BenQ-Siemens at CeBIT 2006: Making Up for Lost Time

After seeing the new cellphone line-up BenQ-Siemens launched at this year’s CeBIT – six new phones to complement the six they’d already launched early this year – we’re certain that whatever happens, this new company’s at least gotten off to a very promising start. The company’s phones all display BenQ-Siemens’ new design aesthetic, and the critics like them very much: three of the six have won major design awards. That said, the company hasn’t neglected functionality to focus on form. These phones are feature-rich and stack up very well against the competition.

BenQ-Siemens knows full well that it’ll be an uphill struggle for them to win the hearts of buyers in the notoriously fickle (and brand-conscious) cellphone market, and that after Siemens Mobile’s struggles, they really do have their work cut out for them. It looks like they’ve got their engineers running full-tilt to come up with their new products.

We give the company two thumbs up for their pains, at least initially, but wonder if the units themselves will be up to scratch. We can’t help but do so given that so many of the old Siemens units didn’t perform very well at all – some were slow to respond, others cursed with non-intuitive user interfaces, still others just too dull to attract anyone’s interest – despite the fact that they were at least decently designed.

Hopefully these new guys’ll have gotten it right this time. Beginnings, as the saying goes, can be such perilous times – or fantastic times, depending on the start one makes. Only time, of course, will tell.
After seeing the new cellphone line-up BenQ-Siemens launched at this year’s CeBIT – six new phones to complement the six they’d already launched early this year – we’re certain that whatever happens, this new company’s at least gotten off to a very promising start. The company’s phones all display BenQ-Siemens’ new design aesthetic, and the critics like them very much: three of the six have won major design awards. That said, the company hasn’t neglected functionality to focus on form. These phones are feature-rich and stack up very well against the competition.

BenQ-Siemens knows full well that it’ll be an uphill struggle for them to win the hearts of buyers in the notoriously fickle (and brand-conscious) cellphone market, and that after Siemens Mobile’s struggles, they really do have their work cut out for them. It looks like they’ve got their engineers running full-tilt to come up with their new products.

We give the company two thumbs up for their pains, at least initially, but wonder if the units themselves will be up to scratch. We can’t help but do so given that so many of the old Siemens units didn’t perform very well at all – some were slow to respond, others cursed with non-intuitive user interfaces, still others just too dull to attract anyone’s interest – despite the fact that they were at least decently designed.

Hopefully these new guys’ll have gotten it right this time. Beginnings, as the saying goes, can be such perilous times – or fantastic times, depending on the start one makes. Only time, of course, will tell.