/ 23 July 1999

The path to cellphone heaven

John Matshikiza

Review: Siemens S25 cellphone

Happiness is a Siemens S25. I started my cellphone career about four years ago with a brand new S4 which I was very proud of, but which rapidly became a negative status symbol, not because of its quality, but because of its size.

I was of course enraged when it was stolen in broad daylight right under my nose, but soon saw the upside when I was given a rather funky Ericsson by a friend who did not wish to be part of cellphone culture any longer.

The Ericsson seemed to be pocket-sized and cute until I took the S25 for an all-too- short test drive.

I am an unhappy man again, yearning for the day when I will own this svelte little machine for myself.

The poor faithful Ericsson, meanwhile, has surprisingly come to look and feel very slow and heavy.

The S25 really does fit into your shirt pocket, without spoiling the proud line of your sculpted torso, or making your shirt or jacket bulge like you work for Al Capone.

It is so small and light, in fact, that I spent a lot of time patting my pockets in horror, thinking that I had lost it. I would find it tucked quietly next to my wallet or the power supply for my pacemaker, causing no fuss at all.

The S25 is, for the most part, extremely friendly to technophobes.

The menu system is simple and quick to grasp, with most of it right up there on the screen telling you what you want to know and where you need to go to find out more. The keypad, while tiny, is accessible to clumsy fingers.

And I was blown away by the sound quality in the earpiece. It made my mother-in-law sound like she was standing in the same room, which was a bit nerve-racking, since she lives in Uganda and only comes down once in a very long while.

Uncharacteristically, the editor had to resort to violence to retrieve it.

ENDS