Siemens A50

I bought a Siemens A50 mobile phone just before Christmas 2003. I did so, as I had no home phone and I so wanted a mobile, but one without a monthly rip off charge. Previously, I had been charged mad money on my Barclaycard for a phone I had never used much - £15 a month for two phone calls! The Siemens A50 was the cheapest in Woolworths. At the time it was £60, so I decided to get it.

It comes in a nice little box with a small charger, which was a surprise considering the size of previous chargers I have had. Also, full instructions are included. You have to phone up the head office to have the phone switched on, and away you go. I also went for the call overseas option. When overseas you can ask to have the phone connected to a local service.

I found that the battery life is far better than any of my previous phones. The last one was a 1997 vintage Nokia, which I junked in 2000 when my Barclaycard was cancelled. I no longer have to do any daily recharge of my phone. It now lasts about 5 days between recharges if not used much, even if left on standby. It takes two hours to charge up, which is a good point, as there is no longer any need for all night charging.

The features include a phone book that tells you if someone you have programmed into it is calling you, which is very handy. There is plenty of storage space for numbers, but the memory is built into the phone. It has a volume control, vibrate feature instead of ring tone, and it keeps records of calls sent and received. It tells you the time and date, and also how much credit you have. It has cartoon ducks on the screen when you switch on and off.

Text messaging is however difficult, even once you have the knack. This is not important to me, as I do not do much text messaging. I entered a Talk Sport win a Range Rover comp for £1.50, then I was asked to enter another competition every day for a week. I also tried to text Deal or No Deal, but I could not get through, even though I tried four times. My fingers are too big, and also my brain is huge!

I sent for a free ring tone, but they do not work, so don't do it! I had all my credit deleted. This happens every time I credit my phone. I did this by going to the shop and buying a card. You then have to key the card number into your phone and get the credit, usually £10 minimum. That meant I had to put a new SIM card into my phone, as these free 'ring tones' can not be deleted once ordered. Every week a charged ring tone would come through, and they will not work on this phone.

I was on T-Mobile at the time, so I decided then to change SIM cards and to go to Tesco's, and for only £1.50 I got a new phone number. However, T-Mobile call me up all the time wanting me to upgrade, and lately it has been every week, so be prepared for these 'cold' calls if you buy this phone, because even if you tell them you are with another company they keep calling.

Overall, it is a bog standard phone but with a good battery life. As it is pay as you go it will be good for someone whom makes few calls.

At first the Siemens A50 was fine, I actually thought that it was really good for the price. Then it started to freeze. This occurs when I try to start writing a new text message and can be annoying if you want to send one quickly. THe only way to deal with it is to remove the cover and take out the battery, replace it and then hope for the best!!!

The ring tones aren't that great, but serve there purpose, connecting to the internet is quite slow and you can't keep many messages in your inbox. :(

the battery doesn't last very long, and there is no reception from my house (an area where orange says there should be 100% reception)

Not a very good buy. I had my Siemens A50 for two years and it was OK for a year or so, then it started crashing. Texts wouldn't come through and it kept switching itself off. I tried complaining to my network and got a recorded message. As far as I know, my Grandma's is still working fine- but she only uses it occasionally. Not a good phone.

The Siemens A50 is a good and fun phone to use but every so often it crashes, it started to crash about a month after I bought the phone and it keeps on coming up with card error which is really annoying when you are just about to send a text or if you have just turned on your phone it crashes. Another thing, when you turn on the phone it takes absolutely ages to start a SMS or even the phone book.

This phone started off good I got it a year ago but then it all went wrong the texts stopped and now I cannot recieve calls. I hate this phone, I am now getting a Motorola V525 I hope it's not as messed up as the Siemens A50.

I got this Siemens A50 mobile phone today (ex-mums) and its okay. i did want a nokia 1100 but i just got this instead. It works well and does all the things you basically need a phone to do.

My Siemens A50 mobile phone went through a phase of crashing a few months ago, but seems to have gotten over it. My wife's is OK, except that the top right button completely refuses to work, making it entirely USELESS. Anyone else experienced this?

The Siemens A50 is a good mobile phone, but ive sent 2 back now, and am on my 3rd phone! I think we need them 2 realise that its a techniqual fault, because i cant keep changing like this...definatly puts you off buying another siemens.

I love the Siemens A50 mobile phones looks and size, but like said SMS is a nightmare, once my phone has 31 stored messages it begins to freeze and run slowly, I can delete messages on my SIM but not the phone without it crashing (and not deleting the message anyway) does anyone know a solution? please post it

sam

I bought the Siemens A50 phone because it was cheap, but as I found it wasn't cheap enough it fell apart the number 4 button fell off and theres no way to repair it and it crashed all the time.