone the sliding mechanism simply is not worth all the pain. The phones slider separates completely after you use it for a while and did i menition the keypads come off and they suck. I am returning this phone and wont take it again even if siemens give me 200 bucks
Rating:
Summary: Great Phone, Ok Service
Review: I bought this phone in late December because Amazon had the best deal I've ever seen; I ended up EARNING $100 after rebates. The phone is great. Very stylish and small with no bulky antenna sticking out. The navigator button and keypad is small but you can set up the voice command to access the main features, phonebook and frequently called numbers. Use an infrared connector and you can transfer your Outlook contacts and calendar very easily. Everyone I know wants to look at it and figure out how to slide it open. As far as ATT Wireless, cell signal is ok here in Florida but it took 6 long hours on hold to get my number ported and still I wasn't able to receive calls on my phone for another 2 days. The customer service is basically just as bad as all the other carriers.
Rating:
Summary: compact and feature packed
Review: I bought this to replace my Sony-Ericsson T616. I did not like the weight, size, poor camera quality of the T616. Besides, why the heck would I want a lousy camera on the phone when I got a kick a$$ digital camera? During my one year ownership, I found no use for it.
I choose SL56 because of high consumer reviews on other sites. Indeed, it is small, well constructed, and light. Which means it will fit into my pocket just fine. It also has loads of features like appointment reminder, voice/data memo, etc... Which almost make it a small PDA. Its ringtones sounds great. It has speakerphone and it is loud and clear. Shocking consider its small size. Signal/reception is good.
Now for some cons. I would prefer it to have a better screen. Compare to today's top phones, which has at least 65k colors and even 262k colors and superior screens, SL56's 4k colors is woefully sad. No bluetooth or mini-USB connector. battery is weak compare to other competiting phones. 500mA is way too weak for a cellphone battery. If it has tri-band capability, then it would be useable world-wide.
Overall, so far, I am happy with it.
Rating:
Summary: SL 56 phone has reception problems
Review: I dropped Sprint because they were charging me $10 a month because I wouldn't sign a new contract, what a rip.
I went to the store, signed up with AT&T, and I bought a new Siemens SL56. The SL56 has all of the features that I want, small size, recording capabilities, and a speakerphone. I live in San Antonio. As soon as I drove past the San Antonio city boundries, I couldn't receive a cell phone signal. I was really frustrated since I was only a few miles outside of a major city, San Antonio. That night, I borrowed my girlfriend's cell phone. She uses Verizon as her carrier. We drove back to the area that I was in earlier in the day, and she had complete coverage. My Siemens SL56 still had no coverage. The next day, I went back to Best Buy, and I cancelled my AT&T coverage. I, also, returned the SL 56.
Rating:
Summary: SL 56 phone has reception problems
Review: I dropped Sprint because they were charging me $10 a month because I wouldn't sign a new contract, what a rip.
I went to the store, signed up with AT&T, and I bought a new Siemens SL56. The SL56 has all of the features that I want, small size, recording capabilities, and a speakerphone. I live in San Antonio. As soon as I drove past the San Antonio city boundries, I couldn't receive a cell phone signal. I was really frustrated since I was only a few miles outside of a major city, San Antonio. That night, I borrowed my girlfriend's cell phone. She uses Verizon as her carrier. We drove back to the area that I was in earlier in the day, and she had complete coverage. My Siemens SL56 still had no coverage. The next day, I went back to Best Buy, and I cancelled my AT&T coverage. I, also, returned the SL 56.
Rating: 
Summary: cute phone, bad reception
Review: i have AT&T service, and have had it for about two years with a Panasonic phone. i've never had problems with reception on the Panasonic phone in the Bay Area, but the Siemens phone drops calls like mad. either calls will go directly to voicemail (~25% of the time), or when i try to answer a call, i can't hear anything and the person eventually hangs up (~30% of the time). i am returning this phone because the reception problems are not acceptable. but, the phone is adorable and people really do love to check it out. and, with the rebates from Amazon, it makes it a tempting deal, which is why i gave it two stars instead of the one it deserves. don't buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Great Phone but signal not so great.
Review: I have been using this phone for about 7 days. The signal here in Texas is not so great. I currently have Cingular. The look of this phone is nice, it looks "smart" The keypad is lighted when you open-slide the phone. Siemens has a feature called ProSlide and what it does is that everytime you open this phone, it plays a polyphonic sound. It has IrDA so you can transfer files using the Infrared port on your devieces like a laptop. You can also buy a serial cable or a USB cable to do so in case you don't have a laptop with Infrared. If you are an advanced user you can also create your own ring tones and transfer them to your phone. The phone has many features like an agenda, calendar, stopwatch, java games, some java applications, to do notes, voice memos, clock alarm, GPRS modem (you can conect your cellphone to your laptop and use it as a wireless modem for internet. You can create text messages and emails and send them with animations (gif or jpg). It also has 1.4mb of memory to store your files. The only reason why I would not give this phone 5 stars is because the signal is not so great and the calls get lost sometimes when indoors. Also it does not have many animations, the interface lacks of animation. Call time is aprox. 2.5 hrs
Standby time is aprox. 5 days if you would like to read more about this phone i would recomend
www.club-siemens.com and if you want to see a Flash Demo with GREAT pictures go to: http://www.my-siemens.com/MySiemens/CDA/Index/1,1652,US_en_0_product%253AMW%252FHD%252FHD%252FSL56%252Ftt%252F,00.html# or http://www.my-siemens.com/MySiemens/CDA/Index/1,1652,HQ_en_0_product%253AMW%252FHD%252FGPRS%252FSL55%252Fdesc,00.html and click on the Animated Demo (designed for desire) Another thing, almost every girl likes this phone ;)
Rating:
Summary: Great Phone but signal not so great.
Review: I have been using this phone for about 7 days. The signal here in Texas is not so great. I currently have Cingular. The look of this phone is nice, it looks "smart" The keypad is lighted when you open-slide the phone. Siemens has a feature called ProSlide and what it does is that everytime you open this phone, it plays a polyphonic sound. It has IrDA so you can transfer files using the Infrared port on your devieces like a laptop. You can also buy a serial cable or a USB cable to do so in case you don't have a laptop with Infrared. If you are an advanced user you can also create your own ring tones and transfer them to your phone. The phone has many features like an agenda, calendar, stopwatch, java games, some java applications, to do notes, voice memos, clock alarm, GPRS modem (you can conect your cellphone to your laptop and use it as a wireless modem for internet. You can create text messages and emails and send them with animations (gif or jpg). It also has 1.4mb of memory to store your files. The only reason why I would not give this phone 5 stars is because the signal is not so great and the calls get lost sometimes when indoors. Also it does not have many animations, the interface lacks of animation. Call time is aprox. 2.5 hrs
Standby time is aprox. 5 days
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