The sporty BenQ-Siemens M81

BenQ-Siemens announced a new addition to the Siemens M-series phones famous for their enhanced shock, dust and splash protection - the new device would be called Benq-Siemens M81. Equipped with scratch resistant 262K TFT display and 1.3 megapixel camera with a LED flash, the phone is a representative of the middle class devices but is targeted at the young people. The display has a rather inadequate resolution of 132x176 pixels which is far less than the standard QVGA resolution of 240x320 pixels. A good thing is that the LED flash serves the double purpose of a flashlight which should help you find your way around in the middle of the night.

An appealing feature for the active youngsters is the RS-MMC card slot which is there to provide plenty of memory space for the integrated music player. The phone is even equipped with stereo headset.

As regards connectivity the phone supports tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 and EDGE along with an advanced version of Bluetooth supporting the A2DP profile which practically means that it supports a stereo Bluetooth headset.

Other than that we see almost no technological advance or novelties in the phone compared for example to M75.

The body of the Benq-Siemens M81 has rubber pads for enhanced protection while at the same time the camera is protected from dust and water splashes by a revolving lens cover. The dimensions of the phone are 105.3 x 47.5 x 18.4 mm and it weighs 96 grams. It's powered by a 820 mAh Li-Ion battery capable of providing up to 300 h of stand-by time and up to 300 min of talk time.

The M81 will hit the streets August 2006 in black and blue color styles. Prices will be market dependant.