A new concept

After a long time, Siemens has introduced a totally new and impressive concept to the cell phone market. There is a class of users who are only interested in the email functionality of the cell phone. So, there is a good news for them, its siemens sk65 announced on 2 August 2004, given the slogan as "first mobile phone to offer complete e-mail management". There are cell phones in market that are specific for e-mail users, such as Nokia 6820, Sonyericsson P900. But, this one will take you a lot more close to perfection.

External look

The cell phone is given a new form factor, also called the cross form factor. The rear side of the phone can flip horizontally, thus giving you a complete QWERTY keyboard in your both hands. The 132 x 176 pixel TFT screen can easily be said a large one. The size(144g) and weight are above average; but can be compromised with the features which the cell phone provide.

Email Capabilities

The most important features include Blackberry Email support, 64 Mb built in memory, Push to Talk and Bluetooth. The Email and Push to talk features worth to be explained below.
The phone supports push based (always on) e-mail support based on BlackBerry Built-Inâ„¢ technology from Research In Motion (RIM). According to the President of Siemens mobile phones. The SK65 has different variants to suit corporate business and small office/home office needs. The standard version will be available allowing manual transfer of e-mail messages from an e-mail account to the SK65. For mobile professionals of small and medium offices without a corporate e-mail infrastructure, the SK65 will be available with BlackBerry Web Clientâ„¢ services. This allows the automatic transfer of POP3 or IMAP4 e-mails straight to the SK65. Finally, for company executives working with a corporate e-mail server inbox, the SK65 with BlackBerry Enterprise Serverâ„¢ support allows e-mails and information from MS exchange/ Lotus Domino systems to be accessed behind corporate firewalls. This variant will be available with fully secure Triple DES encrypted instant e-mail access and calendar entry transfer whilst using the SK65 on the move.
Additionally, the siemens sk65 supports the Mobile Data Service (MDS) feature of BlackBerry Enterprise Server allowing employees remote access to corporate data such as intranet web pages, specific programmes and databases. Siemens is also working closely with SAP to bring SAP Solutions for Mobile Business applications on SK65 to further increase business efficiency for joint customers.

Push to talk

Also unique to the standard variant of the SK65 is the new Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC) feature, which will be introduced in the fourth quarter of 2004 to the standard variant. PoC enables users to send a voice message to a number of recipients at the touch of a button, providing a convenient alternative to text-based messaging. It combines the flexibility of mobile messaging with the ease of use of voice, allowing users to set up meetings or make announcements to groups of contacts.

Conclusion

As a conclusion I must say that this is a new concept and market will decide the future of this concept. It is a fact that there are not a lot of users who use cell phone just for e-mail; but there are a lot of users who do heavy messaging. The form factor is very friendly for messaging, but practical use will show real results. There is no camera introduced in the phone, but is not necessary for its users. In my personal opinion, if we look at the top of the things, touch screen is a better solution than creating new form factors, because its dynamic. But, again; time will decide that which one is best. The phone will be available in Europe, Middle East and Latin America from November 2004. Other regions will follow shortly afterwards.