Siemens USB Gigaset S645 Review
Prelude
Well I got sucked into the hype around the S645 a few months ago and after an exhaustive search I found a vendor willing to ship the device overseas. The phone made a couple of stops during its small journey around the world, necessary to reduce shipping charges, but arrived in its lovely orange boxes eventually after 2 months wait.
Here's what you need to think about before purchasing this item for use in the US.
(1) Remember the device runs on 230V/50Hz current so you will need converters for the base station and for each additional handset.
(2) The base has no corded handset, and people I've called report that I sound as if I'm in a tunnel when using the base speakerphone.
(3) English users manuals must be downloaded from the Siemens website. All default options on the device are set to German, including the system greeting for answering machine and all answering machine voice prompts. The display language on the S44 handset can be changed to English, as well as the display on the S645 base; however the answering machine prompts cannot be changed from German. I speak no German so this is a fun challenge to deal with.
(4) Siemens advertises "voice-announced caller ID", but this is not regular caller ID that you might be used to with other Siemens Gigaset devices. The system will allow you to record a voice announcement for telephone number that already are stored in the phone's directory, just as with other Gigaset devices. However, the system has no intelligence to recognize US caller-ID/enhanced caller-ID information from the fixed line network. Therefore you cannot ID calls originating from unknown callers, even if their caller ID information normally would appear on a caller ID device. You will need to use an external caller ID box if you want to see who is calling you.
(5) One of the biggest selling points for me is that Siemens announced that the system comes with a "mute" feature on the base and handsets. This is absolutely not true. Siemens has equipped the system with a button that, when pressed, allows callers to hear music. Guess what folks -- this is a HOLD button in English!! Therefore you cannot use the S645 or the S44 to, say, take conference calls where you need to be in listen-only mode and want to block out your background noise. If you press your "mute" button on this Siemens phone, all your conference participants will get to hear a lovely German tune, and you will get to hear beeps. No one will hear the conference.
Other than those little things (!), the integration with Skype is seamless and lovely. The phone also is supposed to work with Messenger, ICQ, or AIM but I haven't got my phone to work reliably with these applications. Also, the SMS feature is, as yet, elusive, as the phone is coded to some German SMS network. I suppose this is configurable but I haven't bothered to work it out.
The S44 handsets have some other cutesy features like configurable display wallpaper and downloadable ringtones. I have not, however, to date been able to convince Siemens that they need to tell me where to find the cable to download anything to the phone or sync the phone with my PC. Maybe they'll change their minds...soon?
The handset range is awesome and for those of us looking for phones that don't operate on the 2.4GHz band, this one is great! Having said that, if all you want is life without your wireless router interfering with your phone, maybe going 5.8GHz is a cheaper option.
Conclusion
So all in all, the S645 with M34 is a great product but Siemens wasn't quite honest in explaining the features it offers. I can't see any professional who works from home, like me, getting into this phone with any level of zest, especially while there are great products like the Gigaset 8825 still out there. If it wasn't for the little interference issue between my Gigaset 8825 and my wireless router, I never would have considered the S645.
I'm holding out hoping that Siemens will issue some sort of firmware upgrade that allows this device to be used in the US and maybe resolves some of the issues stated above. I know -- BIG wishful thinking since I'm almost asking for another whole product!
But who knows...otherwise my barely used S645 will be on eBay very soon.
Added: Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Reviewer: RicoBHI
Score:
Related web link: Siemens Website
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Language: eng
